Wednesday, July 31, 2019

7/31/19

For those of you in Kansas or surrounding states as well, don't forget I have several pages of wildflowers that are fairly common and even a few rarer ones separated out by color.  Hopefully these will make it easier for you to identify a flower you may see.  I recently added this one, Wooly Verbena to the Purple page.  It is blooming now and I got this shot about a week or so ago of it.


Tuesday, July 30, 2019

7/30/19

I have now been starting to see lots more butterflies around.  It has mostly been smaller ones like Skippers and Painted ladies but over the weekend I saw several Swallowtails.  This is a male Black Swallowtail on the Budhelia or Butterfly bush.


Monday, July 29, 2019

7/29/19

I thought I would start off the week with a fun shot.  This leopard frog was sitting and posing so nicely at my pond one day I just had to take a shot of him.


Sunday, July 28, 2019

7/28/19

Today's image is one that I captured just outside Fremont Nebraska as UP Big Boy 4014 was headed out of town for it's next stop in Omaha.  Before I went up I looked on Google Maps to see what it's likely route out of town would be and got lucky that my guess was correct.  It was great to get another opportunity to see it in action.  It's a beautifully restored locomotive.



Saturday, July 27, 2019

7/27/19

Today's image is from a different time for us when we were getting rain and it was even a bit too much rain.  Everything was lush and green.  Now we have not gotten any rain for weeks and it is all drying up and turning brown.  This is from a beautiful evening out on Konza Prairie on the last day of May.  The sky had a smokey haze to it due to some Canadian wild fires at the time.


Friday, July 26, 2019

7/26/19

Today's image is of a flower I have on the banks of my large pond.  I originally thought it was a type of wildflower but have since discovered it is just a type of pond plant.  It is called Monkey Flower and is good for shallow margins of ponds.  I loved the bokeh I captured in this on the left especially and Fridays Are Bokehlicious.  😃


Thursday, July 25, 2019

7/25/19

I don't know many identifications of grasses but I do have a few favorites that I remember the names of.  This one is June Grass because it blooms in June.  Easy.  I love this variety for the way the sunlight catches in it.  In this image i liked how the wild Alfalfa was framing it as well.


Wednesday, July 24, 2019

7/24/19

Continuing on with Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog, this is an image of a flower I have seen around home but I actually captured this out at the railroad east of Topeka I get to play at.  It is a very dainty wildflower called a Deptford pink and is native to Kansas.

One thing I wanted to remind about are the Wildflowers of Kansas Pages on my Blog with images of Wildflowers I have found and photographed and arranged by color.  They, along with the Butterfly Page can be accessed by links off the main page of the site.



Tuesday, July 23, 2019

7/23/19

This is an image of another of the lovely Dragonflies that hang out at my large pond.  Unfortunately, after the week of 100 degree heat and no rain to speak of the pond is quite low  but the frogs and dragons still enjoy it so at least it is healthy.  Bonus for the bokeh in this image because #BokehIsGoodAnyDay.  😃 


Monday, July 22, 2019

7/22/19

This is another image of one of the young Barred Owls I got to photograph recently at my friend's house.  She is quite lucky to have them nesting somewhere very near and being around her yard.  They were just learning to fly and hunt when I took this image.


Sunday, July 21, 2019

7/21/19

Our 100 degree heat spell has finally broken, hoping for rain now.  Last Friday i was able to go up to Fremont Nebraska and see the newly restored Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 steam locomotive in action.  This is one of my very first shots of it arriving into town.  I was glad i was able to get more opportunities to photograph it because this is about the only one I got the whole thing in frame with.  It's quite a large locomotive up close, a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement where UP 844 is large but only a 4-8-4 so 8 more driving wheels on this one.



Saturday, July 20, 2019

7/20/19

This Sunflower was blooming yesterday evening while I was watering my flowers to prepare for the last day of intense heat today, hopefully.  I had planted several varieties of Sunflowers and a lot did not come up but the ones that did have been putting on a show.  This is a single plant that got quite tall and had these lovely reddish blooms.  2 of them were open and this one was just perfect and unblemished.


Friday, July 19, 2019

7/19/19

I mentioned that I hadn't been seeing many butterflies and now that I said that, I am beginning to see them around.  This is a Painted Lady that I captured on the Echinacea or cone Flower in my garden.  I liked this image for the dark creamy bokeh background created by the mulch I shot it against.


Thursday, July 18, 2019

7/18/19

I planted a Lemon Geranium in a pot this year to see what it would be like.  It has the most wonderful lemon scent when you touch the leaves.  It finally got some flowers as well that were lovely.


Wednesday, July 17, 2019

7/17/19

It's Wildflower Wednesday on the Blog once again.  These are some that have been in bloom for the past few weeks.  These are Clasping Coneflowers.  I shot them over at Spring Valley Schoolhouse which has a lot of wildflowers blooming.


Tuesday, July 16, 2019

7/16/19

I liked the way the light was shimmering on this Dragonfly's wings and all the green around it.  Bokeh is good any day I think. I shot this one in Minnesota a few weeks ago at Maplewood State Park.


Monday, July 15, 2019

7/15/19

I saw a new bird above my yard this past week.  There were 2 of them soaring around on the air currents and also one sitting in a tree.  I am going to be a bit different and post 2 photos in one day because both of them were from fairly far away.  I could definitely tell this was a raptor of some sort and judging by it's looks and actions I believe these were Mississippi Kites.  According to my book they are somewhat common in South Central Kansas but have been moving north.



Sunday, July 14, 2019

7/14/19

I have something special for today's steamy Sunday shot on the Blog.  Union Pacific recently finished restoring the largest operating steam engine 4014, the Big Boy a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement locomotive.  There were 25 of them built and only 8 remain and now one is back in operation.  I drove a significant distance on Friday to Fremont Nebraska in the hopes of getting to photograph it under steam as it came into town and then maybe as it left town.  I ended up getting a chance to see it 5 times and photograph it 4 different times.  This was the last time and was as it was moving into Omaha Nebraska and crossing one of the very tall UP trestles.  It was a beautiful sight to see and listen to, it sounds so quiet in comparison to other steam locomotives and it's whistle is so deep and melodious.  



Saturday, July 13, 2019

7/13/19

I have not shared a butterfly in a good while, mainly because I have not seen many.  I have seen some beautiful Swallowtails around but never seem to have a camera at the time.  I was able to capture this beautiful Clouded Sulphur on my red Coneflowers recently though.


Friday, July 12, 2019

7/12/19

My Sunflowers are beginning to bloom this week.  This one is actually a volunteer at the base of the bird feeder but it was a beautiful bloom to photograph.  There is not much bokeh in this image but it was lovely and complimentary.


Thursday, July 11, 2019

7/11/19

This is another of my frog buddies.  There are quite a number of frogs in my large pond which makes me happy as it should mean it's a healthy pond.  This is a Leopard frog who posed very nicely for me on one of the rocks.


Wednesday, July 10, 2019

7/10/19

It's time for Wildflowers once again on the Blog.  The Black-eyed Susans have been blooming all over around my area for the past couple of weeks.  This is one of the groups of them near my house that I took one afternoon after work.  It has a visitor at the very bottom bloom if you look close.  Some type of bee.


Tuesday, July 9, 2019

7/9/19

I took this image out on Konza Prairie.  I love this tree, it has character to me and I like how it sits alone on the prairie.  There is a Western Meadowlark perched in it that I was able to get a couple of closer images of that you can see if you really look.


Monday, July 8, 2019

7/8/19

I mentioned last week that I recently was able to see and capture a couple of birds that I like but are elusive to me usually.  This is the other and I captured this one in Minnesota.  I was in the car and it didn't seem to mind to much as I snapped a few shots of it, it was almost too close for the lens I had on.  This is a Killdeer, named for it's call, and they nest on the ground and will pretend to have a broken wing to draw predators or humans away from it's nest.  It was not doing that so I must not have been too close.  I love their eyes.


Sunday, July 7, 2019

7/7/19

Well, so far we have not received much rain though I am glad we have not gotten the flooding rains that have fallen around us.  I would have liked a bit more for my pond but, oh well.  I am writing this a day ahead and there are chances so when this posts we may have received more, we shall see.  This is another image from the railroad outside Topeka, KS that I get to play at.  Here is a view of the other 12 inch scale Ottaway locomotive, 1045 built in 1952, as it heads past a station and towards the road crossing.  


Saturday, July 6, 2019

7/6/19

While I was in Minnesota, I experienced one of the most vivid sunsets I have seen in a while.  The oranges were just so vibrant.  This image doesn't quite do it justice but it's close.  It's a 2 shot panoramic capture from the evening of June 13th.  Must be clicked on and viewed large to really appreciate.


Friday, July 5, 2019

7/5/19

Friday's are Bokehlicious here on the Blog.  I shot this Dragonfly with some lovely bubbly bokeh last Saturday at my pond.  I believe this is a young Twelve Spot Dragonfly.


Thursday, July 4, 2019

7/4/19

Happy Independence Day everyone here in the US!  This is a composite image from the fireworks show I watched in Wamego Kansas last year.  They put on quite the spectacular show.


Wednesday, July 3, 2019

7/3/19

It's Wildflower Wednesday once again here on the Blog.  This is a close up image of one of the Yellow Lady Slipper blooms i saw in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago.  This is a Focus Stack image of 4 separate photos for better detail.  Apparently Kansas even has some of these in the eastern part of the state in Johnson County near Olathe.  I didn't realize they were this far south.


Tuesday, July 2, 2019

7/2/19

I used to host a theme called Transport Tuesday.  At times I still like to share some transport related photos here.  I thought this one was appropriate for the 4th of July week.  This is the P-51 Mustang from the Commemorative Air Force named Gunfighter that I saw while I was at the Air Show in Great Bend this past autumn.  It was just coming back from it's flight demonstration.  Gunfighter is currently out on Tour and will be in Salina and Topeka Kansas in early September. 


Monday, July 1, 2019

7/1/19

In the past few weeks I have been able to see and photograph a couple of birds I really like but are rather elusive.  For this one I got lucky because a friend of mine has them in her yard every year for the past few years.  She is quite lucky to be able to observe them and they must know it is a safe place to be because they come back each year.  I captured this image of a young Barred owl and I liked the blank tree space in this so I did not crop it.  The young ones are so fluffy and cute.