Tuesday, February 28, 2017

2/28/17

Well it's the last day of February today but feels like we should be in April.  I felt like sharing some Sunflowers today, they always make me happy.  This past autumn seemed perfect for them as they just exploded everywhere and were quite lovely.  Looking forward to seeing them again this year and if they grow as well.


Monday, February 27, 2017

2/27/17

I captured this image last Spring out at the railroad I volunteer at outside Topeka.  These Iris were open on the shore of the pond there and I spotted a Hummingbird feeding on them.  I was lucky and was able to capture several good shots of it before it finished and flew off.


Sunday, February 26, 2017

2/26/17

This is a bit different type of train photo for me.  I shot this image in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan and it is 5 shots done Vertically and then stitched together.  Because I was so close to the locomotive due to the tight confines of the museum, when it was stitched it created the curve which I was able to fix a bit but not all the way without the locomotive looking ridiculous.  It is a beautifully restored Rogers built American 4-4-0 style locomotive that has had 3 names in it's life. It started out in the 1800s as the "Satilla" for the Satilla River.  Henry Ford bought it in 1924 and named it the "Sam Hill" for an engineer from his boyhood days.  In 1929 it was selected to be used for ceremonies to open the Greenfield Village and Henry ford Museum and pull specially built cars so it was named "The President" in honor of President Herbert Hoover.


Saturday, February 25, 2017

2/25/17

Well winter came back as of yesterday with snow off and on.  On Google Plus I follow this photographer from Canada that does incredible macro images of snowflakes.  My ability is definitely not his but I decided to try to capture a snowflake and for a first time effort, I think I did OK with this image.  I shot the snowflakes as they fell on a black woolen glove so that's the bumpy background.  Getting them in focus quickly before they melt is quite a challenge when shooting so close.




Friday, February 24, 2017

2/24/17

Well winter came back today, knew it had to happen.  Hope all the plants emerging will be OK.  My image today is of a Harris Sparrow that I captured standing on my new ground feeder.  I especially liked this shot for how sharp the bird was and then the bokeh behind it created by the grass which was dewy at the time.


Thursday, February 23, 2017

2/23/17

Spring is coming quickly it seems this year.  It won't be too long and we will have sights like this unless they get frozen out which, unfortunately is a real possibility.  Anyway, I captured this Red Admiral visiting the Lilac on a lovely Spring day a while back.


Wednesday, February 22, 2017

2/22/17

When I was going through older photos I found this one of a cute little guy I had photographed on Konza Prairie.  This is a Collared Lizard which is one of the main types of reptiles we have in this area.  They are called "Collared" because they have a distinct set of black bands that go around their neck and shoulders that looks like a collar.


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

2/21/17

I found this older shot for today while looking for something else.  I had been photographing this Redwing Blackbird while it was perched on a Cattail when it decided it had enough of that and took off.  I was fortunate enough to capture it in flight and in focus!  ðŸ˜€ I got this image in Minnesota.  There are a couple of spots there where I seem to always be able to find them.


Monday, February 20, 2017

2/20/17

We finally got a bit of rain last night.  Now stuff will probably really start popping up with these warm temps.  I don't know how this can last.  My image today is a bit different one.  I am not fond of Wasps at all because I have been stung by them.  However this guy was just intent on drinking from the Sedum and didn't seem to care about me at all so I was able to get this shot.  I am not sure what type of wasp it is, I couldn't find a color match in my book.  I thought it was kind of a colorful one though.


Sunday, February 19, 2017

2/19/17

Today I am posting another shot of the beautifully restored locomotive No 7 at Greenfield Village of the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan.  It was just coming around the corral area to the station to load passengers for it's next loop.  You can ride around the grounds as many times as you like for just a small charge one time.  No 7 used to pull Henry Ford's train on his various travels back in the day.


Saturday, February 18, 2017

2/18/17

I thought I would post another of the Bald Eagle photos I was able to capture.  I saw this pair in one of the Creek areas off of Milford Lake.  With the warm weather we are having, this is the only area where it has frozen over much.  This was a mature and young Bald Eagle looking for fish.  With so much open water this year I am guessing fishing must be good as there were quite a number of eagles around.


Friday, February 17, 2017

2/17/17

So I think we have gone to April weather since it's supposed to be in the 70s for the foreseeable future.  I'm sharing this image today because it's still Valentine's Day week.  :-)  I shot these outside in the sun.


Thursday, February 16, 2017

2/16/17

Well apparently Spring is here, at least the plants think so.  I saw yesterday that I have Surprise Lilies coming up already.  Not good.  Anyway, the photo.  This image was an experiment for me and I took this shot where I captured the Bald Eagle image from yesterday just a short while after.  I had purchased some Neutral Density Filters which allow you to shoot at slower shutter speeds, they are what make the misty waterfall effects.  I experimented with a couple of them and shot this image at 3 seconds at about 3 in the afternoon basically into the sun.  I liked how it smoothed out the choppy lake water and made the light look like moonlight. 


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

2/15/17

The Bald Eagles come down here to Kansas and Milford Lake for the winter.  This year since it has been warmer the fishing is probably pretty good since the lake has not really frozen over, for long anyway.  I was able to get some of the best shots of these eagles last week that I have ever gotten.  A lot of them were of this guy who was sitting in a tree near the shore of the main lake.  The light was great and it let me get fairly close before it decided it had enough of me and flew off.  They are such beautiful birds.


Tuesday, February 14, 2017

2/14/17

Happy Valentine's Day!  I am not prepared with a rose pic, shame on me.  ðŸ˜ƒ I do have this beautiful group of Orchid flowers though.  This was one of our former office Orchids in bloom with the most flowers I have ever seen on a plant at one time.  It was just gorgeous.


Monday, February 13, 2017

2/13/17

I love Ladybugs.  They are such cute little visitors to the garden and help take care of not so great visitors like Aphids.  I always enjoy seeing them around.  They are hard to get an image of sometimes because they always seem to be moving around the plant in search of a meal.  Sometimes though I get lucky and they pause for a moment like in this shot.



Sunday, February 12, 2017

2/12/17

It's Steamy Sunday over on Google + and literally as we are having quite the warm February.  Things are going to start budding out soon if this keeps up and I can't imagine that this will last till Spring.  Anyway, my image is from my favorite railroad, the Cumbres & Toltec.  I took this image late in the day at the yard in Chama.  They were putting the locomotives away for the night after cleaning out their ash pans.  Locomotive 488 was just heading to have it's ash pan cleaned out, an interesting procedure to watch. 


Saturday, February 11, 2017

2/11/17

So this is my third bird shot of the week which as I mentioned, is not a unusual occurrence.  I went out on Thursday afternoon to see if I could find any Bald Eagles that are over wintering at Milford Lake.  I got lucky and found quite a few and got some of my best shots ever.  This one I was shooting almost into the sun so it made the image rather contrasty but I liked the light on the eagle.  I thought this image lent itself well to a monochrome treatment.


Friday, February 10, 2017

2/10/17

I thought I would break up the bird postings.  I have a lovely butterfly one for today.  The butterfly is a bit battered looking but still beautiful and I loved the bokeh behind, like green bubbles.  I believe this is a Wood Nymph which usually do not visit flowers but just couldn't resist the Autumn Sedum which seems to be quite the butterfly magnet.  




Thursday, February 9, 2017

2/9/17

I usually don't post so many bird shots in a week but I have gotten some good and different ones lately so I wanted to share.  This was an unusual visitor to my yard a few days ago.  This is a Sharp-shinned Hawk and I think it had one of my little visitors in it's talons unfortunately.  That's the circle of life I guess.  I captured this with only my portrait lens on because I just shot with what was on the camera so I wouldn't miss it.  I knew it wouldn't stay long and I was right as I only had time to get off a couple of shots.  This one is quite heavily cropped put I must say my new camera's sensor is very impressive at allowing for that and the image to still be so sharp and good quality.  I love the red eyes on this hawk.


Wednesday, February 8, 2017

2/8/17

So a cold day today and then warming up to the 70s by Friday.  We even had a bit of sleet this morning.  Crazy temps for this time of the year.  My image today is another flower.  I love these types of Iris, I believe they are called Flag Iris.  I photographed this one this summer in Minnesota.



Tuesday, February 7, 2017

2/7/17

So quite the nice day again.  Really has me worried though because I am sure it will get really cold again.  It's only early February though it feels like late March.  I felt like sharing a Sunflower I grew in the garden this year.  This is another that bloomed well and did not get attacked by insects.  Usually the stems get eaten through and then the flower head falls over and wilts.  Drives me crazy because it doesn't happen on the volunteers.  I put a soft glow on the image.



Monday, February 6, 2017

2/6/17

We are still enjoying Spring like temps.  Unfortunately the flowers are thinking it's Spring already as well.  I have some Daffodils and Tulips starting to peek through.  Sigh.  My image today is of a Downy Woodpecker couple.  The male is the one with the red splash and the female is out of focus.  I captured these two in Missouri but they are very common in Kansas as well.



Sunday, February 5, 2017

2/5/17

Feels like spring outside this weekend.  Hope things don't start budding out and then get frozen like last year.  My image today goes back to my favorite railroad, the Cumbres & Toltec which travels through Colorado and New Mexico.  I shot this from the train and it shows off some of the lovely landscape you travel through.  I like this image in part due to that telegraph pole.  When they were sinking them in on a mountainside, they put them in any way they could to get the job done.  



Saturday, February 4, 2017

2/4/17

Well, looks like with our warm weather we get wind too, typical.  I was looking through older images this morning and found this mushroom that I had shot back in August.  We were having some nice rainy weather this summer that produced some great mushrooms that were fairly large as well.  I thought this one lent itself well to a monochrome treatment.


Friday, February 3, 2017

2/3/17

It's finally Friday and still winter but it's going to feel like Spring is here this weekend.  It was Spring in my house this week as the Crocus from a bulb arrangement from a gift that my sis-in-law got me for Christmas was blooming.  The Crocus were the first to emerge in the arrangement.  They are a lovely and different color than ones I had already which were all purple.  


Thursday, February 2, 2017

2/2/17

Happy Thursday and Groundhog Day!  From the weather forecast it looks like Spring will be here already this weekend, in the 50s.  Today is still winter though.  Made we think warm thoughts and so this butterfly I captured last August fit just right.  This is a Grey Hairstreak also known as a Cotton Square Borer when young that I was able to photograph in the garden.  They are tiny little things, only about an inch across when viewed like this.  They can be very skittish and hard to get close to but sometimes I get lucky.


Wednesday, February 1, 2017

2/1/17

This is another photo I was able to get while we were having our "ice storm".  I have a River Birch tree that the birds seem to enjoy perching in between taking their turn at the feeder.  To get this image and others I have to shoot through 2 panes of glass so I am impressed when they come out as well as this one and the Chickadee one I posted earlier have.  This male Cardinal was waiting his turn on an icy branch.  I love Cardinals for their bright bit of color in an otherwise dull winter.