Recently I went with friends to the Baker University Wetlands in south Lawrence Kansas. I was having a great day of photographing different birds there and we were starting to head back home when I saw this large bird flying towards where I was. I started to photograph it thinking it was a hawk of some kind but as it got closer I realized it was a Bald Eagle! I was quite surprised as I thought they left our area by early spring. It flew right overhead and I was able to get my best in flight shot ever. That wasn't even the high light of the day. That will be in a future post. 😉
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
5/31/22
Monday, May 30, 2022
5/30/22
Happy Monday! It's Memorial Day. Remembering those lost. I wasn't sure what photo to post and decided on this sunrise I photographed back in April.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
5/29/22
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog. It's Memorial Day weekend and it's the weekend I usually get to go play Garden trains with friends. I decided to share my other Spring shot of my Live Steam Accucraft Ruby on my Garden Railway. I need to re-paint my railroad sign this winter. 😏
Saturday, May 28, 2022
5/28/22
I am going to do something a bit different today and post 2 photos. These birds are "Lifers" for me this year and I got lucky this past week to get both of them. These are Summer Tanagers who have been visiting my suet feeder in the evenings. Very lovely birds and I am glad to see them visit for the first time ever. I am wondering if it is because I have left my suet up longer than usual. The male is the red and the female is the lighter one as found in other birds.
Friday, May 27, 2022
5/27/22
Happy Friday, TGIF! My Iris have been blooming and have been quite lovely color in the garden. This is one of the yellow varieties with some fantastic bubbly bokeh behind because Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well!
Thursday, May 26, 2022
5/26/22
This is my favorite grass. It photographs really well, especially when backlit. This is called June Grass and I shot it last June out on Konza Prairie during a wildflower walk refresher. Their annual Wildflower Walk is coming up on June 5 and is well worth it. Beautiful views and lots of wildflowers to see.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
5/25/22
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is a new one for me and the Blog. It's fairly common but I guess I never paid much attention to it. This called field Pennycress. It blooms from April through June. It is in the Mustard family. It can be poisonous to livestock. It can cause milk to taste garlic-like and bitter.
This has been added to the Wildflowers by Color page here on the Blog for White and Green flowers.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
5/24/22
I have so many bird pictures in reserve to share that I could do over a week straight of them. I have been very lucky with the variety and opportunities I have had in bird photography this year. I got incredibly lucky with this Horned Lark shot as I captured it in flight while it was moving places in a field one day.
Monday, May 23, 2022
5/23/22
My Iris are blooming and depending on the variety are at least halfway through though the cool weather we are experiencing may have slowed them down a bit. This is one of my light purple ones backlit that I thought turned out rather pretty. If you view large, you may be able to see that there is something hiding on this flower. 😄
Sunday, May 22, 2022
5/22/22
It's a double digit day and it is also Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I have a miniature Lilac in the Garden Railway and every year I like to take a spring picture. Here is this year's featuring my Ruby Live Steam locomotive and 2 kit built highly detailed wooden cars built for me by my hubster this past winter. He had bought the kits years ago and re-discovered them. The details on them are quite amazing even down to the small bolts and he has more patience to put it together than I ever would have. 😁
Saturday, May 21, 2022
5/21/22
I have had some great opportunities for capturing birds the last couple weeks of April into the beginning of May. On May 1 I was walking at the Baker University Wetlands in Lawrence Kansas where I had some very cool bird photography opportunities. This is another "Lifer" for me. These are White Faced Ibis that caused me and a friend to get some wet feet in order to get a view of them. I got lucky and got a fairly good photo out of it as well.
Friday, May 20, 2022
5/20/22
It's Friday, TGIF! My Siberian Iris did not produce this year. I think it got eaten by a rabbit or something as i thought I saw it coming up at one point. I took this image of one in Minnesota last year. It had some nice bubbly bokeh behind so I had to share it today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Thursday, May 19, 2022
5/19/22
While I was in Lawrence at the Baker University Wetlands, I was able to see and photograph a new butterfly I had not seen before. This is a Zebra Swallowtail. It was similar to a Tiger but it is more white, and almost had a greenish tint to it with the black stripes. There were several of them around and they were quite neat to see.
I have updated the Butterflies of Kansas Page here on the Blog with this new variety.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
5/18/22
It's Wildflower Wednesday! The wildflowers are everywhere these days. Today's wildflower is Wild Parsley. This is a rather early sprig of it so not as full as usual.
Remember, there are Wildflowers By Color pages here on the Blog to help ID the flowers you are seeing.
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
5/17/22
On Sunday evening there was a lunar eclipse occurring. I only photographed the first part of it due to I have photographed a full one before and I am getting older and needed to get to bed as it was a work night. 😄 I only had time to work with one photo but I was rather pleased with it. When viewed large especially, you can see stars in the image as well. Not a sight you can usually photograph in one exposure with a full moon. I thought the color turned out well too. I'll have to share my sequence one day after I have time to process the images I took.
Monday, May 16, 2022
5/16/22
Happy Monday and new week! My mother-in-law had a lovely small blossomed Orchid that was in full bloom on Mother's Day. I shot it with some strong sunlight from the back and I liked how it turned out.
Sunday, May 15, 2022
5/15/22
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I have shared this locomotive before in a couple shots from above. This is Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive 1223 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. It was built in 1905 and retired by the Pennsylvania railroad in 1950. In 1960 the Strasburg RR borrowed it and ran steam excursions from 1965 to 1989. This locomotive has appeared on screen several times, most notably in a couple of movies, The Broadway Limited (1941) and Hello Dolly (1969). I love the museum's displays like this one that have it in a natural looking setting.
Saturday, May 14, 2022
5/14/22
Today's image is the second of the uncommon birds for me and is also a "Lifer" for me as it is the first time I was able to capture one. I saw this one while out riding bikes on a cloudy day so I was pleased with being able to capture it at all. This is an Upland Sandpiper. I saw it in a farm field. I hope that if it is nesting it will be done by the time anything is done with that field.
Friday, May 13, 2022
Thursday, May 12, 2022
5/12/22
This is an image I captured last year but never shared. This is a lovely Ladybug on the leaf of a Common Milkweed which has a bunch of little hairs all over it.
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
5/11/22
It's another Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! This one has been blooming quite a lot lately. It is a wild Pansy which is also called a Johnny Jump Up here in Kansas. Apparently the name refers to it's quick growth in the Spring.
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
5/10/22
The last week of April was a great one for me for capturing rare birds to see in my area. The first was this Yellow Rumped Warbler that was getting a drink at my Gazebo pond one afternoon while I happened to be over there, actually looking for Waxwings. I just took a photo and I was thinking it looked like something new and different and it was!
Monday, May 9, 2022
5/9/22
Happy Monday! I am starting off the week with one of my favorite flowers, Bleeding Hearts. I find I have a lot of favorites. 😀 Anyway, I find these quite interesting and they make for good photo subjects.
Sunday, May 8, 2022
5/8/22
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Once again we go back to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. Today's locomotive is a more unique and specialized one called a Climax. The Climax Company made farm implements but were approached to build a locomotive for removing Lumber from mountain sides that was powerful, agile and cheap. By making use of an offset bevel gear, they produced a locomotive that was very nimble and flexible. It could climb steeper grades and navigate sharper turns than other types of geared locomotives of equal weight. This locomotive was built in 1913 and retired in 1956. In West Virginia I was able to ride behind one of these locomotives at the Durbin Rocket Railroad but I think it has been replaced currently by a different type.
Saturday, May 7, 2022
5/7/22
This is how I tend to see Herons. They are almost always flaying away from me. I got lucky that I was fairly close before we spotted each other. I took this at a good sized pond near where I live that I have seen some various ducks traveling through on.
Friday, May 6, 2022
5/6/22
It's Friday, TGIF! Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well! I chose this image with some lovely bubbly bokeh of a couple of bees enjoying the Sandhill Plum blooms in my yard a couple of weeks ago. The Sandhill Plum was recently made the state Fruit of Kansas. I was mainly trying to photograph the Bumble Bee and discovered it had been photo-bombed by the other bee when looking through my photos.
Thursday, May 5, 2022
5/5/22
I am very much looking forward to capturing these butterflies again. I have seen a few flying by but so far none have stopped to enjoy the Lilacs or any other things in bloom, at least not while I have been around. This is a Monarch that I captured last fall enjoying the Zinnias in my garden.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
5/4/22
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog once again. Now that spring has arrived, there are quite the number of wildflowers beginning to bloom again. This one has a lovely looking flower but is considered very invasive in our area. This is Garlic Mustard which can get a good 2 feet tall but this one was fairly short, only about 4 to 5 inches.
As a reminder, there are Wildflowers by Color pages here on the Blog that you can use to help ID what flowers you see appearing.
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
5/3/22
I saw my first Waxwings last week. I captured this one after it left the Crabapple tree because it didn't want me too close nd sat in an Elm tree. To me their tails look as though they have been dipped in yellow wax as well.
Monday, May 2, 2022
5/2/22
Happy Monday and a day with a lot of 2s in it. 😀 Tulips have some interesting details when viewed up close. This is one of my lovely yellow and red ones.
Sunday, May 1, 2022
5/1/22
It's Steamy Sunday once again on the Blog! Once again we go back to Strasburg and the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. This is locomotive 1187 which was built in 1888 in the Altoona, PA shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad and then retired in 1939. It was an H3 Class Consolidation 2-8-0 type, used for freight. By 1924, the railroad had over 3300 class H locomotives in service which was 44% but the 1187 is the sole survivor.