TGIF it's Friday! Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well and I have a lovely bubbly bokeh image for today. This is an Echinacea, or Cone Flower, flower in the very early stages of blooming. The petals look like spikes and very different to the long lobed pink petals when fully in bloom. The light on the plants behind it was creating the wonderful bubble bokeh.
While I was in Minnesota I saw an abundance of Dragonflies and Damselflies. There is something about that area that they love. I was able to capture one of the sharpest Blue Damsel photos I have ever taken, this one. I love all the little hairs on them that you don't really notice all the time.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is Lead Plant which I captured blooming in an area I was mowing recently. It gets it's name from the color of the foliage. It's roots can be as deep as 16 feet! It blooms from June through August.
Todays image is one that I captured out on Konza Prairie. This is a Dickcissel that I captured in flight as it just took off from it's perch on a plant. I liked that it was actually looking at me and I got it pretty well focused. I wish it had been closer but I still liked the image as it shows it's habitat as well.
Happy Monday! While I was in Minnesota, I was driving around my usual spots to look for birds to photograph. I was driving down a dirt road I have traveled several times at the same time of year and was surprised by these in an area I had never spotted them in. There were several very large groups of these flowers in bloom off the side of the road. This is one of my phone images of a couple of them. These are Showy Lady Slipper flowers which have been the state flower of Minnesota since 1902.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! While I was in Minnesota, I was operating the 14 inch Wagner locomotive. The railroad there is called the Ortner Railroad. We received a donation of 1/4 inch scale buildings and they were being moved in over the weekend. I had to get this photo while I was running around the track waiting for students to come of the locomotive near the miniature station. The detailing in all the buildings is just incredible. They all still need to be set permanently but still looked great as they were.
I was in Rollag Minnesota this past week. One evening while walking back to the campsite, there was a beautiful sunset happening over Gunderson Pond. I captured it with my phone and had to share.
TGIF, it's Friday! It's also a double digit day! 😁 It's also time for bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious! Today's image with lovely bokeh is one of a Clearwing Moth that I was able to capture recently. I had several visiting the Milkweed that I planted for Monarchs but all kinds of bees, moths and butterflies are enjoying it as well.
My Mulberries have been quite the draw this year, especially the ones that have fallen on the ground. I have had many butterflies coming to eat the fermenting fruit. This one is new to me. It is a Red Spotted Purple butterfly and they are supposed to be fairly common but this is the first time I have ever, knowingly at least, seen one, for sure the first time to capture one.
Just as a reminder, there is a page on the Blog of the Butterflies of Kansas that I have seen and photographed if you are looking for help in IDing one. I have updated it with this new butterfly. 😊
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is Musk Thistle. These are in bloom right now. I find them quite photogenic flowers especially before they open, like the one on the right, however, they are considered invasive in our area so they can be a bit difficult to find because they are supposed to be destroyed. They bloom May through August. Even after being dug up, if the flower head is intact, it can still produce seed.
Today's image is one more of the images that I was able to capture of a Red Tailed Hawk soaring above me. I found it a cool experience because it was fairly close and was looking at me while I photographed it.
Happy Monday! I am starting off the week again with a butterfly. I am not totally sure what kind this was, I saw it very early this spring. I think it is either a Mourning Cloak or more likely, a Hairstreak. This is the only shot I captured of it and it's a bit of a bad angle for IDing. I liked the image though, so here you go. 😄
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog. This is another image of the garden railway at the Overland Park Arboretum. They had a couple of nice waterfalls that made for nice photos of the steam train passing by them. This locomotive is a tank style. Tank style engines carry their water over the boiler and their fuel in a bunker on the back.
Today's image is another of the beautiful sunset that I saw while I was out at Konza Prairie a couple of weekends ago. We had some rain recently but it held off that day fortunately. The clouds made for a lovely sunset though. I had just returned from leading a fun wildflower walk with a group of people.
TGIF it's Friday. Today's image was taken in Lawrence while I was experiencing the Hackberry Emperor Swarm. This is an image that shows off a bit better what they look like. I have them around in my yard right now feasting on the Mulberries that have fallen and are rotting. If you missed my video of the swarm experience, it can be found HERE. I chose this image for today due to the lovely bokeh behind these butterflies because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
I was out on Konza Prairie a couple weekends ago and I was able to see my favorite grass. This is June grass which I find very photogenic, especially when the sun is low and backlights the tufted flowering heads of it. It actually blooms May through July but I have always been able to capture it during it's namesake month.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one of my favorites. This is Queen Anne's Lace and this one shows off very well why it is named that. It is named for the red spot in the middle of the lacey looking flower. Some claim that Queen Anne pricked her finger while working on some lace causing a drop of blood to fall on it. Queen Anne's Lace blooms from June through September and can spread quite a bit. It is in the carrot family and is often called Wild Carrot. I find them quite photogenic flowers.
I was always thinking that the Meadowlarks did not stay around through the winter but this past year proved me wrong as I saw them fairly regularly. I captured this one very late winter/early spring in a field I was riding by. The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of Kansas.
Happy Monday! Starting off this week with a flower from a plant that was about a year in the making. I had photographed and, I think, shared a flower from this before but it is currently in it's spot in the garden and flowering well. This is a Rudbekia flower. I had it planted it last June, it died while I was away so restarted it in late July. I had it in my office over the winter where it bloomed with a couple of flowers and then transplanted it to it's spot in the garden where it promptly wilted because we were having 90 degree temps early on. It has since cooled off and we got some rain and it seems to be doing very well now and currently has 4 blooms on it at once. Very happy as it was kind of an ordeal.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! A few weekends ago, I was out playing with our steam roller. As we were cleaning it up it was putting on quite the steamy show. The hose out the front was from the sump pump that was emptying the water tank and sending the water to my pond. The steam roller as an Iroquois from around 1918 and is quite fun to run but hard to steer. You have to turn a wheel and remember if forward is left or right. 😁
Last Sunday I was out on Koza Prairie for the annual Wildflower Walk. There was a really great turnout and it was a fun time. After the walk I was taking a few sunset pics over the prairie and in the image you can see some Butterfly Milkweed (orange) and a Cobea Penstemon (lower right corner) in bloom. It was a perfect evening, not too hot and not all windy and a lovely sky for the sunset.
TGIF, it's Friday! Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well! I chose this image with the, what I felt, is neat bubbles bokeh. This is a Damselfly this spring on a stem of Pickerel Rush from last year posing very nicely for me. I loved the light on it's wings as well.
The Blue Wild Indigo was very prolific this year. It was beautiful to see the blue-ish flowers everywhere in fields along the roads. The butterflies and bees were enjoying it as well. I captured this Bumblebee on it's way to one of the blooms.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's image is one of my favorite wildflowers. This is Ox eye Daisy. They are lovely and make me happy and last a fairly long time. They can spread and they have done so in an area of my backyard near the pond where I took this photo. I have transplanted some to a couple other areas but this seems to be a favorite. Their normal blooming period is May and June.
It's a double digit day! I haven't seen these birds around lately, they seem to be more elusive in the summer or maybe they go north to get out of the heat. This is another image of an American Kestrel hovering while hunting that I was able to capture this past winter. It is very cool to see, they stay in one spot for quite some time, can be 30 seconds or more.
Happy Monday! I am starting off the week with butterflies. I had an amazing experience on Saturday in Lawrence Kansas. There was a huge swarm of Hackberry Emperor butterflies at the Kansas University Field Station area. They were everywhere and you could hardly walk or take photos because they were all over you as well. This is a photo of just a minute portion of them at the entrance to a path in the woods.
I took some video of them and one of them can be found at this link on YouTube. Hackberry Swarm It was a very cool experience.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Last weekend was a big steam weekend for me both large and small. This is an image of the small example. This is my live steam C 21 locomotive on a friend's garden railway layout at sunset. I was doing a last run for the day and the sky was becoming quite lovely and colorful. The engine runs on Butane and water.
As I mentioned, the Orioles are back and enjoying the jelly we put out. We have a returning visitor that we haven't seen for a couple of years. This is an Orchard Oriole. They are more black in color and have a redish breast. It was lovely to see it again along with the Baltimores. I captured it on the feeder through the window on the front door.
It's Friday, TGIF! Friday's Are Bokehlicious as well so I chose this image due to it's colorful bokeh for today. This is a flower that won't be blooming till almost autumn. It may not bloom at all this year if I don't get it planted soon. 😜 Anyway, this is a vintage variety of Morning Glory which lives up to it's name quite well. To get a photo you have to be quick because as soon as the sun is coming up, it is closing up.
It's June! The year is flying by it seems. I have seen butterflies off and on this spring which has been nice. This is a Question Mark butterfly that I captured high up on an Oak tree one afternoon in my yard. They get their name due to mark on the underside of their wing which looks a lot like a question mark.
