Last week I was able to capture my first butterfly of the year. I had seen a few Sulphurs flying around a couple of days before this but was not able to get an image of any. While on a bike ride on a river walk trail I spotted this one and was able to get a few images. This is a Mourning Cloak butterfly which over winters as an adult and is usually one of the first to emerge.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one of my favorites but I can never seem to get it to come back the next year in my gardens. It's weird as I find it growing wild so it has to be returning and not freshly planted. This is Indian Blanket Flower which usually blooms May through September. It is also known as Gaillardia. The Kiowa Indians believed it brought good luck and it is the state wildflower of Oklahoma. It gets it's name from the fact that it usually grows in large groups and looks like a blanket of color.
I was off work last week and was able to go on some longer bike rides and visit some areas with ducks that were passing through the area. This image was one of my favorites that I was able to capture. I am not sure what type of duck it is though, not up on my duck IDs. 😋 My guess, because of the black on the butt and dark beak is a male Gadwall.
Happy Monday and happy new week. This is a photo I took last spring and never got around to sharing. I hope to see something similar soon this year. This is an image of a couple of Peony blooms. They did really well last year and hoping the same for this year.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! I'm looking forward to being able to run my Garden Railway trains again. This is an image from one of it's first runs this past year before I put out any buildings. This engine is battery powered so I don't have to worry about any track cleaning. 😂
Lately I have not had much of an opportunity to photograph colorful sunrises, the sky was either fairly dreary or the timing wasn't great. With the time change I hope to get a few more now that it will be a bit darker in the morning for a while. This is one from the end of February that was fairly colorful.
It's Friday! Not saying TGIF this week because it's the last day of my week off. 😏 Today's image has some bokeh goodness in it because Friday's Are Bokehlicious. I captured this image last spring of a Monarch butterfly enjoying the Mock Orange blossoms on one of the bushes in my yard.
