This is an image I took quite some time ago at my first visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum. This is a scan from a print so had to be around 1990. This is Denver, Leadville & Gunnison RR 2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotive built in the 1880s. It is the oldest locomotive in the museum collection and they did a feature on it recently during their virtual tours. The video can be found on Youtube here.
I have shared a lot of sunsets lately but this one is a sunrise from January 13th. The sky was quite beautiful that morning, even to the west the clouds had a pink fringe to them.
This is another image of one of the cool Clearwing Moths I saw at my Lantana flowers this summer. They feed on flowers just like tiny Hummingbirds the way they hover around them. They are very difficult to catch, you need a fast shutter speed. And, of course, due to the lovely bokeh made by the flowers in the background I chose this photo for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Today's image is of a lovely Painted Lady butterfly on my Butterfly Bush. That plant is quite the draw for butterflies if you are looking for something to plant to attract them. Plus it has lovely blooms to photograph them on. This image has virtually no bokeh, it has a very creamy background.
It's another Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog. Usually in the winter I would run out of wildflower photos but I got a lot of new ones last summer and today's I found in the archives. This is one of my favorites but I rarely get to see it. This is a macro view of a Nipple Cactus bloom. They are out on Konza Prairie and most years I miss the bloom but this was one time I was able to see and photograph it.
With my opportunities to take raptor pictures lately I am learning that some that I am seeing are not what I thought and I am seeing new birds which is cool. This first shot is a new one I captured on a walk a last week. I learned that from the wing pattern this is a Rough Legged Hawk, most likely a female due to the dark belly. Rough Legged Hawks are over winter visitors that are in Kansas from October to April. The second photo down is a recent one that I shared before in December for comparison of a Red Tail Hawk. It is ID's by the light color wings with the prominent dark band.
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| Rough Legged Hawk |
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| Red Tail Hawk |
I am looking forward to flowers blooming again. As I write this, the forecast is 100% chance of a wintery mix for today. We shall see as we have not really had a real winter yet. Anyway, my image for today is of a lovely Stargazer Lily that was given to me by my friend for my birthday a couple of years ago. I love it's lovely color.
