FMTM52Week Challenge – Week 5 – Wide Angle
This week’s FMTM52Week 5 challenge is “Wide Angle”. Our adventures last summer included a week staying at a campground at the entrance of Bryce Canyon National Park. Having seen posts and photos prior to our visit, I was still beyond awe of the astounding beauty of Bryce Canyon.
At 8,000-9,000 feet altitude, you could see for miles and miles. It was jaw-dropping! Here is one of my many wide-angle shots to prove it.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
But too really appreciate Bryce Canyon NP, you need to visit to see it for yourself. It’ll blow you mind away, promise!
FMTM52Week Challenge – Week 4 – Selfie
I am way behind on everything, including posting this past week’s challenge, “Selfie”.
Of course, as some, I’m not a fan of selfies, and do very little of them. I have an old android cell phone that doesn’t take very good photos. Also, trying to take one over the past few weeks while not feeling well would have been a truly awful selfie if I had tried, I’m sure. You’d have seen me at my worse!
However, I did remember taking one when we visited the Grand Canyon this past summer and offer that as my week’s challenge. I should have left my sunglasses on to fight the squint!
Me at the Grand Canyon, Arizona
It was really a memorable day to see the amazing splendor the Grand Canyon has to offer. I had wanted to visit here my whole life, and it finally became a reality. I was stoked to say the least!
FMTM52Week Challenge – Week 3 – Drink
The FMTM Week 3 challenge is interpreting the word, “Drink”.
I wanted color and pizazz. I took this photo almost a year ago from my condo balcony at sunset.
Happy Hour at Sunset….
Cheers, my friends!
Birds In Flight at Bombay Hook NWR
I enjoy photographing birds, even more so the challenge of photographing them in flight. My recent visit to Bombay Hook NWR did not disapoint.
At the start of the wildlife drive, I was immediately welcomed by an American Bald Eagle.
American Bald Eagle
After the thrill of clicking away, I had hopes that this was a sign of more good things to come.
It was. It turned out to be an awesome day practicing flight photography.
Tundra Swans
Great Blue Heron
Mallards (male & female)
Northern Harrier
Another Northern Harrier
Bufflehead (female)
Northern Shovelers
Snow Geese
American Bald Eagle (with nesting material in tow)
American Black Ducks
Northern Pintails
Happy weekend, everyone!
FMTM52Week Challenge – Week 2 – Winter
The FMTM Week 2 challenge is interpreting the word, “Winter”.
Living most of my life in the mid-Atlantic region with the last 11 years just off the Chesapeake Bay along the Kent Narrows, winter always meant cold, ice, and snow. It also meant the arrival of many migratory birds. And you know I do love birds.
My last post, Snowing Snow Geese, would have been perfect for this challenge. Their arrival definitely means winter to me.
I have many MANY more winter bird photos. More of them than you have time for, lol. But to get out of that comfort zone of mine, I wanted to come up with something different and simple that still meant winter. I ended up loving this one!
A leaf doing yoga in the snow
Guess it would be a great interpretation of exercise too! Which BTW I still need to do today. 🙂
Snowing Snow Geese
I recently got the opportunity to visit Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware and was delighted to see and photograph many different types of birds & waterfowl, including the beautiful Snow Geese.
Off in the far distance from the wildlife drive, several thousand Snow Geese had arrived, migrating here from the high arctic to the subarctic coastal areas in the Canadian and Northern Alaskan tundra.
The delight became a thrill when I was lucky to watch two “lift-offs”, where the flock takes flight and then resettles in a whirlwind of white.
And, boy oh boy, the noise is crazy loud and lovely, all at the same time.
Watching a huge flock of Snow Geese swirl down from the sky is a little like the feeling of standing inside a snow globe!
Snow Geese do not like to travel without the company of another couple dozen geese and can form flocks as large as several hundred thousand.
Eventually, every last Snow Goose resettled to continue their foraging, preening, and rest.
As I was leaving Bombay late afternoon, a third “lift-off” occurred where a large number decided to not resettle but instead took a direction away and flew right past me.
They continued to climb high up in the sky and flew off into the horizon, headed to their evening’s place of rest.
If you have never seen or heard the Snow Geese in their loud glory, my hope is one day you do. It’s a sight and sound you will not likely ever forget!
A Piebald White-tailed Deer
Running an errand recently, I sighted a small herd of White-tailed deer that included a rare single piebald. Piebald deer have a coloration pattern of white and brown, similar to a pinto pony. Sometimes they appear almost entirely white.
Piebaldness occurs due to genetic variations and not due to parasites or illness.
Contrary to popular belief, a piebald deer is not a cross between a normal White-tailed deer and an albino. An albino deer has pink eyes, a pink nose, and pinkish hooves, whereas a piebald deer has normal brown eyes and nose with black hooves like the normal White-tailed.
Though rare, piebald deer are more common than the white, albino, or the extremely rare melanistic (black) deer. Scientists say that less than one percent of White-tailed deer in a herd carry the genetic defect, and fewer yet exhibit the piebald traits.
This is a new wildlife sighting for me, so you know I was thrilled and had to share!
FMTM52Week Challenge- Week 1 – New Beginnings
This year I have decided to attempt my first word press photo challenge to challenge my comfort zone. It is hosted by one of my favorite blogs, From Moments to Memories, and is a 52 week photo challenge.
This week is the first challenge and is entitled “New Beginnings”.
My interpretation is each day’s sunrise offers us a new beginning….
Sunrise over Marshy Creek, Kent Narrows, Maryland
Another sunrise, another new beginning. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
If you’re interested in challenging your comfort zone, join the fun! And as always, thank you for stopping by my blog dear friends!
A Final Bird Series From The Lake
I’m sitting here today in Delaware, creating this post while it is snowing outside. It is beautiful! We’re to get maybe 5″. The forecast changed constantly all day, there was a chance of 10″ at one time. Glad it’s to be less!
Back in November, as beautiful and warm as it was at Lake Greenwood, SC, I should have known I would have way more photos of birds to share than I originally thought once I finished up going through them.
To end my lake series, here are some of the other birds that were in abundance if you just stopped, looked, and listened.
Early morning was the best time to see Eagles passing over.
Juvenile American Bald Eagle
The evenings were great to see the flocks of Cormorants high in the sky.
Cormorants
And both early morning and at sunset, you couldn’t miss hearing the Loons calling and seeing them at a distance.
Common Loons
At any time during the day, the Turkey Vultures were overhead. Sitting in my chair, they would fly towards and over me, checking me out. For what, I don’t know, hope they didn’t think I was dinner.
Turkey Vulture
The sparrows were flitting around everywhere, and boy did I have a hard time capturing any of them. I did like this Chipping Sparrow shot with the background colors.
Chipping Sparrow
I could hear Mallards down the lake along the shoreline, but they never swam close to our floating docks as I had seen in the past. I did luck out one time when I heard them coming and caught them in flight passing by me.
Mallard Ducks
Always a cutie, there were quite a few Eastern Phoebes high up in the trees, enjoying the sunshine.
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Or even down by the floating docks. As long as no one was around there.
Eastern Phoebe
Finally, with my birds, I took a bunch of photos of the resident Northern Mockingbirds, they were every where, trying to protect their territory areas. My favorites of them were of this one who I had been photographing sitting on his perch. He/she took flight in my series. I was headed towards that perch to look for other birs when he/she returned, obviously from bath time.
Northern Mockingbird
Drying in the warm breeze, looking quite pretty!
Northern Mockingbird
To end this post, I’d like to share a colorful moth that challenged me for a while….
Long-tailed Skipper (thank you Shannon!)
and another close-up of a flower I missed sharing in a previous post.
We left the lake just before Thanksgiving and headed back to the mid-Atlantic region for the holidays to be with our families. We’re still here as I mentioned, now enjoying this snowfall, but as I said, not the cold!
The Great Chipmunk Escape
This past November, I loved watching the little Eastern Chipmunks that scurried around, in and out of the bushes at Lake Greenwood. Trying to photograph them in focus was a different story.
I finally lucked out and caught an early sighting of this next one on an RV site pad, giving me time to aim and focus with my telephoto lens.
My header photo above was him and I first making eye contact. 🙂
And then he took off!
And then he was gone! Now that was one great Chipmunk escape!
Bay Photos by Donna 