It has been ten days since I started this challenge. I imagined that it would be easier than it has been. I don’t have a clear sense of what I want here except a gathering place for images that I find inspirational. I also mean to document my journey across the country last summer. However, thinking about it everyday is a bit burdensome. My belief, though is that the discipline…
Hawkish
A dank, overcast day that ended in rain. Things always seem more difficult in the shadows. Put some sunlight out there and suddenly the world is wonderful. These two birds are going to have to accomplish that. These are promised stills from videos captured on Thursday and Friday. The hawk is a special pleasure. Look at that attitude above. I am still trying to identify this guy who I caught…
Another Surprising Day
It warmed up considerably today. Perhaps in the low 70s and, as yesterday, the backyard surprised me with the assemblage of color and variety. My default when taking pictures of birds is to go for the video. This is more reliable since I can be sure I have gotten the images. With stills, I have to try to adjust the camera rapidly, particularly because here in the backyard there are…
A Symphony in the Air
Nature is conspiring to delight me. The person above is the Eastern Bluebird. This morning, a little brown bird which I believe to be the Eastern Phoebe, darted across the lawn. He took up residence in a tree outside the screen and stayed there. His coloring is such that I have difficulty photographing him well. These birds are really about an inch or two high, and of course are usually…
A First
Today was cool and very windy. It excited the birds. One crow flew overhead like a wind surfer, riding the waves. As scavengers, they don’t have very admirable reputations, but obviously they perform very necessary services. (I often wonder what happens to alligators when they die!). Crows are quite smart, too, evidently. Some will leave gifts if you provide them food. The gratitude of crows. Today, the one impressed me…
Duck
I injudiciously chased down these two while trying to appear not to be doing so. They hang out a bit further down the water from us, because there is an old woman who feeds them. The white of the female is a bit boring, but I do love the look of the male. The colors are so varied. I remember my first encounter with mallards. It was a DIY quilted…
Commitments
Today, there is this: I actually quite like this one. This is a fresh water clam. The food of the limpkin, seen in yesterday’s post. This bird gets quite energetic in it’s consumption. It vigorously pries open the clam and wrestle’s the creature free. Occasionally, it must lift it’s long beak and pound the shell so it splits open. The thing about the commitment to write a post every day…
Just Because I Can’t See It
These two birds are a study in contrast. I have better pictures of them both, but none taken today. The one of the left is a tri-colored heron, the one on the right a limpkin. This little inlet sits on the other side of the shore, and they hung out over there for much of the day. The limpkin I would call very successful. He’s very deliberate and spends a…
Backyard Bounty
I knelt down on the boardwalk, my camera hanging from my neck. “Look,” I exclaimed with excitement. “There really is something there.” There, with steam rising from it, and the sulphuric odor suffusing the air, there was life there at the water’s edge. This was on a walk among the glaciers in Yellowstone National Park. The brochures were right, it seemed. Even in this inhospitable environment, the very crust of…
What If
What if I wrote a post every day for one month? What if I recorded things which inspired or moved me? What if I added a photo everyday? What if I didn’t know what I was doing? What if it were hard? What if it taught me something? What if I learned? What if I became more me? What if a year from now this was a valuable record of…