Two finches

A late night last night + a hot and humid day today = Sara photographing the Purple Finches who visited her feeder this morning and calling it good.

I did really like how the feeder and the birds were almost entirely in shadow except when the finch on the left sat a certain way—almost like catching Dorothy in the process of stepping out from her black and white home into the technicolor world of Oz. Or maybe that's just the beer talking:



A closer look at the one finch as he enjoyed his meal. Definitely not the neatest eater:



I don't think tomorrow's supposed to be any cooler than today, so we'll see if I get any more ambitious with my photography.

Monday miscellany

Looks like I managed to photograph myself into yet another large photo post, leaving me sitting here after 11 p.m. struggling to pull enough brain cells together to come up with complete sentences to accompany said pictures. Go me.

To start things off, a couple of spider webs I noticed as I drove to work this morning:





Same web as above from a different angle:



The two webs together—essentially, this is the visual that caught my eye in the first place:



Hard as it may be to believe, I had dinner with Mom and Dad after work and yet am only posting two bird photos from that visit. Yes, really—try to contain your shock...

A Goldfinch on the water fountain at Mom and Dad's:



And a lucky catch of two Chickadees not only sharing the fountain but looking the same way at the same time.



Shortly after we finished dinner, a doe and her two fawns showed up in the yard to enjoy their own meal under one of the apple trees:





This fawn is still working out how to keep hold of the apple long enough to bite into it:





"I think I got it this time..."



However, the undisputed highlight of the evening was what happened shortly after the deer left. Kaylee hopped up on the hot tub lid, while Dad was sitting just in front of it. What happened next was adorable, funny, sweet... basically it was one of those times I was extremely grateful for this project, as if it had happened a year ago I'd have been sitting there saying "Dammit, I wish I'd had my camera with me." And because the pictures tell the story so perfectly, I honestly don't think I need to add a single caption to any of them. Which works out well, as I'm not sure I can stay awake long enough to write some anyway:

Ants

I was working at the museum today, so I didn't really get a chance to get outside and take pictures until the late afternoon. Fortunately for me, when I did finally grab my camera and step out of my apartment it was to see a ton of flying ants circling around. I sat down on the edge of our driveway and did my best to take some shots as they crawled around on the grass:



I liked being able to see both sets of wings head-on in this pic:





Getting acrobatic:









Bye!

Up close and personal

As I anticipated, tonight's post will feature a ton of pics. However, because I'm fading fast it will not contain a ton of words...

I focused on the hummingbirds once again while over at Mom and Dad's, mostly because in just a few weeks they'll all be heading south for the winter. So I figure I should enjoy them while I can:





After a while I decided to go stand next to the water fountain so I could keep an eye on both feeders at once. As it turned out, the second feeder was too shaded to really get any decent shots. However, the hummingbirds were so focused on each other that my presence was a secondary concern at best—meaning they had no qualms about flying past close enough for me to touch, much less sitting on the tiger lily stalks that were a whole four or five feet away:



Needless to say, I took full advantage of the chance to take some truly close-up photos:







Trying to look as big and fierce as possible:





"Bring me Solo and the Wookie."





A good look at the adult feathers starting to emerge on this young male:







Trying to keep an eye on the birds coming in from both sides:





Not to mention straight above:



I didn't just stand around photographing hummingbirds the whole time, though. In fact, shortly after I arrived Dad and I went up into the woods so he could show me this pretty spectacular mushroom:



And, of course, I had to add to my Kaylee collection as well. I have a feeling she's going to be rather disappointed when corn is no longer in season:





"Look what I've got, Dad. Go on... take it."



"HAH! Too slow!"





Making sure she puts a safe distance between herself and everyone else:



So nice and crunchy:



I actually took this last one when we were up in the woods so I could photograph the mushroom. It's not the greatest shot in the world, as it's hard to make out Kaylee's features, but I still liked the effect of the afternoon sun coming through the trees behind her: