Back in the old neighborhood

The witching hour draws near and there are many pictures to follow, so I'm just going to jump right on into the good stuff.

A couple of shots of a Goldfinch working his way through some Black-eyed Susans; his plumage is no longer the same vivid yellow as that of the Goldfinches I've photographed over the course of the summer, a sure sign that cooler weather is on the way:





After chatting with a very nice older couple while I was seeing what Whimsy Pond had to offer, I decided to head over to Howell's Swamp for the first time in a few months; they told me they'd just seen some Great Egrets there, so I figured it was worth a shot. I was not disappointed:





The banks of the pond are still lined with tall reeds and other plant growth; I took those pictures of the bird in flight while I was on top of my car, and in fact was standing upright in order to have a clear line of sight. Fortunately for me and my car, when that particular egret settled down again it did so in an area I could see from the only place along the shore where the greenery isn't taller than I am:







I liked this one because you can see the bottom of the bird's right foot:



As with the first time I saw a Great Egret, the water was calm enough to produce a fairly clear reflection; I chose the majority of these shots to share because I liked the effect created by the mirrored image:









I'm pretty sure the egret is scarfing down a fish in this shot, in large part due to the suspicious bulge in its neck in both this and the subsequent image:





Looking for a new fishing spot:







I liked the effect of the curved branches (at least, I'm pretty sure that's a partially-submerged dead tree) paralleling the curve of the egret's neck:



The Great Egret wasn't the only waterfowl I saw while I was at Howell's today. I never got a truly clear look at or photo of the grayish bird I could see moving around in the same general area as the egret, but I believe it's a Green Heron:



I even managed to get both birds in the same frame, although it was purely by accident:



And just a couple more reflection shots to close things out:

Not quite ready for my close-up

I swung by Mom and Dad's today to drop off a couple of things I'd picked up for them while grocery shopping, and arrived just in time to be invited to stay for lunch. Completely unintentional on my part—honest. While I was there a trio of Cardinals came in and hung out in the blue spruce for a while: a male, a female, and a juvenile male. While I wasn't able to get a good shot of the female, I did manage to snag a few of the boys—although if birds could feel vanity, they'd probably be wishing I hadn't.

In the case of the young male, the transition to his adult plumage has resulted in a very patchwork appearance; I think my favorite part is the pair of lonely feathers trying valiantly to look like a crest:





From the front, the adult male actually seems just fine:



When seen from the side, though, he starts to look as if someone did a very clumsy job using the Photoshop eraser tool around his head:



And from the back, you can see that he in fact still hasn't quite recovered from his summer molt:



Of course, I didn't dare leave the house without a picture of Kaylee. But she too wasn't quite looking her best—her left eye was sore and a bit red, and because of the ointment my folks put in it also looked rather... goopy. So she asked that I only photograph her in profile today. Naturally, I was happy to oblige:

Freaky Friday

I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but tonight I had dinner at Mom and Dad's and yet managed to make it home with less than 100 images to download. Trust me, I'm as shocked as anyone. But the songbirds were fairly mellow (except, of course, when we were eating—it's like they're just waiting for my hands to be occupied with something other than a camera), the hummingbirds rarely parked in one spot long enough to even try for a picture, and I think Kaylee is still recovering from the other day. So, just a few photos from me again this evening.

To start things off, a Chipping Sparrow sitting on the edge of the water fountain:



A hummingbird checking out an echinacea blossom:



I chose this Chickadee shot because I liked how sharp its reflection came out as well:



When I caught sight of this view as I was driving home from Mom and Dad's, I immediately pulled off onto the shoulder, grabbed my camera, and leaned out my window. I wish I could have found a way to avoid having the power lines in the shot, but I'm definitely pleased that I managed to capture the colors I saw:



Kaylee, looking regal as ever:



Finally, I thought I'd leave you with a laugh courtesy of a magnet I saw today on the side of a car—one that I happen to know belongs to a psychiatrist:

Crow's feet

As much as I enjoyed watching and photographing the dogs yesterday, I hadn't been awake for more than two minutes before I'd decided that I'd be keeping my photo count well below the century mark today. Not to mention we were in for another hot and humid day here, so minimizing the amount of time I'd be outside seemed like a solid plan.

Luckily for me, a butterfly landed in the parking lot at work to warm its wings in the sun just as I was about to get out of my car:





As I was photographing the butterfly I heard a very familiar bird call behind me—a Kingfisher had decided to stop by and check out our pond. Naturally, I turned around just in time to see it fly into the trees along the water's edge. I slowly walked forward a ways, hoping to catch a glimpse of it, but no luck. So I went back to my car, got the rest of my stuff, and headed on inside.

Not wanting to give up quite yet, after I dropped my bag by my desk and got my computer going I slowly opened the back door and slipped outside. Unfortunately, I never did catch sight of the Kingfisher again. However, while I was standing there a crow landed in the top of a pine tree not too far away; since over the course of the year I've actually taken more pictures of Kingfishers than of crows, I figured it was a decent trade:



I liked how well you could see the crow's claws in this shot I snapped just as it was taking off:



And for whatever reason I just enjoyed how this one came out:



With that, I called it a day photo-wise. And in case anyone's interested, my final image tally was 48. Took much less time to go through when I got home. ;)

When Esa Met Kaylee...

Today started out looking like a normal picture day. I stopped by to have breakfast with Mom this morning, and while I was there I took some shots of the usual suspects—like the hummingbirds:







A gray squirrel:



A Goldfinch:



And a Purple Finch:



When I left the house I had about 75 pictures in my camera—a nice, reasonable number.

Then Mom brought Kaylee by the office to meet Kim's dog Esa. And by the time they'd worn themselves out, I was looking at 500+ images. Good thing they're so cute...



I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these next two shots, which are in sequence—I could take a thousand more images and probably wouldn't capture their strides so closely in synch:





Kaylee does love to elevate:



All I could think when I saw this one was "I vant to suck your blood!":



Smackdown:



Awww...



Things got really interesting when they realized they also had a pond to play in:



"Mom? A little help?":



"Well, at least he's leaving my ear alone..."



Because we've gotten so little rain this summer, the pond's water level was fairly low. Which meant the banks were very, very muddy:



Kaylee's not squatting here—that's how far into the mud her legs sank. I don't even want to know how long it took Mom to clean off the car seats...



That's Esa on the left trying to figure out how to play and swim at the same time:





I loved the curl of Kaylee's tail in this shot as she shook herself off:



A little while later, and after another dip in the pond, I managed to capture both of them shaking water off at the same time:



I got a kick out of how both dogs' ears are pointing up in this one:



Enjoying the sunshine:



One more run for good measure:



Time for treats:





And getting one last sniff in before Mom took Kaylee home:



Needless to say, going through all the pictures took a little while. But all in all, it was totally worth it. At least to me, anyway—Mom and Kim may feel differently, given they both ended up having to give the dogs baths later in the day...