Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Summer Flowers, instead of Birds



Birds, birds, and more birds; Today, for a change of pace,
I share with you a flower


Beginning with my late February trip to Florida, most of my post and the majority of images I have captured have been of wildlife. 2008 was my first spring shooting a DSLR. Combining the Canon 30D with the excellent Canon 100-400mm lens made bird photography possible. Following my return from Florida I began pursuing the waterfowl migrations by boat as they passed through my area. As summer approached and the waterfowl migrations dwindled, my attention was drawn to the many songbirds that frequent the area around my home.

I photographed this flower while stalking along a local creek in search of wood ducks. Unfortunately the ducks discovered me before I them. The ducklings ran up the overgrown stream bank while the mother played the “crippled duck” attempting to lead me away from her brood. As she reached a bend in the creek I saw her become airborne. A few minutes later she flew past and dropped into the bushes where her brood had disappeared.

The action broke rapidly and I never had a chance to deploy the camera. The flower saved the day.

8 comments:

Chad Oneil Myers said...

Nice image Dad.

Sandy and I saw a mother Duck and her 7 children outside of a huge mall in Orlando this past weekend. They followed their mom through a puddle and up onto the sidewalk...with the last two little guys struggling to make it up. The all finally did and followed her into the bushes.

Many people stopped to look at the little troup. It was a cute site.

Pat - Arkansas said...

Zoh!... ziss iss d'vun dat didn't get avay, yes? Veddy interessstink! ::picture Artie Johnson behind the palm::: (sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Nice lily!

Tom said...

Excellent, I was doing something similar the other week, I was trying to get a shot of a Blackbird, but I noticed the Ladybird bugs that I posted last week.... by the time I'd taken the picture the Blackbird saw me and flew off giving out it's 'alarm' call for ever other wild creature to hear.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Salty: Very nice Lily photo, I also get excited as I see birds putting on a show and miss the photo. I enjoy seeing the show and am glad you shared the description with us.

Kerri Farley said...

One of my favorite flowers!! But I never tire of the bird shots either!

Anonymous said...

When the lillies appear in mass then I know it's summer. It's one of my favorite wildflowers for their orange highlights against an ocean of summer greeenery.

This is a very nicely composed image, Salty.

Michele said...

Beautiful...

photowannabe said...

Some sights are for our eyes only I guess. They way you are able to photograph, I'm sure the occasion wil happen again with your camera at the ready.
Love the lily shot. Beautiful color and composition.