Teasel: A Crown of Thorns

As I was composing this image, I was struck by the thought that the Teasel head appears as a Crown of Thorns.

Teasel, a prickly plant of the over grown meadows and roadsides is great to photograph but beware of touching. Last year dry brown teasel appeared many times in the blogs I visit regularly attesting to its popularity as a photographic subject.

Tom over at Wiggers World posted about it, describing its past use in carding wool along with photographs of crafts created by his better half. After beating the seeds out of the dried heads my wife has successfully used Teasel in her autumn flower arrangements.

However stately and beautiful a Teasel plant may be, I can attest to the fact that it is no fun to bare-handed grab a bale of hay containing dried Teasel.

Reflections of Summer: Painted Turtle

As the boat slid quietly into a small cove I spied this pretty Painted Turtle basking on a log. The lighting was good and I easily maneuvered into the best position for this reflection shot.

Many of the wildlife subjects I shoot are wary and difficult to photograph but that is not the case with the Painted Turtles. As long as one doesn’t make sudden movements or approach inside of their comfort zone these turtles are content to be the subject of many a blog post.

Milkweed & Butterflies

Milkweed attracts a variety of butterflies. Monarchs depend up on it to feed their larvae and here a pair of what I believe to be Great Spangled Fritillary Butterflies feed upon the blossoms.

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A Pretty Bird: Cedar Waxwing

There are so many beautiful birds that I hesitate to say which is the prettiest. Of course such a statement would only be that of my own personal opinion so with that in mind I can only state that in my opinion the Cedar Waxwing is high on my list.

My closest encounter with the Cedar Waxwings this year occurred on a day when our cherries were ripe. As I stood under the tree picking cherries, a pair of Cedar Waxwings busied themselves picking in the tree top. I could not begrudge the birds the fruit for many years ago the tree was planted by a bird and grew up wild in what was then a fence row. When I cleared the fencerow to make way for my humble abode over thirty years ago, I allowed the tree to stand. Since moving here the birds and I share the tasty cherries when they ripen each season.

The birds always get the lions share but that is as it should be, for without their ancestors the cherry tree would not exist.

SkyWatch Friday; Close-up of a Thunder Shower

After capturing the image I posted last week of the distant thunder showers, I used the 400mm lens to capture this close-up. I was fortunate that these showers were to the east of my location at sundown allowing the evening sun to light them with a beautiful light.

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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.

Idyllic days of Summer

A Whitetail Doe wades the creek on a warm June evening

Summer is a time of plenty for the whitetail deer. Food is plentiful, with cover seldom more than a few jumps away. The rigors of the winter, the rut, and hunting seasons are all in the past with blood sucking insects now being the major annoyance.

This doe seemed to be enjoying her stroll through the cool waters. Like the doe I too enjoy a refreshing wade on a hot summers evening.

Hightailing it out of Here

If you never knew where the term “hightailing” came from,

well now you do

As my wife and I were riding my dad’s JD Gator along the hay field featured in my previous post with the dragon fly; a lone doe flushed from the high grass and made her escape across the field.
I’m sure she has a fawn or fawns stashed nearby but not wanting to disturb them we continued on our way with this image as a reminder of our close encounter

Of Dragons & Flies

A Dragonfly rest momentarily on a stalk of grass

This morning I spent a considerable amount of time on the lake attempting to capture a Dragonfly in flight. Dragonflies are masters of fast flight and instantaneous directional change. Although I shot quite a bit, none of the images were of the quality I desired.

This evening while checking one of our hay fields which lies near the creek, I came upon this obliging subject.

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Killdeer: Our most common Plover

Named for its call, the Killdeer is commonly seen in meadows, pastures, and golf courses over most of North America. This Killdeer was unconcerned about my presence while hunting worms in the soggy pasture.

Killdeer have drawn my attention from an early age. I well remember being enthralled with them from an early age. As a boy, I enjoyed watching them run about the pastures, always able to maintain a healthy distance between themselves and an inquisitive little boy.

When viewed up close their brilliant markings are striking but at a little distance those same sharply contrasting colors serve as excellent camouflage