Please share your photos of nature, wildlife, etc.

[rcjtraveler]

Gorgeous. I think today we are living on different planets!

We live in New England and are in Florida on vacation. Definitely a different world today. Stay safe!

 

[Lookinagain]

We live in New England and are in Florida on vacation. Definitely a different world today. Stay safe!

Enjoy your time down there and please keep posting photos of the flora and fauna!

 

[rcjtraveler]

Enjoy your time down there and please keep posting photos of the flora and fauna!

Thanks!

 

[missy]

All in the same day during our wintery hike:
Deer all around



Seals chubby and beautiful

 

[Matata]

Cooper's Hawk came to the smörgåsbord that is my backyard for dinner. Had to take the picture through the glass of the patio doors and the patio screen.

 

[kenny]

Cool hawk!
Is he eating a mouse? Rat? Crow?

Long ago we had a house on acreage with tons of wildlife.
Sitting in the bedroom I used my binoculars to watch a bobcat carefully remove the intestines of a gopher.
It was amazing how skilled it was at not puncturing the guts, which I assume would have made it sick.

It was gross and upsetting to watch but I couldn't look away.

 

[Neptune]

Photogenic, gracious, yet calm.

 

[Wink]

Cooper's Hawk came to the smörgåsbord that is my backyard for dinner. Had to take the picture through the glass of the patio doors and the patio screen.

A friend of mine was using his phone to take a video of some ducks playing nearby on his neighbor's yard. Suddenly, wham! A hawk of some kind slammed into the drake and calmly began eating.

 

[Wink]

I got incredibly lucky on a visit to the Valley of Fire, a half hour or so from a friend's house in Vegas.

As we were leaving we were on a narrow road out in the dessert when I saw this magnificent Big Horn Ram browsing off the side of the road. My friend gently pulled to a stop opposite to the Ram and I quietly got out of the car and walked to the back of the car.

The Ram was broadside to me and I was hoping for a head on shot so I talked quietly to him and he turned to face me head on. As you can see, he is quiet the veteran of the breeding wars, complete with an eye guard that has grown in front of his right eye. I could clearly see the eye when he was broadside to me but in this head on shot.

I kept quietly talking with him and he started to cross the road towards me. Not wanting to be one of those idiot tourists who try to get real up close and personal with a wild animal, especially one with these magnificent three quarter curl and beat up horns, I quietly and quickly got back into the car and we drove off.

This shot was taken at slightly less than ten yards, way close enough!!

 

[autumngems]

NC Coast

 

[Wink]

Here is a fun picture from Red Stone canyon, just outside of Vegas. The small figures on the cliff are crazy people climbing the cliff.The young lady, second blue shirt near the right hand side of the photo just at the top of the black coating, rappelled to just about the ledge near the bottom of the black when I took a picture about three seconds after this one.

 

[missy]

Central Park NYC yesterday.

I love how there is so much nature in the city and NYC is my favorite city in the world. Even now.




Photo credit to my friend H.T.

 

[Neptune]

 

[Wink]

Exquisite.

Wink

 

[Wink]

Taken with my phone New Year's Eve morning. This pond has fresh water coming into it with enough motion to keep the pond open when all of the water around it is frozen.

What is difficult to see is the steamy mist coming off the water on the far side of the pond and blowing gently from left to right on this very cold morning. This was taken about an hour after first light.

One of the best reasons to get up at four in the morning and go out into the cold to set up decoys is the shear beauty of the early dawn. Sure, the camaraderie, and the wonderful duck dinners are important too, but I think it is the beauty that keeps calling me back. Every day it is different, yet always it is magnificent.

Wink



P.S. If you are on a computer, click on the photo and it will expand.

 

[Lookinagain]

I've been doing the "great backyard bird count" this week. I've counted a lot of different birds in my back yard (15 minutes each day) and didn't think to take photos until late today so thought I'd post two of the woodpeckers that seem to be my frequent visitors. A Hairy Woodpecker first, and a Red-Bellied second. I also typically see Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers but didn't take photos today.. Once in a while, but rarely, see a Pileated one. Not today though.

 

[stracci2000]

I've been doing the "great backyard bird count" this week. I've counted a lot of different birds in my back yard (15 minutes each day) and didn't think to take photos until late today so thought I'd post two of the woodpeckers that seem to be my frequent visitors. A Hairy Woodpecker first, and a Red-Bellied second. I also typically see Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers but didn't take photos today.. Once in a while, but rarely, see a Pileated one. Not today though.

I love the woodpeckers! So cute!

 

[missy]

 

[missy]

 

[pinkjewel]

Please meet "Clyde". He is an adorable and HUGE fox squirrel I have become friends with. We have several pairs that frequent our yard, some in the same gray, white, black coloration that Clyde sports and others in just black and white. Clyde usually comes to visit me once a day and will come when called. He's a riot.

 

[Lookinagain]

I love seeing the Cardinals against the snow



And figured I add a photo of one of the Doves. They just sit around most of the time!

 

[Neptune]

Parlor palm "broom"

 

[stracci2000]

A roadrunner on the wall and fence

 

[Wink]

I believe this is a kestrel. It is against a horrible gray sky and the light was very flat.

If I get the time I will probably try to replace the dull gray sky with a new sky. Not sure how it will work, but it is worth a try...

 

[Wink]

I was looking at some of the photos from this week and decided to have some fun with this one.



This is after I cropped it. Then I copied this layer, expanded the canvas size, flipped the copy horizontally and moved it over until the pattern in what was now the center matched up. Then I copied the first layer again and copied it vertically and then copied that layer horizontally and ended up with this fun kaleidoscope effect...



Lightroom and photoshop just make things FUN!

Wink

 

[Neptune]

Mama bird

 

[stracci2000]

Mama bird

Oh! Looks like a mama hummingbird!
So sweet!

 

[Wink]

This is part of the joy of walking the ditch bank. It has been freezing cold here for weeks, then suddenly a few days of 40s 50s and even on this day in the 60s.

People and dogs are everywhere and ducks too. I think these are semi-domesticated wild ducks as they pretty much ignore the people and dogs on the ditch bank.

Here you can see the splash from the lead hen as she lands and another hen and a drake are coming down.

Win

 

[Neptune]

Oh! Looks like a mama hummingbird!
So sweet!

Indeed.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Out my back window this morning.