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Thirsty Thursday!

March 31, 2016 — 17 Comments

Red-winged Blackbird

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320.

Red-winged Blackbird

Where does a blackbird go for a drink?

To a crow bar.

Interesting Fact: The Red-winged Blackbird is a highly polygynous species, meaning males have many female mates – up to 15 in some cases. In some populations 90 percent of territorial males have more than one female nesting on their territories. But all is not as it seems: one-quarter to one-half of nestlings turn out to have been sired by someone other than the territorial male. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/lifehistory )

Splash Off!

March 30, 2016 — 17 Comments

American Black Duck

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320.

American Black Duck

Two monsters went duck-hunting with their dogs but without success. “I know what we’re doing wrong,” said the first one. “What’s that then?” asked the second. “We’re not throwing the dogs high enough!”

Interesting Fact: The colors of the bill and legs are used to determine their age and sex. These differences led to an earlier belief that there were two subspecies, a northern, red-legged race, and a southern “common” one. ( http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/392/overview/American_Black_Duck.aspx )

Let’s Get Back On Track!

March 28, 2016 — 29 Comments

High Line Park

F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 320.

How do trees access the internet?

They log on.

Interesting Fact: The High Line (also known as the High Line Park) is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) New York City linear park built in Manhattan on an elevated section of a disused New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line.[1] Inspired by the 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) Promenade plantée (tree-lined walkway), a similar project in Paris completed in 1993, the High Line has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway and rails-to-trails park. (

Quack Pack!

March 25, 2016 — 8 Comments

Harlequin Ducks

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 400.

Harlequin Duck  

What do you call a crate of ducks?

A box of quackers!

Interesting Fact: Also called the Sea mouse because of its very unducklike squeaks. Other names include Circus duck or painted duck for its beautiful colors. ( http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/360/overview/Harlequin_Duck.aspx )

Don’t Lose Hope When The Sun Goes Down The Stars Come Out

March 24, 2016 — 66 Comments

sunset

F/13.0, 1/640, ISO 320.

Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun.

But I have never been able to make out the numbers.

Interesting Fact: Sunset colors are typically more brilliant than sunrise colors, because the evening air contains more particles than morning air. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset#Historically )

 

 

Where flowers bloom, so does hope.

March 21, 2016 — 31 Comments

Crocus

F/8.0, 1/250, IOS 320.

Crocus

What did the big flower say to the little one?

You’re really growing, bud!

Interesting Fact: The first crocus seen in the Netherlands, where crocus species are not native, were from corms brought back in the 1560s from Constantinople by the Holy Roman Emperor’s ambassador to the Sublime Porte, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq. A few corms were forwarded to Carolus Clusius at the botanical garden in Leiden. By 1620, the approximate date of Ambrosius Bosschaert‘s painting (illustration, below), new garden varieties had been developed, such as the cream-colored crocus feathered with bronze at the base of the bouquet, similar to varieties still on the market. Bosschaert, working from a preparatory drawing to paint his composed piece spanning the whole of spring, exaggerated the crocus so that it passes for a tulip, but its narrow, grass-like leaves give it away. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocus#History )

Spring Is A Nature’s Way Of Saying “Let’s Party!”

March 20, 2016 — 14 Comments

Happy First Day Of Spring!

Narcissus

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 320.

Narcissus ( Daffodils )

When do people start using their trampoline?

Spring-Time

Interesting Fact: Spring is one of the four conventional temperate seasons, following winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of the term varies according to local climate, cultures and customs. When it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it will be autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. At the spring equinox, days are approximately 12 hours long with day length increasing as the season progresses. Spring and “springtime” refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth. Subtropical and tropical areas have climates better described in terms of other seasons, e.g. dry or wet, monsoonal or cyclonic. Often, cultures have locally defined names for seasons which have little equivalence to the terms originating in Europe. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_(season)#Meteorological_reckoning )

Do I Look Like I Have An Eye Of The Tiger?!

March 10, 2016 — 6 Comments

Killdeer

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320.

Killdeer

What did the right eye say to the left eye?

Between you and me, there’s something that smells…

Interesting Fact: A well-known denizen of dry habitats, the Killdeer is actually a proficient swimmer. Adults swim well in swift-flowing water, and chicks can swim across small streams. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Killdeer/lifehistory )

Best Thing About Sunsets Is Watching Them With You

March 9, 2016 — 18 Comments

marina sunset

F/ 14.0, 1/800, ISO 500.

Living on Earth might be expensive but at least you get a free trip around the Sun every year.

 

Interesting Fact:  The time of sunset varies throughout the year, and is determined by the viewer’s position on Earth, specified by longitude and latitude, and elevation. Small daily changes and noticeable semi-annual changes in the timing of sunsets are driven by the axial tilt of Earth, daily rotation of the Earth, the planet’s movement in its annual elliptical orbit around the Sun, and the Earth and Moon’s paired revolutions around each other. During winter and spring, the days get longer and sunsets occur later every day until the day of the latest sunset, which occurs after the summer solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, the latest sunset occurs late in June or in early July, but not on the summer solstice of June 21. This date depends on the viewer’s latitude (connected with the Earth’s slower movement around the aphelion around July 4). Likewise, the earliest sunset does not occur on the winter solstice, but rather about two weeks earlier, again depending on the viewer’s latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, it occurs in early December or late November (influenced by the Earth’s faster movement near its perihelion, which occurs around January 3). ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset )

Happy International Women’s Day! All Women Deserve Flowers On This Day!

March 8, 2016 — 20 Comments

flowers

Happy International Women’s Day

F/3.5, 1/60, ISO 250.

Why couldn’t the flower ride its bike?

It lost its petals.

Interesting Fact:  The earliest Women’s Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York; it was organized by the Socialist Party of America in remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.[4] There was no specific strike happening on March 8, despite later claims. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day )