joke

It’s About To Get Real!

January 6, 2016 — 36 Comments

common merganser female and swan

F/ 7.1, 1/1600, ISO 400.

Common Merganser ( Female )

Mute Swan 

Duck Week Continues!

What do baby swans dance to?

Cygnet-ure-tunes!

Interesting Fact: Young Common Mergansers leave their nest hole within a day or so of hatching. The flightless chicks leap from the nest entrance and tumble to the forest floor. The mother protects the chicks, but they catch all of their own food. They start by diving for aquatic insects and switch over to fish at about 12 days old. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Merganser/lifehistory )

Duck Punk!

January 5, 2016 — 43 Comments

hooded merganser female

F/6.3, 1/500, ISO 250.

Hooded Merganser ( Female )

Duck Week Continues!

What do ducks like to eat?

Quackers!

Interesting Fact: Hooded Mergansers find their prey underwater by sight. They can actually change the refractive properties of their eyes to improve their underwater vision. In addition, they have an extra eyelid, called a “nictitating membrane,” which is transparent and helps protect the eye during swimming, like a pair of goggles. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/lifehistory )

That’s Quacktastic !

January 4, 2016 — 26 Comments

Wood Duck

F/ 6.3, 1/40, ISO 1600.

Wood Duck

Duck Week Continues!

What do you get when you cross a duck with a computer?

A quackintosh.

Interesting Fact: Wood Ducks pair up in January, and most birds arriving at the breeding grounds in the spring are already paired. The Wood Duck is the only North American duck that regularly produces two broods in one year. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/lifehistory )

Swimming With Purpose!

January 3, 2016 — 12 Comments

Harlequin Duck

F/ 10.0, 1/400, ISO 400.

Harlequin Duck

Duck Week!

What time does a duck wake up?

At the quack of dawn!

Interesting Fact: When engaged in behavioral interactions, the Harlequin Duck gives distinctly unducklike squeaks, the source of one of its local names: sea mouse. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Harlequin_Duck/lifehistory )

What’s Up?

January 2, 2016 — 22 Comments

Red tailed Hawk

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO400.

Red-tailed Hawk

What is a parrot’s favorite game?

Hide and Speak!

Interesting Fact: The “Harlan’s Hawk” breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form of the Red-tailed Hawk has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. It’s so distinctive that it was once considered a separate species, until ornithologists discovered many individuals that were intermediate between Harlan’s and more typical Red-tailed Hawks. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/lifehistory )

My New Years Resolution Is 1080p

January 1, 2016 — 46 Comments

2016

Happy New Year Everyone!

Welcome 2016!

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 400.

New Years Resolutions List

  1. Lose weight by inventing an anti-gravity machine
  2. Stop repeating myself again, and again, and again.
  3. I will read the manual… just as soon as I can find it.
  4. I will stop making lists…..

Interesting Fact: There are two ways to make ice sculpture: You can carve into a block of ice or make a mold. Blocks of ice are obtained from frozen rivers and lakes. Typically water that freezes slowly makes clear ice and is preferred by artists to make ice sculptures. In some places, artificial blocks of ice are made for this purpose. ( http://www.ehow.com/about_5393158_history-ice-sculptures.html )

 

 

Last Day!!!

December 31, 2015 — 50 Comments

Beavertail Lighthouse

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 400.

Day 365 / 365

What did the ocean say to the lighthouse?

Nothing; it just waved.

Interesting Fact: Prior to the establishment of a lighthouse at Beavertail, local Native Americans would keep pitch fires burning, to warn sailors away from the rocky coastline. The earliest records of the town of Jamestown making reference to construction of a beacon date to 1712, and mention a watch house in 1705.[2] In 1749, a wooden tower was built, and the light (which was then known as “Newport Light”) became the third lighthouse established in the colonies, preceded only by Boston Light in Boston Harbor, and Brant Point Light, Nantucket. A fire was lit at the top of the tower, as was common for the time. Four years later it burned down and was replaced by a stone tower. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beavertail_Lighthouse#History )

If I Had A Billion Dollars

December 30, 2015 — 24 Comments

mansions

F/11.0, 1/640, ISO 800.

Day 364 / 365

The other day I was showing my new girlfriend around the mansion, the 60 acre garden onto the jetty where the 3 yachts were moored then onto the garage with over 30 classic cars. Oh the look on her face was magic.
I can’t wait to see it when I tell her I’m the gardener.

Interesting Fact: Newport Rhode Island Mansions beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, wealthy southern planters seeking to escape the heat began to build summer cottages on Bellevue Avenue such as Kingscote (1839).[13] Around the middle of the century, wealthy Yankees such as the Wetmore family also began constructing larger mansions such as Chateau-sur-Mer (1852) nearby.[14] Most of these early families made a substantial part of their fortunes in the Old China Trade. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport,_Rhode_Island )

Drink Up For Past, Present And The Future!

December 29, 2015 — 5 Comments

White Horse Tavern

F/5.6, 1/60, ISO 320.

Day 363 / 365

A brain walks into a bar and says, “I’ll have a pint of beer please.”

The barman looks at him and says “Sorry, I can’t serve you.”

“Why not?” askes the brain.

“You’re already out of your head.”

Interesting Fact: Frances Brinley constructed the original building on the site in 1652.[2] In 1673, the lot was sold to William Mayes, and the building was enlarged to become a tavern.[2] The building was also used for large meetings, including use as a Rhode Island General Assembly meeting place, a court house, and a city hall.[2] William Mayes, Sr., obtained a tavern license in 1687 and William Mayes, Jr., a well-known pirate, operated the tavern through the early eighteenth century.[2] The operation was named “The White Horse Tavern” in 1730 by owner Jonathan Nichols.[2] During the American Revolution, Tories and British troops were quartered there around the time of the British occupation and the Battle of Rhode Island.[2] After years of neglect as a boarding house, Newport’s Van Bueren family donated money to the private Preservation Society of Newport to restore the building in 1952.[2] After the restoration, the building was sold and once again operated as a private tavern and restaurant.[2] As of 2015, it still remains a popular drinking and dining location. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Tavern_(Newport,_Rhode_Island)#History )

Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Goose!

December 28, 2015 — 9 Comments

Duck Duck Goose

F/ 6.3, 1/ 640, ISO 2800.

Green-Winged Teal

Canada Goose

Day 362 / 365

Where did the duck go when he was sick?

To the Ducktor

Interesting Fact: The American and Eurasian forms of the Green-winged Teal were formerly considered different species. The Eurasian teal differ from the American by lacking the vertical white shoulder stripe and having a horizontal white stripe along the back instead. Eurasian teal show up casually each year along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green-winged_Teal/lifehistory )