F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320.
Cooper’s Hawk
What did the tree say to spring?
What a re-leaf.
Interesting Fact: Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a dangerous lifestyle. In a study of more than 300 Cooper’s Hawk skeletons, 23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula, or wishbone. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk )
F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 320.
Northern Harrier
A camel meets an elephant.
The elephant asks jokingly: “Why do you have two breasts on your back?”
The camel replies: “With a face like yours, I’d just shut up.”
Interesting Fact: Northern Harriers are the most owl-like of hawks (though they’re not related to owls). They rely on hearing as well as vision to capture prey. The disk-shaped face looks and functions much like an owl’s, with stiff facial feathers helping to direct sound to the ears. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Harrier )
F/6.3, 1/160, ISO 400.
Eastern Bluebird
Doctor is talking to a patient.
Doctor: “Do you do sports?”
Patient: “Does sex count?”
Doctor: “Yes.”
Patient: “Then no.”
Interesting Fact: Eastern Bluebirds typically have more than one successful brood per year. Young produced in early nests usually leave their parents in summer, but young from later nests frequently stay with their parents over the winter. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/lifehistory )
F/6.3, 1/250, ISO 1600.
Short Eared Owl
When does a Owl go “mooooo”?
When it is learning a new language!
Interesting Fact: As suggested by their wide global distribution, Short-eared Owls can travel long distances over vast expanses of ocean. Witnesses have reported seeing these owls descending on ships hundreds of miles from land. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/short-eared_owl/lifehistory )
F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 400.
American Goldfinch
An angry wife was complaining about her husband spending all his free time in a bar, so one night he took her along with him. “What’ll you have?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. The same as you I suppose,” she replied.
So, the husband ordered a couple of Jack Daniel’s and threw his down in one shot. His wife watched him, then took a sip from her glass and immediately spat it out.
“Yuck, that’s TERRIBLE!” she spluttered. “I don’t know how you can drink this stuff!”
“Well, there you go,” cried the husband. “And you think I’m out enjoying myself every night!”
Interesting Fact: American Goldfinches are the only finch that molts its body feathers twice a year, once in late winter and again in late summer. The brightening yellow of male goldfinches each spring is one welcome mark of approaching warm months. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Goldfinch/lifehistory )
F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 250.
Ring-necked Duck
Why did the duck go to jail?
Because he got caught selling quack.
Interesting Fact: Ring-necked Ducks on their breeding grounds occasionally get attacked by the much larger Common Loon, the Red-necked Grebe, and even the much smaller Pied-billed Grebe. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-necked_Duck/lifehistory )
F/13.0, 1/500, ISO 800.
Northern Cardinal ( Female )
Why couldn’t the leopard play hide and seek?
Because he was always spotted.
Interesting Fact: A week or two before the female starts building, she starts to visit possible nest sites with the male following along. The pair call back and forth and hold nesting material in their bills as they assess each site. Nests tend to be wedged into a fork of small branches in a sapling, shrub, or vine tangle, 1-15 feet high and hidden in dense foliage. They use many kinds of trees and shrubs, including dogwood, honeysuckle, hawthorn, grape, redcedar, spruce, pines, hemlock, rose bushes, blackberry brambles, elms, sugar maples, and box elders. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/lifehistory )
F/5.6, 1/125, ISO250.
What did the oak tree say when autumn came around?
Leaf me alone.
Interesting Fact: The word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year.[11] It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus.[12] After the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French) or autumpne in Middle English,[13] and was later normalised to the original Latin. In the Medieval period, there are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but by the 16th century, it was in common use. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn )
F/6.3, 1/160, ISO 160.
Butterfly
What do you call a belt with a watch on it?
A waist of time.
Interesting Fact: Butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year depending on the species. Many species have long larval life stages while others can remain dormant in their pupal or egg stages and thereby survive winters.[30] The Melissa Arctic (Oeneis melissa) overwinters twice as a caterpillar.[31] Butterflies may have one or more broods per year. The number of generations per year varies from temperate to tropical regions with tropical regions showing a trend towards multivoltinism. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly#Biology )
F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 200.
Snowy Egret
A little boy asked his father, “Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?”
And the father replied, “I don’t know, son, I’m still paying for it.”
Interesting Fact: During the breeding season, adult Snowy Egrets develop long, wispy feathers on their backs, necks, and heads. In 1886 these plumes were valued at $32 per ounce, which was twice the price of gold at the time. Plume-hunting for the fashion industry killed many Snowy Egrets and other birds until reforms were passed in the early twentieth century. The recovery of shorebird populations through the work of concerned citizens was an early triumph and helped give birth to the conservation movement. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Egret )
Through Open Lens 