sky

I Believe I Can Fly!

August 22, 2016 — 5 Comments

Franklin's Gull 1

F/14.0, 1/640, ISO 320.

Franklin’s Gull

What did the pig say at the beach on a hot summer’s day?

I’m bacon!

Interesting Fact: In breeding plumage, and sometimes in nonbreeding plumage as well, the Franklin’s Gull often shows a rosy pink cast (rarely salmon) on its chest and abdomen. This color is most apparent on the shafts and bases of its feathers. The color fades as the breeding season progresses as the pigment is broken down by sunlight.  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Franklins_Gull/lifehistory )

 

 

What Do You See In The Clouds ?

August 20, 2016 — 16 Comments

sky clouds

F/13.0, 1/640, ISO 160.

What is a clouds favorite drink?

Mountain Dew

Interesting Fact: Cloud types in the troposphere, the atmospheric layer closest to Earth’s surface, have Latin names due to the universal adaptation of Luke Howard‘s nomenclature. It was formally proposed in December 1802 and published for the first time the following year. It became the basis of a modern international system that classifies these tropospheric aerosols into five physical forms. These physical types include stratiform sheets, stratocumuliform rolls, ripples, and patches, cirriform wisps and patches, cumuliform heaps of variable size, and very large cumulonimbiform heaps that often show complex structure. Most of these forms can be found in the high, middle, and low altitude levels or étages of the troposphere. (  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud )

Look Up In The Sky!

August 17, 2016 — 18 Comments

OneWTC

 

F/25, 1/250, ISO 250.

What do you call a sheep with no legs?

A cloud.

Interesting Fact: One World Trade Center (also known as the Freedom Tower,[13] 1 World Trade Center, One WTC and 1 WTC) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the sixth-tallest in the world. The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was completely destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. The building is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center )

Where Are We?

July 21, 2016 — 16 Comments

House Finches

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 200.

House Finch

What did the bra say to the hat?

You go on ahead while I give these two a lift!

Interesting Fact: The total House Finch population across North America is staggering. Scientists estimate between 267 million and 1.4 billion individuals. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Finch/lifehistory )

 

 

 

Building Castles In The Sky!

July 17, 2016 — 12 Comments

The San Remo

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 100.

The San Remo

This arrogant young guy has recently started work at a construction site and ever since he started he’s been bragging that he could outdo anyone based on his superior strength. He’s been making fun of one of the older workmen in particular.

Eventually, the older worker has had enough and says, “Tell you what – why don’t you put your money where your mouth is? I’ll bet you a week’s wages that I can take something over to that other building in this wheelbarrow and you won’t be able to wheel it back.”

The young guy laughs confidently, “You’re on, old man. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

So the old guy grabs the wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, he nods to the young man as he says with a smile, “Alright. Get in.”

Interesting Fact: The building’s architect, Emery Roth, took advantage of new zoning regulations to build the first of New York’s twin towered apartment blocks.[8] Each of San Remo’s ten-story towers is topped with an English Baroque mansion in the manner of John Vanbrugh and capped with an homage to the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. The Athenian monument was known to Roth from the reproduction that had featured in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. Roth also designed The Beresford and other landmark apartment houses and office blocks in New York. Construction began in 1929, weeks before the market crash initiated the Great Depression. The San Remo’s construction process took approximately two years. In 1940 both buildings were sold, for $25,000 over the existing mortgages. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_San_Remo#History )

 

“Peace Is Not Merely A Distant Goal That We Seek, But A Means By Which We Arrive At That Goal.”

July 16, 2016 — 9 Comments

Mourning Dove 1

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 160.

Mourning Dove

Why did the rubber chicken cross the road?

She wanted to stretch her legs.

Interesting Fact: Mourning Doves eat roughly 12 to 20 percent of their body weight per day, or 71 calories on average. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/lifehistory )

Why You Looking At Me Like That?!

July 4, 2016 — 6 Comments

Happy 4th Of July!

Bald Eagle

F/6.3, 1/320, ISO 200.

Bald Eagle

What do you call a sick eagle?

Ill-eagle!

Interesting Fact: Had Benjamin Franklin prevailed, the U.S. emblem might have been the Wild Turkey. In 1784, Franklin disparaged the national bird’s thieving tendencies and its vulnerability to harassment by small birds. “For my own part,” he wrote, “I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. … Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District.”  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/lifehistory )

 

Car Is In Garage We Will Poop On The Roof Then!

July 2, 2016 — 18 Comments

Brown Pelicans 1

F/5.6, 1/500, ISO 250.

Brown Pelicans

Do you know what the white stuff in bird poop is?

That’s bird poop, too!

Interesting Fact: Pelicans incubate their eggs with the skin of their feet, essentially standing on the eggs to keep them warm. In the mid-twentieth century the pesticide DDT caused pelicans to lay thinner eggs that cracked under the weight of incubating parents. After nearly disappearing from North America in the 1960s and 1970s, Brown Pelicans made a full comeback thanks to pesticide regulations. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/lifehistory )

 

 

Look Into My Eyes, You Are Getting Sleepy!

June 17, 2016 — 19 Comments

Black-crowned Night-Heron 1

F/ 6.3, 1/640, ISO 200.

Black-Crowned Night-Heron ( Juvenile )

How do you wake up Lady gaga?

Poke her face.

Interesting Fact: The familiar evening sight and sound of the Black-crowned Night-Heron was captured in this description from Arthur Bent’s Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds: “How often, in the gathering dusk of evening, have we heard its loud, choking squawk and, looking up, have seen its stocky form, dimly outlined against the gray sky and propelled by steady wing beats, as it wings its way high in the air toward its evening feeding place in some distant pond or marsh!” ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-crowned_Night-Heron/lifehistory )

Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today

June 14, 2016 — 24 Comments

Red-tailed Hawk 1

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 250.

Red-tailed Hawk

What do u call a police officer that works in bed?

A undercover cop.

Interesting Fact: Courting Red-tailed Hawks put on a display in which they soar in wide circles at a great height. The male dives steeply, then shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several of these swoops he approaches the female from above, extends his legs, and touches her briefly. Sometimes, the pair grab onto one other, clasp talons, and plummet in spirals toward the ground before pulling away. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/lifehistory )