sky

Hold It Until We Find A Clean Car!

February 13, 2022 — 8 Comments

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 200. 

Brown Pelican

How do you make holy water?

Boil the hell out of it!

Interesting Fact: Though they have an awkward gait on land, Brown Pelicans are strong swimmers and masterful fliers. They fly to and from their fishing grounds in V-formations or lines just above the water’s surface. They and the closely related Peruvian Pelican are the only pelican species to perform spectacular head-first dives (typically ending in a huge splash visible from far away) to trap fish.  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/lifehistory )

He Can Be A Real Pecker !

February 8, 2022 — 27 Comments

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F/ 6.3, 1/125, ISO 1100.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

An New York woodpecker and a Florida woodpecker were in New York arguing about which state had the toughest trees to peck. The New Yorker

woodpecker said that they had a tree there that no woodpecker can peck.

The Florida woodpecker challenged him and was able to peck a hole in the tree with no problem. The New Yorker woodpecker was in awe!

The Florida woodpeck then challenged the New Yorker woodpecker to come to Florida and try to peck this certain tree there that no woodpecker had

ever been able to peck successfully.

The NewYorker woodpecker said he was sure he would be able to do it. So, after flying down to Florida, he successfully pecked the tree!

The two woodpeckers then had a discussion about why they were each unable to peck those trees in their own states. After thinking about this problem

for some time, they both came to the same conclusion: “Your pecker is always harder when you’re away from home…”

 

Interesting Fact: You may sometimes see Red-bellied Woodpeckers wedge large nuts into bark crevices, then whack them into manageable pieces using their beaks. They also use cracks in trees and fence posts to store food for later in the year, a habit it shares with other woodpeckers in its genus. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-bellied_Woodpecker/lifehistory )

 

 

 

Use Your Head!

February 1, 2022 — 18 Comments

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F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 400.

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

What did the trees wear to Mother Nature’s pool party?

Swimming trunks!

Interesting Fact: The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker frequently uses human-produced materials to help in its territorial drumming. Street signs and metal chimney flashing amplify the irregular tapping of a territorial sapsucker. The sapsucker seems to suffer no ill effects of whacking its bill on metal, and a bird will return to a favorite sign day after day to pound out its Morse code-like message. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-bellied_Sapsucker/lifehistory  )

Here’s Looking At You, Kid

January 29, 2022 — 18 Comments

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 320.

Red-tailed Hawk

Why can you never trust atoms?

They make up everything!

Interesting Fact: Birds are amazingly adapted for life in the air. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the largest birds you’ll see in North America, yet even the biggest females weigh in at only about 3 pounds. A similar-sized small dog might weigh 10 times that. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/lifehistory )

WHAT DO YOU WANT?!

January 21, 2022 — 22 Comments

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F/6.3, 1/640, ISO 200.

American Kestrel

Bacon and eggs walk into a bar and order a beer, the bartender says sorry, we don’t serve breakfast.

Interesting Fact:

Sports fans in some cities get an extra show during night games: kestrels perching on light standards or foul poles, tracking moths and other insects in the powerful stadium light beams and catching these snacks on the wing. Some of their hunting flights have even made it onto TV sports coverage.  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/lifehistory )

 

Life Begins At Night.

January 18, 2022 — 16 Comments

F/22.0, 30.0, ISO 100.

Newport, RI

What do you call a guy who never farts in public?

A private tutor.

Interesting Fact: Newport was founded in 1639 on Aquidneck Island, which was called Rhode Island at the time. Its eight founders and first officers were Nicholas Easton, William Coddington, John Clarke, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, Jeremy Clark, Thomas Hazard, and Henry Bull. Many of these people had been part of the settlement at Portsmouth, along with Anne Hutchinson and her followers. They separated within a year of that settlement, however, and Coddington and others began the settlement of Newport on the southern side of the island.  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport,_Rhode_Island )

Now That’s What I Call Spread Eagle!

January 6, 2022 — 39 Comments

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F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320.

Bald Eagle ( Juvenile )

What does the eagle say to his friends before they go out hunting for food ?

“Let us prey.”

Interesting Fact: The largest Bald Eagle nest on record, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 2.9 meters in diameter and 6.1 meters tall. Another famous nest—in Vermilion, Ohio—was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/lifehistory )

Be Someone’s Sunshine Today!

November 6, 2021 — 8 Comments

F/8.0, 1/1000, ISO200

Bayonne Sunset

What is the ratio of a pumpkin’s circumference to its diameter?

Pumpkin Pi

Interesting Fact: The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system. It has a mass of around 330,000 times that of Earth. It is three quarters hydrogen and most of its remaining mass is helium. ( https://theplanets.org/the-sun/ )

What Goes Up Must Come Down!

October 9, 2021 — 8 Comments

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 250.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

What did the birthday balloon say to the pin?

”Hi, Buster.”

Interesting Fact:  The convention has also become a major showcase of New Mexican culture and history and features numerous cultural exhibitions .The fiesta is one of Albuquerque’s largest tourist attractions and constitutes a major source of income for the city and local businesses. In 2015, the fiesta logged 955,703 visitors.[4] Typically, tourists and fiesta visitors take thousands of pictures of the balloons, so it is no surprise that for several years the fiesta was sponsored by Kodak and was given the title, the Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, though that title was usually only used in print ads and on official memorabilia. In 2018 the fiesta is being presented by Canon, a Japanese camera and imaging company.[5]  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albuquerque_International_Balloon_Fiesta#Local_impact )

Who Let Baloons Out!

October 8, 2021 — 10 Comments

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 250.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Did you hear about the pig who tried to start a hot-air balloon business?

He couldn’t get it off the ground.

Interesting Fact: The success of the Fiesta depends in part on the cool Albuquerque morning temperatures in October and the Albuquerque box. The “box” is a set of predictable wind patterns that can be exploited to navigate the balloons. At low elevations the winds tend to be northerly (from the north), but at higher elevations they tend to be southerly. Balloonists use these winds to navigate in a vertical box: they ascend slightly from the launch park, move south, ascend further, move north, descend, and repeat the box or land back in the launch park or quite nearby. During events involving on-field targets, such as the “Key Grab” (where pilots attempt to grab prizes, including a set of keys to a new vehicle, from atop tall, flexible poles), it’s not uncommon to see the same balloon make 5 or 6 passes at the targets, simply by working the “Box” to keep returning to the field.  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albuquerque_International_Balloon_Fiesta#Albuquerque_box )