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 )
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 )
It has been two years since my first post and what a great two years it has been! Thank You everyone for your support and I hope to continue entertaining you all throughout many years to come.
F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 640.
Great Blue Heron
A man is boasting to his buddies that he is taking his wife to Rome for their 40th wedding anniversary.
“What will you do for your 50th?” one of them asks.
“I’ll go and get her.”
Interesting Fact: Thanks to specially shaped neck vertebrae, Great Blue Herons can quickly strike prey at a distance. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Blue_Heron/lifehistory )
F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 250.
Merlin
Two birds in a tree looking down on a man washing his car.
“If he doesn’t hurry up and finish,” says one bird to the
other, “I’ll poop myself.”
Interesting Fact: Merlins don’t build their own nests. Instead, they take over the old nests of other raptors or crows. They also use magpie nests, sometimes laying eggs right on top of the nest’s dome rather than inside the cavity. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Merlin/lifehistory )
F/ 10.0, 1/500, ISO 100.
California Week
Three men were in a NASA conference room to decide how to spend $10 billion.
“I think we should put our men on Mars!” said the first man.
“Ooh, good idea,” said the other two.
“I think we should put our men on Venus!” said the second man.
“Ooh, good idea,” said the other two.
“I think we should put our men on the Sun!”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Easy. We go at night.”
Interesting Fact: The 16th-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to present to the world a detailed and eventually widely accepted mathematical model supporting the premise that the Earth is moving and the Sun actually stays still, despite the impression from our point of view of a moving Sun. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset#Historically )
F/9.0, 1/1250, ISO 800.
Black-Crowned Night-Heron
What do you get if you cross a parrot with a shark?
A bird that will talk you ear off!
Interesting Fact: A breeding Black-crowned Night-Heron will brood any chick that is placed in its nest. The herons apparently don’t distinguish between their own offspring and nestlings from other parents. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-crowned_Night-Heron/lifehistory )
F/6.3, 1/500, ISO 400.
Black-Capped Chickadee
What did one chicken say to the other after they walked through poison ivy ?
“You scratch my beak and I’ll scratch yours !”
Interesting Fact: The Black-Capped Chickadee hides seeds and other food items to eat later. Each item is placed in a different spot and the chickadee can remember thousands of hiding places. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee/lifehistory )
F/ 13.0, 1/500, ISO 500.
American Kestrel
So there is this parrot and he knows a bunch of swear words and the owner says , “If you don’t stop swearing I’m going to sick you in the freezer.” So the parrot starts swearing and the guy puts him in the freezer. The parrot continues cussing up a storm but after a few minutes the parrot suddenly stops. The guy says “Will you stop swearing now?” and the parrot says “I’ll stop, but first I want to know what the chicken did.”
Interesting Fact: In winter in many southern parts of the range, female and male American Kestrels use different habitats. Females use the typical open habitat, and males use areas with more trees. This situation appears to be the result of the females migrating south first and establishing winter territories, leaving males to the more wooded areas. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/lifehistory )
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 )
Happy New Year Everyone!
Welcome 2016!
F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 400.
New Years Resolutions List
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 )
Through Open Lens 