Birds and Thanksgiving Thoughts

I woke up at 5:45 this morning and couldn't sleep anymore. Paradoxically one of the reasons for my wakefulness was thinking about all the things I need to do to be ready for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately, not getting enough sleep will put a serious damper on the energy levels I'll need to accomplish everything.

And the other reason I couldn't sleep was that I'm so excited for this weekend. It seems like forever since we've really had a houseful and Thanksgiving weekend is filled with family and tradition. It doesn't get any better than that.

That's all I've got today so I'll post a few of my favorite bird pictures to fill the emptiness below.

This first picture was captured by Amber, my granddaughter. What a shot!

Then there are my ever popular (not) red-winged blackbird photos. Truly I've never been very impressed with this bird. I thought "Ehh, blackbirds". Then I heard their beautiful song and saw their feistiness and I have a whole new appreciation for them. I wrote about them last year in this post.

I planned on putting lots of pictures of these guys in but I see I already included them in the post that I referenced up there.

So onto the heron. I do love this pic.

But the heron pictures I'm especially proud of are the following. I'd always heard that heron are very territorial but some of the things I've seen at Striebel Pond belie that belief. Here are pictures of two herons in flight. The impressive thing about these pictures is that these two almost scared the living daylights out of me when they suddenly took flight and I STILL got pictures.

So onto my day and getting ready for the weekend and looking for blue for tomorrow's You Capture. Maybe I should head to Striebel and see if there are any great blue herons around anymore. Hmmmm.

You Capture - Water

I was so excited when I found out the subject of this week's You Capture would be water. It was perfect. We were finally finishing the renovation of our water garden so I would be able to show pictures of the hopefully beautiful finished product. The one thing I knew for sure was that I wouldn't be posting pictures of Striebel Pond since I posted a zillion of those last week.

So here are my 'water' pictures - all taken at Striebel Pond. You know the old saying, "the best laid plans......"

These are all SOOC. No editing. I don't have time. I've got a water garden to finish.

For lots of beautifully creative water shots, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry.

You Capture - Fun

I knew right away this You Capture wasn't for me. I mean I'm happy and everything and I have fun ranting about how much I don't like the fact that baseball is ruled by human beings (umpires) but it's not something you can take a picture of. So I thought about my grandchildren and that's fun but guess what, I haven't seen any of them during this assignment period.

So today, I walked at Striebel Pond which is my wont. As I got out of the car with my camera on my shoulder, I thought I ought to just leave it in the car because I can't see a single thing worth taking pictures of.

And then I started to have fun because it's really fun when you think there won't be anything to photograph and you capture this:

And then it's fun when you're trying to take a picture of a subject and you get two subjects - like this:

I was trying to get a picture of a pied billed grebe. They're a blast because they're shy and when you stop and look at them, they duck under water for the longest time. So I was waiting for him to surface when this guy flew by and I captured him.

Finally the grebe had to surface and I got him too.

And I'm always trying to get photos of the terns that frequent Striebel Pond but they're always flying so it's a little harder. But today, one of them was resting with the rest of the preeners. He's the short white guy with the black hat and orange lips.

It was fun watching one of the adult swans telling the kids to line up:

And then watching them obey:

It was fun photographing the great blue heron with the great white heron (egret) in the background. (I thought herons were so territorial.)

And it was fun spotting and capturing these beautiful purple flowers - with one type being quite a bit more beautiful -

Than the other -

Oh and there was one more fun thing going on. I noticed from a distance that every once in awhile there'd be a great deal of splashing going on around the gang of ducks, egret, and tern. When I got closer it appeared that the ducks were taking turns cooling everybody else down. They'd all be quiet for a bit then all of a sudden one or two ducks would run around splashing everybody and then they'd be quiet again. They even did it for me when I was close enough to get a picture.

So I got my four mile walk in but most importantly I had fun doing it. Sometimes the unexpected fun is the most fun of all.

To see other fun versions, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry. And for some real fun, join in yourself. Go take a picture and post it!

Striebel Pond Yesterday

I know I know. You're tired of seeing more Striebel Pond activity. But, in my defense, it is my journal and I'm powerless to quit. I just can't go out there with a camera and not take pictures. It seems like there's always something interesting to photograph. Certainly the aerobic integrity of my walk is compromised every time I stop to take a picture but I do it anyway. Ultimately, I'm still walking 3 1/2 miles, and except, for those moments when I stop to snap a pic, I walk pretty fast.

In Friday's post I said I would post pictures of other things I saw, today. Here they are.

Don't you just love that they have drinking fountains for dogs?

I thought there were some really beautiful growing things:

And some really interesting flying things:

Including this one. I know it sounds crazy but I've been trying for days to capture a flying dragonfly. It's very challenging because they zigzag all over the place. Finally I had some success. It's not the best picture ever but it's a double. I wonder how and why they were flying together like that. (You really might HAVE to click on this one to see it better. Then just hit the back arrow on your browser to return.)

And then there was this growing thing with a flying thing on it.

Okay, that's it. Didn't I capture a lot of fascinating things? They were to me anyway. And I know when Rhonda, Nancy and I walk out there, we won't see a thing worth photographing.

Isn't that just the way it goes?

Terror In My Own Back Yard

I had just talked to Mr. Right on the phone and I turned around and through the half open patio door blinds, I saw what looked for all the world like a low-flying terradactyl. I knew it was a crane or a heron - both notorious predators of koi and I thought it fortunate that he flew over the pond and back toward the Northeast. I thought about when my two Army sons were working on the roof and couldn't get over how the koi looked from up high and I was surprised that this guy might have missed what they so clearly saw.

I went to the outside door and was looking for him back by the shopping center when he came walking around the back of the fat tree. He was very wary and cautious and I felt like he picked up on me standing there almost right away so I tried to be very still while I snapped off a couple of pictures.



When I moved to try to get a better view, he flew off.


First of all, I'm glad I spotted him. What a fluke! And second of all, I'm glad we have a net on that small pond where all the big koi are still vulnerable. I think the depth of the big pond offered some protection, not to mention the koi garage that we built on the bottom but there's no such protection in the small, shallow pond. Hopefully this guy wouldn't be able to spear through the net but now that I think about it, that's crazy. Of course he could spear through the net. Look at that beak.

It's crazy how much I enjoy photographing these guys at Striebel pond and how much it gives me chills to photograph them in our back yard.

We have just got to get that big pond re-done before we lose some expensive and precious koi.

More Going On At Striebel Pond

I'm not sure but I think a sun dog happens when it looks like there are two suns. If so, we had one the other night.

This is the picture of what I think was the sun dog. The setting sun is no where near what you see here.

In this next picture I tried to get both the sun (far right) and the sun dog (far left) in the same photo. You get the idea right?

Boy! I felt like I'd really picked a good night to take my camera with me for my walk at Striebel Pond because I also got the following pictures:

I love walking out there when there's so much going on. Just so you know, double clicking on each picture will give you a much better image. Then the back button on your browser will take you right back to the rest of the pictures in the post.

Thanks for stopping by.

We Found The Greatest Place To Walk!

I've started physical therapy for my poor back. I sure hope it helps. So far....I'm not real optimistic but I will stick with the program.

Tonight, for the third night in a row, Mr. Right and I walked a mile together. One of my favorite places to walk or jog was about 10 minutes away but in a beautiful state park with fabulous walking trails. Another place is about 10 minutes away. It has a paved uphill/downhill trail that's about a third of a mile long. But the place where we're walking now is proving to be the best of all for us at this stage in our lives. It's flat, it's paved, it's exactly 1 mile around, and it's only about 2 minutes away.

And here are some of the things we get to enjoy while we walk:



Does anybody know what kind of bird this is?


And most exciting of all:



Aren't we the luckiest?!