You Capture - Pretty

Beth's You Capture challenge this week was 'Pretty' and I looked for it everywhere starting with the small pond in our backyard.  The bluebird babies have left their nest and this one prefers the pond water - despite the net he has to navigate to get to it - to the birdbath which is constantly filled with fresh cool water.  And although he isn't the vibrant blue that he will be as an adult, his camouflage colors are absolutely gorgeous.

Next I headed to Striebel Pond where there are always wildlife photos to be had.

 And flowers.

And sunsets.  I loved this one because for at least 30 minutes I saw a giant dove in the clouds.

 And then the more dramatic sunset in the country.

Finally I returned to the backyard where the hydrangeas have never been more beautiful.

I loved 'Pretty' this week.  The only really hard part was trying to eliminate some of hundreds of pictures I took.  I can't wait to see what everybody else captured at Beth's I Should Be Folding Laundry.

You Capture - Photographers Choice

This week's You Capture challenge, Photographers Choice, should have been so easy. If all I had to do was peruse my photo files, it would have been easy to pick out my favorites; but, it's a lot harder to take my camera and try to capture my favorites. I mean I stared at that heron a long, long time before he finally decided to take flight.



And I took about 30 butterfly pictures before I got the one I liked. I even got one of him flying away. I was trying to capture a wildly beautiful sunset when the geese flew through and the seed head shot cost me about 10 practice takes before I got the one I wanted.

To see favorite photos of all your favorite bloggers, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry and if you have some favorite shots from this week, join in.

You Capture - Summer

I captured my summer shots at Striebel Pond of course. Where else? I spend a lot of my Summer there.....and my Spring.......and my Fall.

I'm not terribly proud of this first picture because I had to take it from such a distance; but, how often do you see 2 great white egrets and a snowy egret all in the same area. I've all but abandoned the theory that herons are territorial. My experiences and my eyes at Striebel Pond tell me differently.

And then there are the rarer but ever sweeter summer shots:

And we can't leave out the swan family. I notice now that every evening the swans seem to go to roost on this little island outcropping and as soon as they get there, they begin their nighttime toilette. And, as in all families, Mom and Dad keep a watchful eye to make sure all the teenagers do a good job.

For more photos all about summer, visit Beth at Ishouldbefoldinglaundry.

What Happened To Striebel Pond?

Yesterday Mr. Right and I took our daily walk at Striebel Pond and saw wonderful scenes like this:

The only really unusual things we saw were some ominous looking cloud formations.

And some guys working out there:


Today Striebel Pond was very different and the ominous looking clouds had a lot to do with it. Last night we had almost 4 inches of rain in a short period of time and Striebel Pond is actually a drainage area for a large subdivision behind the woods you see in the background. Today Streibel Pond had very little wildlife. Early in the day there were a few frantic birds darting over the part of the pond that used to be water and was now submerged. Were they looking for nests that used to be on dry land? There was one goose and one duck family and no other birds to be seen. Because all of a sudden Striebel Pond looked more like Striebel Lake:

When we got there, even the swans were nowhere to be seen. Thankfully by the time we finished our figure eight, this is what we saw:

We were so relieved.

So we can conclude that Striebel Pond is an idyllic place for wildlife UNLESS it has to be used for it's true purpose. Then things can get a little dicey.