Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections II

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colter bay marina, grand teton national park, postaday, reflections, weekly photo challenge

I can’t let this weekly challenge on reflections go by without posting the following photo, taken at Colter Bay Marina in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, in the fall of 2011.

Colter Bay Marina, Grand Teton National Park, WY

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

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photography, postaday, reflections, water lilly, weekly photo challenge

In the summer, the Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA has a fabulous display of water lillies and lotuses that one could spend the whole day photographing. I took the following photos in 2011.

Water lillies and reflections

Water lilly and reflection

Two yellow water lillies

 

 

 

Canada Geese

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canada goose, canadian geese, edwin b. forsythe, photo, photography, refuge, wildlife

Three Canada Geese flying by at the Edwin B. Forsythe wildlife refuge in Brigantine, NJ, in late February of this year (2012).

Canadian Geese

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

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azalea, bee, inside, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

For this challenge: a bee going inside a clump of azalea flowers to gather nectar.

Bee going inside azalea flowers

This is a photo from last year. The azaleas are not yet blooming this year, but they surely will in about a month.

Birds Up Close

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canon sx50 hs, downy woodpecker, junco, photography, postaday, robin

This week, I acquired a Canon SX50 HS camera which can zoom from 24 mm to 1200 mm, or 50X. This camera is used by many bird photographers who cannot afford to buy those giant lenses, some costing as much as a second mortgage on a home.

I must say that the camera has lived up to its reputation. See for yourself in these three photos that I took over the past three days.

Here’s a junco, that came to partake of sunflower seeds I put out on our deck. I shot this through our glass patio door, but it is still very sharp.

Junco

Next is a robin, running on the grass near the Delaware Raritan Canal about 1.5 miles from home. We also have them in our backyard, but until now I haven’t been able to take as close a shot as this one.

Robin

Finally, here’s a nuthatch hanging upside down a tree trunk. I thought it was a female downy woodpecker, but Jet Elliot (see her comment below) pointed out my error. Thanks, Jet!

Downy Woodpecker

Orchid

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orchid, photography, postaday

This orchid on our coffee table has been blooming year after year, and I never get tired of taking its picture. This one was shot with natural light coming from a window.

Foxes

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fox, photography, postaday, red fox, wildlife

22 July 2012: There is a family of foxes living in a wooded area of our backyard.  Once in a while they run across our lawn.  In this photo, on a beautiful spring day, they came out and romped around for about five minutes.  I had to hurry to grab my camera and was able to take half a dozen shots.  This one turned out to be the best.

11 March 2014: Almost two years later, we still see the foxes once in a while, or signs that they are still around. The number of rabbits has decreased dramatically, a boon to our vegetable garden which used to be a buffet restaurant for the rabbits. If only the foxes could chase away the crows which have decimated our Asian pear trees to the point that we can barely get half a dozen pears out of thousands.

They Are Leaving

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photography, postaday, snow goose

The number of snow geese seen in our area has been steadily trending down these past few weeks, from hundreds of thousands to a few thousands. Yesterday, we drove to the Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Brigantine, NJ to take a look at the few that are left as they prepared to leave.

While we watched, the geese took off in waves.

Snow Geese Taking Off

Here’s how two of them looked as they flew over us, on their way to their breeding areas near the North Pole.

They Are Leaving

By the way, I saw one snowy owl also, but it was too far for my lens to reach. I took several shots but all one can see is a white blob out there in the marshes.

 

Egret

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Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, egret, photography, postaday, wildlife

This is one of the first photos I took at the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Brigantine, NJ. You can click on it to view a larger size image, but it is a rather large file.

Egret at Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge

I have printed this one out on 8×10 paper and it looks quite nice, framed and hanging on the wall.

Not All Are White

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Edwin B Forsythe Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, snow geese

Snow geese are usually white, with black wing tips. Last weekend as I was looking at the waves of geese landing on Merrill Creek Reservoir, someone shouted: “See those black ones!” I did see two of them flying by, but they were too quick for me to take a shot.

Going back to my files from two years ago, I found the following photo where you can see a snow goose that is not not white. It is grayish brown, a genetic variation or morph, of the species.

Brown snow goose

I took this picture at the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge about this same time of the year in 2012. It was a warm spring-like day with no snow in sight. Now two years later, more snow is coming tonight and tomorrow, on top of the white stuff that is still on the ground, unable to melt away because of the freezing temperatures of the past week.