Hot Colors

Tags

northern cardinal, postaday

As I start writing this, outside temperature is 88°F (31°C) and tomorrow promises to be even hotter. Looking out I saw a couple of Northern Cardinals arrive on our deck intent on checking out the birdfeeder.

Male Northern Cardinal.

Male Northern Cardinal: “Nothing on this glass table except empty shells!”

Male Northern Cardinal ready to jump on birdfeeder.

Male Northern Cardinal puffing up, maybe because of the heat?

Male Northern Cardinal looking 50% bigger.

Male Northern Cardinal about to fly up.

Meanwhile, the female was waiting for her turn in the shadow of the magnolia branches.

Female Northern Cardinal.

Female Northern Cardinal, so pretty.

In Remembrance

T. W. Dittmer

The Wall

I can still see their faces, late at night, all alone with my dreams.

I can still hear their laughter. I can still hear their screams.

Didn’t they do right by you?

Didn’t they do all they could do?

Tell me, didn’t they? Didn’t they do right by you?

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Spring Flowers in Full Bloom

Tags

alba bleeding heart, bleeding hearts, clematis, miss saigon, peony, postaday

There are still four weeks left of spring and some flowers are reaching their peak blooms. I took the following photos of their beautiful shapes and colors over the past three mornings.

Siberian Irises.

Alba (White) Bleeding Hearts.

Red Peony bud.

White Peony.

Red Peony with white Peonies in background.

Red Peony.

Red Peony.

White Peony.

Siberian Irises. The pale blue ones are named Miss Saigon.

Clematis.

Vertical and Delivered

Tags

downy woodpecker, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, house finch, osprey, postaday, white-breasted nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatches are again coming to our birdfeeder, feeding themselves at their preferred angle, i.e. vertically and upside down. Sometimes I wonder how they manage to swallow those sunflower kernels, but they do.

Most birds eat like the female Downy Woodpecker and House Finch shown below.

Female Downy Woodpecker and House Finch at birdfeeder.

White-Breasted Nuthatch going toward the sunflower seeds.

White-Breasted Nuthatch got a sunflower seed.

White-Breasted Nuthatch: “It’s easy, just like this!”

White-Breasted Nuthatch on top of birdfeeder.

Other birds have their breakfast delivered.

Osprey male fly in fish to female Osprey.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, mute swan, postaday, sandpiper

Mute Swans, Sandpiper.

Monday Monochrome

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, mute swan, postaday

Mute Swan.

(Not So) Silent Sunday

Tags

canada goose, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, house finch, postaday, red-winged blackbird, terrapin, white campion

Ten-Hut!

Male Red-winged Blackbird.

Female Red-winged Blackbird.

Terrapins.

White Campions.

White Campion.

Male House Finch.

Female House Finch.

Osprey Breakfast

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, osprey, postaday

Following are images of an Osprey couple sharing a fish around 8:24 AM yesterday. I saw the male Osprey fly in with a fish, but by the time I was ready to take pictures, he was already standing on a side of the nest where the female was incubating.

Male Osprey with fish, female incubating in nest.

Usually, he would have eaten the head of the fish, leaving the rest to her.

Male Osprey bringing fish breakfast to female.

Note headless fish in male’s talon.

She started eating. As usual, female Osprey was larger than the male.

She decided to take the fish with her to eat somewhere else.

After a brief flight, she landed not far from nest, scattering nearby birds.

Male Osprey took over incubating duties.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

clivia, postaday, wordless wednesday

Clivia.

Clivia.

Monochrome Monday

Tags

postaday, white dogwood

White Dogwood.

Weekend Variety

Tags

bald eagle, Black-crowned Night Heron, canada goose, Forster's Tern, great egret, postaday, purple martin, snowy egret, white ibis, yellow-crowned night heron

I have been saving photos of birds over the past several weeks, waiting for an opportunity to post them. Here are most of them, in no particular order.

Black-crowned Night Heron in deep sleep.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron slowly waking up.

Bald Eagle shielding Eaglet from a strong wind. Ten days ago there were two Eaglets in the nest, but only one is visible now.

Canada Geese goose-stepping practice.

Great Egret landing.

White Ibis landing with twigs to build its nest.

Forster’s Tern looking for fish.

Purple Martin.

Snowy Egret.

Ucrania 2022 y Guernica 1937

maria bilbao

A lo largo de los días no puedo abstraerme de las imágenes y noticias sobre la invasión de Ucrania. Es imposible no dejar de pensar en la vida tan dolorosa, inhumana, de sus habitantes que malviven en las ciudades destruidas, condenados a bajar al subsuelo de la tierra y vivir en corredores infrahumanos con el sonido de fondo de las alarmas, y las bombas cayendo sin cesar. Tantas personas inocentes que han perdido la vida serán recordadas como víctimas del genocidio perpetrado por Putin y su ejército en los comienzos del siglo XXI.

Leo una entrevista al psiquiatra Luis Rojas Marcos en La Voz de Galicia del 26 de abril. Luis Rojas Marcos vivió en primera línea el atentado del 11-S cuando dirigía el Sistema de Hospitales de la ciudad de New York. Al preguntarle sobre Putin, dice: “Yo no puedo comentar la salud mental de Putin porque no lo…

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Wordless Wednesday

Tags

clouds, gosling, Ocean City Welcome Center, postaday

Clouds.

Gosling: “Beautiful clouds!”

Rain and Flowers

Tags

azalea, dogwood, hino crimson azalea, Judy Zuk Magnolia, magnolia, postaday, white dogwood

It rained all day yesterday. I thought I heard rainfall also during the night. It continued this morning and did not stop until mid morning. I went out to see what survived or was ruined, and was pleasantly surprised as all the flowers came through and actually seemed to thrive.

Judy Zuk Magnolia.

Judy Zuk Magnolia.

Azalea.

Hino Crimson Azalea.

White Dogwood.

White Dogwood.

Another white flower: Viburnum.

A New Gull, and the Usual Birds

Tags

canada goose, glossy ibis, great blue heron, hatchling, lesser yellow legs, postaday, red-winged blackbird, willet

The Black-headed Gull comes from Europe and, about fifty years ago, has begun appearing in North America in small numbers. I saw a group of about a dozen of them on Wildlife Drive for the first time last week. They did not seem too shy, like most gulls, and I was able to come close to them.

Black-headed Gull.

Other birds that I photographed are well known to most of us.

Male Red-winged Blackbird.

Female Red-winged Blackbird.

Great Blue Heron with a shrimp appetizer.

Lesser Yellow Legs.

Willet contemplating take off.

Glossy Ibis.

Canada Goose hatchling.

Bald Eagle Nest

Tags

bald eagle, eaglet, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, postaday

Last week, I went to the site of a Bald Eagle nest at the refuge. It was high on a pine tree, but a Bald Eagle mother and Eaglets were visible from the road.

Bald Eagle nest.

There were two Eaglets, but only one was visible in this photo. It was asking when lunch would be ready.

“We have to wait for Daddy to come back from fishing,” said the Bald Eagle mother.