Sunday, May 23, 2010

A Mossy Mouthful



Sometimes a picture deserves its very own post. While trying to photograph a blue jay through my back porch window I saw this little fella scratching around in the fern bed just outside. I didn't realize that a titmouse feathered its bed with moss. Pretty sweet.



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Friday, May 14, 2010

Curiosity









Can't quite explain why I found this vignette so touching. The swan is a year old this spring. He's starting to spend less time around his watchful parents - an adolescent thing.

But I never expected this in a swan. I watched him circling beneath a tree. My binoculars revealed the cause. A Kingfisher sat in the branches above him. The young swan was curious. Imagine that. In this new heart under those white feathers. Wonder. About his world.


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Thursday, May 06, 2010

Hey! Get outta there!






So I'm trying to back out of the driveway using my Honda's video screen. (It really is a help if you've got neck issues.) Bird migration is underway and I'm headed for the edge of Lake Erie early in the morning.

I put the car in reverse and glance at the camera image being transmitted from my rear bumper.

Yikes!!! There's some kid standing splayed-leg on the sidewalk behind me with his arms thrust out as if to impede my motion.

I can't believe my eyes! I throw the car in park and step out. No kid. OK. I'm losing it. Back in the car. The kid rematerializes. Sweet Mary.



Long story short. The image I see in the screen and the image I get outside the car are different because the camera is not dead-center on the car, but off to the side. (or something!)

For some reason that tree shadow morphs into a bratty kid for the camera. A cartoon kid, but geeze - he even throws a shadow. I know, any reasonable person can see it ain't human, but still - it's a little creepy don't you agree?