Our summer continues to surprise us with unseasonable events called 'showers'. What a rare blessing in our neck of the woods! This week's offering includes a treasure that comes from being in the right place at the right time. The photographer was as surprised as the Heron!
Even though a little blurry, still the Great Roadrunner provides me with almost a daily encounter as I head for work, or coming back home. He has a prize grasshopper in his beak.
The Queen butterfly was back hanging around the zinnias.
Jan's zinnias have really been a draw for the hummers and butterflies this year.
I'm thinking you can tell the age of the Swallow-tails by the ragged edge of their wings.
Did the worm ever imagine this glorified body, or did the seed 'dead' in the ground envision this resurrected form? Glory!
The Gulf Fritillary butterfly.
Checkin' out every one of the zinnias.
It has been a good week for butterflies.
So thankful for the workload at the office, but that means less time to lay in wait for the Lesser Goldfinches to come to the feeder.
This hummingbird was hanging out around my Victoria Blue Salvia in the yard. I caught her being lazy. She just perched and reached for the nearest flower. Maybe she was just plain 'tard'.
A little confrontation at the office feeder. You can see the outline of the other hummer at the glass of the feeder.
She's givin' me the 'stink-eye'.
Yeah, that's how we know it's 100 plus degrees out there.
Back at the house I had a little success at capturing some hummers at the zinnias.
I just noticed that this female has quite a bit of blue in her feather coloring.
Bright Texas sunshine and a 1250 shutter speed caught this one.
That combo served me well today.
The hummers have been quite active in the yard, and provide endless entertainment.
The Herons have been a little scarce lately, so it was nice to see this Yellow-crowned Night Heron on the pond early Saturday. I waited for some light to capture some images.
He was wrestling with a catch, trying to get it down to swallowing size.
He stayed around the pond most of the day. Very little distracts this guy from his fishing.
I was hearing the Green Heron, but it took me a little while to spy him in the nearby tree.
He was watching the pond activity closely.
Then he stretched to about 3 times his normal height.
He flew down to the pond, then quickly looked up. I thought there must be something big coming in.
As soon as I could move my aim, here was a young Great Blue Heron right on me.
Not sure that he realized I was there at this moment, but it didn't take long.
As you can imagine, I was taking pictures as quick as the camera would let me.
About 10 seconds after landing, he decided I was just too close for comfort, and headed back out again. As I said, a treasure just 'cause I was in the right place at the right time. Glory!
