The 30th of the 7th

CHOICES

No matter how much we think we can sting, we all have to make some pretty important choices along the way.

The 29th of the 7th month of Emergence

I stand corrected because I always tell the truth, or as close to it as I can get!  Lenny is not ten days old, more like two to three months.  He is still a little critter when compared to mother, sisters and brothers.  But like all kids he is prone to making faces for the camera.  Just showing off!

One of Lenny's friends, although I doubt they have yet to meet.

This is an East African Crowned Crane.  A kinda weird bird but beautiful feathers and colors.  He stand about three feet high and like most cranes and heron doesn't move around much.  He has these big calloused feet that are anything from delicate, but uses his toes to groom that beautiful crown.  Remember to double click the image for full screen.

You have to wonder who gets to give these guy's their pedicure.  Some people get all the luck and the good jobs.

The 28th day of the 7th month of the year of Emergence

 LENNY GETS A LIL LOVIN!

How'd you like that tongue in your ear?

Since I have a season's pass for the family at the Riverbanks Zoo, I will be taking my morning walks there and not so much on the Cayce Riverwalk.  Perhaps a little safer in that people actually have to pay to get into the zoo.  The Riverwalk is free and can attract any sort of riff raff!

  And while I do have a concealed carry permit (Gasp), my old 38 police special is really too heavy to carry.  And not at that all concealable.  I have even been "ADVISED" by the local police that it is smart to carry a weapon even when working in the garage during the day.  Jeeeeeeeeez, so much for urban living.  I mean is this the state of the country any more?  When the police tell the public to arm themselves in their own homes or when using public recreation places?  Like Dirty Harry said, "Go ahead and make my day".

 But I digress.  Lenny is cute and not like the young of a year ago.  He has a great deal of curiosity about him.  He wanders all over his area and is particularly inquisitive about all those strange people calling to him from the sidelines. 

It all makes you wonder on which side of the fence we find the animals.

The 27th day of the 7th month of the year of Emergence

ANOTHER EMERGENCE!

This is Leonard and his mother.  He is only ten days old at our zoo here in town, Riverbanks Zoo.

Remember to double click to get full screen. 

The 26th day of the 7th month

I GIVE YOU

"The Luvable Lil Fuzzball"

On sale on my Etsy site!

This is a cattle egret I shot at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, Florida.  The bird just has personality and is all dressed up in mating plumage.  Normally a totally white bird but in the early spring when the head turns to the heart......color shows on crown and chest.

They get their name from the habit of co-habitating with cattle.  As the cattle move through the fields, they disturb all sorts of bugs, toads, lizards, and such.  Just what the birds look for to eat.  So it is a symbiotic relationship!

The 23rd day of the 7th month of the year of Emergence

COOLER THERE AND THEN!

Just a cool shot in the spring at West Quoddy, Maine.  Think cool and refreshing my friends.

The 22nd day of the 7th month here on the south side of the sun

Still on the cooling kick.  Or maybe just the thought of it.  Perhaps it will help to break the dome of hot air over the country, but I doubt it.

Eastern Neck Island National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland back when the Tundra Swans came in each year from Alaska an Canada.

Some five to eight thousand of these birds would make the long trip each year and winter over on the Chesapeake.  Now, with the loss of bay grasses, they head mostly to areas in Virginia and North Carolina.  Sad!

Also sad is that we will probably need a hurricane to break the heat wave going on.  Hope not but coming up on that season soon.  Keep cool all!

The 21st day of the 7th month of the year of Emergence

Just so yall know, summer isn't going to last forever.  Stay hydrated and cool and think cool thoughts like-----------The

Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis, MD with a FROZEN Chesapeake Bay!

The 20th of the 7th

JUST A TOUCH OF WHITE!

The 19th day of the 7th month of the year of Emergence

GETTING A LITTLE BETTER!

Bait them and they will come.  Remember to double click for full screen.

I got this "Corners" yesterday with my Nikor 200mm lens and a shutter speed of somewhere around 400th of a second.  It seems fast to us, but no so much when you think of these little guys.  Just say the old saying....."One little second" and then divide that by 400!  Still haven't been able to get Papa to stay still long enough to make a shot.  She is pretty friendly as wild things go, but won't stay still for very long.  I put the dogs out this morning and she greeted me by hovering about two feet from my face briefly.  You almost get the sense that she wanted to say "Good Morning" before she buzzed of to Lord knows where.  They must have a nest somewhere and I think she is feeding babies which may be why she is at the feeder so often.  Almost about every eight to ten minutes all day long.  He on the other had doesn't appear to eat.  Just chases every other bird (including Corners) from every tree he can find.  I may have a paranoid humming bird on my hands here.  I think that I have to wait till later in the afternoon to get that 1000th of a second shot of her, and from a completely different angle as the sun will of course shift. 

I am not so sure who would want to buy images of hummers anyway.  I remember years ago, when  he was selling the hell out of the "Mad Bluebird", Michael Smith did a study in medium format of a hummingbird family.  He made all kinds of huge prints which were just outstanding.  Close to the birds, tack sharp, great color and action.  He took them to the Easton Wasterfowl Festival and couldn't sell a one.  Just incredible that such good work never sold.  But the public is fickle and all they wanted from him was the bluebird.

Probably more to come as I am still playing with angles, lighting, and shutter speeds.  Have a great day.

The 18th day of the seventh month of the year of Emergence

The 18th!  Where does it go?

A newly assigned project of pain, frustration, and some would say just a plain waste of time.  Well, I get to do it and it sure beats the hell out of a nine to five. 

This is my new visitor!

For now we'll just call her "Corners". 

It is a she.  HE is part of the frustration, mine at least if not hers.  Just about the time she gets all set up to have a taste of the elixir I provide in the feeder, here-he comes.  Dive bombs her and chases her away from the feeder and of course from the camera lens.  I don't know if he is fearful for her because of my proximity or he's just horny and wants to play.  In either event, I can't get his photo and barley can get hers.  She will buzzzz within inches of my face just to say hello...hovering as if to say "You need a thousandth of a second shutter speed just to catch me"  HA! and is off.

Working on the lighting as well.  All the pieces will soon come together but in the process it's time consuming.  But fun to watch.  They are amazing little creatures who zip around faster than a fly it seems.  More to come, I hope.  And dont' forget to double click on the image for full screen.

THE 13TH DAY OF THE 7TH MONTH OF THE YEAR OF EMERGENCE

OWN A LIGHTHOUSE IN THE DELAWARE BAY!

http://news.yahoo.com/gsa-selling-lighthouses-215838326.html

These are only three of the lighthouses the Government has put up on the sale block!

SHIP JOHN SHOAL LIGHTHOUSE

BRANDYWINE SHOAL LIGHTHOUSE

MIAH MULL SHOAL LIGHTHOUSE

Some years ago, when we made the Delaware Lighthouse poster, I went out on the Delaware Bay with a local fisherman (Waterman) from somewhere around Bowers Beach in Delaware.  We went to visit all the offshore lights in the bay and spent an enjoyable day on the water photographing.  These three are actually located on the Jersey side of the border between DE and NJ.  I think the Govt. is actually giving these away free.  But be careful!  Ain't nothin free no more!  The annual maintenance will choke a horse, not to mention a central banker.

I have often thought what fun it would be to own one.  But!  After the romance wears off, like in an hour and half, the work begins.  Just think of the work and expense it would take to scrape and sand off the old paint on the outside alone.  Then putting on a new coat which would last only a year or two when you could start all over again.  Remember these things are in salt water and that stuff corrodes.  Then the Govt. tells you what else you must do under the contract of sale or whatever.  Just what I need.  More direction from them.  Course if the economy continues to tank, these things would be easy to arm.  But then you need a boat to go to shore to fetch supplies and that would be subject to piracy.  So I guess owning one might be a bit much. 

However if you decide to get one, let me know.  I would love to photograph your efforts.  I do love lighthouses, but don't think I'm stuck on stupid.  Well, maybe that's arguable too.  I have visited and photographed two thirds of the 330 some odd lights on the east coast from Florida to Maine and the thing that amazes me most is that how hard they are to find.  One would think that a structure you can see from ten to eighteen miles out to sea would be easy to see from land.  Not!  Since most were build in the mid to late 1800's all sorts of struff (trees and buildings) have grown up around them.  And most are in areas that are now almost residential.  So from the land side you really have to explore to find them.  I have seen two of them moved.  One on Block Island and the other on Hatteras Island.  Unbelievable feats of engineering in both cases.  I have been in and climbed a number of others, the most notable and difficult climb being Hatteras light, 208 feef of claustiphyobia.

I have visited most by automobile, but others by ferry (mostly in Maine), by foot of course, and in Florida by small plane.  I have my favorites for all sorts of different reasons, but Hereford Inlet in New Jersey has got to be the best for me.  Hatteras on North Carolina's outer banks is iconic as are Portland Head, Bass Head, and Marshall Point all three in Maine.  The offshore lights in the Florida Keys are spectacular whem seen from the sky, with water of all shades of the blue green spectrum and reefs galore.  Barnegat Light in New Jersey is classic and beautiful, but each lighthouse holds some special memories for me. 

Hereford Inlet

Cape Hatteras in the old position

Portland Head

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse

Marsahall Point (This is where Forrset Gump's run stopped on the east coast)

Alligator Reef in the Keys

It is my hope that organizations can be formed to maintane these parts of our maritime history, without too much commercialization or ultimate destruction of some.  People's lives and livlihoods centered around these structures as other lives were saved. Beyond that, there is the romance of a three masted schooner fighting the wind, waves and darkness only to be warned of a rocky shoreline by a brilliant and constantly maintained shaft of light, or clanging fog bell, warning of danger.  What a relief it must have been to those early voyagers to see one of those lights of salvation on a stormy night.

I am glad that the Government is letting loose of these lighthouses and my hope is that they go into good hands and not be destroyed.  For once Washington is acting responsibly.  Now if they can only divest of some of the other trillion or so programs, maybe this country has a chance.

The 12th day of the 7th month of Emergence

I had the opportunity to photograph one of the chicadees that visit the feeder.

Of course in photography, lighting is everything and these little guys can be tricky to get all the appropriate things lit up...like the eyes.  Eyes, of course, are the window to the soul!  But in photography, you need light up those eyes and get them in focus.  Given all the black and white contrast around the head and what seems to be black eyes, this can be troublesome.

I remember a photographer, a friend, who was on the show circuit up in Maryland for years.  He had some particularly good images content wise.  But almost all of them were out of focus when he first started.  I would tease him unmercifully about the need for glasses as everything looked like it was taken for those 3-D glasses we used to wear in the movies.  That bad.  Finally, about the time I discovered my own need for glasses...........he discovered the answer to his focus problems.  We both showed up at the next shows fully adorned with the appropriate eye wear.  Made all the difference in the world.

However, I still have to depend upon the little green light in the Nikon view finder to make sure that these aging eyes still don't lie.

Remember to double click for full screen on the photo.

The 7th of the 7th of the year of Emergence

AN ANOMALY, of sorts!

Maybe the date, play that on the lottery today.  7-7-11

Or perhaps

THE KING OF DUCKS

This is a Canvasback duck I photographed in Cambridge, Md some years back.  You just go into town and head for the Choptank River (great name)  in the fall and winter.  Find the end of Oakley Street where it meets the river and look for ducks.  Take five gallons of cracked corn and you will be the most popular person around.  For a handful of "Bait" you can attract just about every species of duck, goose, and swan that participates in the Eastern Flyway.  The problem is getting one or two to separate from the gaggle you attract.

The Canvasback has been called the king of ducks because or their outstanding flavor as table fare and in the early 1900's were almost commercially hunted out of extinction.  So it is a treat to see a raft of them out on the water. 

So where is the Anomaly you might ask....and rightly so.

This guy, or gal, showed up for at least five years that I counted.   A long time to be seen in area where duck hunting is right up there with goose hunting followed closely by religion.  I don't think it was a true albino because of the smattering of black feathers.  The eyes are red as in other birds of it's clan, so no clue there.  It was just a treat to see it for so many years and to know to look for it with each handful of corn cast on the water.  Thank ya Lord!

The fifth day of the seventh month of the year of Emergence

CHICKADEE

These guys are always such fun to see.  Probably the bravest of the little birds to play around my camera!

Remember to double click for full screen.

Nuthatches are one of the most elusive.  This one pounds a black oil sunflower seed to remove the shell.

And how many of the raucous blue jays do we ever see at rest?

The fourth of July in the year of Emergence

I wish everyone a wonderful fourth.  And to those that are and have served, Thank you!

And to those long gone whose legacy is this great country, Thank you!

And yes, that is the full moon in this photo.

And to those in charge of the hamburgers, hot dogs, sweet corn, potato salad, and tomatoes...........don't forget the sweet onions!

Finally, to my family.....have a great day and I miss you all!

The third day of July in the year of Emergence

An old friend!

He helped to raise over eleven families over the course of three and a half years.

Talk about a warrior!

The first day of the seventh month of the year of Emergence

WOW!

Six months and the year is half gone, or is the glass half full?

Missy seems to be getting better, and that's a good thing.  And just when you think that things could not get any worse in the economic or world news, South Carolina wins the College World series with a bunch of not yet professionals just looking to do their school proud.  And proud they did.  Folks, if you haven't watched that show out in Omaha ...... do yourself a favor next year and tune it.  Brings back your faith in what can happen in this country.

Took this photo on Assateague Island in Virginia.  A nice great blue heron in his mating feathers. 

Remember to double click the image for full screen.