Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Easy summer dinners.
Nikon D810| Nikkor 105mm| PS CC 22.4.3
more to come…
Summer Is…
Month: July 2021
Whatever Weds. Butterflies
Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
A friend came up for the week-end and we birded, and admired wildflowers, and hiked. He-Man even joined us on the longest hike which was just over 6 miles, and we climbed 640ft in the Eastern Sierras.
We also had the pleasure of seeing several butterflies. Here are two.
I think this is a Fritillary maybe a Meadow Fritillary? If you know what it is I’d love to know for sure.
This one I was able to identify as the Western White Butterfly.
This one is a first for me!
The wildflowers in the high country are in full bloom and gorgeous, and I’ve picked up a few new to me birds! I’ll be sharing those in future posts…after I have nailed down their identities. I’m still not quite certain on two of them.
Merlin my bird app isn’t giving me a definitive answer so, I’m still trying to figure them out.
The smoke here seems to get better, then it gets worse. The Tamarack Fire is still burning and when I last checked it was still 0% contained and the winds in the afternoon have been very gusty not helping the fire crews at. all!
I am hopeful that fire crews will be able to get it under control sooner rather than later.
That’s about it from here. I hope your week is going well.
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.4.2
more to come…
Friday’s Feathered Friends-Pine Grosbeak
Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Last week I went birding with the Audubon Group and we were treated to a sighting that not only was a new to me bird, but a rare bird to this area too. Lifer number 6 for 2021 is the Pine Grosbeak. This is a female.
This was a “lifer” for about half the group and there were only 9 of us birding that morning. It was quite exciting!
Fun Facts-gleaned from allaboutbirds.org
- Pine Grosbeaks eat a lot of plants, but it can be tough for their nestlings to eat and digest all that vegetation. Instead of feeding plants directly to their nestlings, they regurgitate a paste of insects and vegetable matter that they store in pouches at the lower part of their jaw on either side of their tongues.
- Not all Pine Grosbeaks are the same. Not only do they differ in the amount and intensity of red across their range, they are also different sizes. Body size and wing and tail length generally increase from Newfoundland westward to the Yukon Territory. But birds on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Island) in British Columbia, Canada, and in California are among the smallest of all Pine Grosbeaks. Wings and tails of birds on Haida Gwaii are around a half inch smaller than birds in Alaska.
- Pine Grosbeaks aren’t just in North America. They also breed in subalpine evergreen forests from eastern Asia to Scandinavia.
- The tameness and slow-moving behavior of the Pine Grosbeak prompted locals in Newfoundland to affectionately call it a “mope.”
- Winter flocks may stay near a tree with abundant fruit until all of it is consumed.
- The oldest recorded Pine Grosbeak was a male, and at least 9 years, 9 months old when he was found in Quebec in 1970. He was first captured and banded in Connecticut in 1961.
I hope you all have a wonderful week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.4.2
more to come…
Wordless Weds. The Star Stop
Copyright © 2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Composite image:
Sky- Nikon D300s| 17mm| f90 secs| f/5.6| ISO 400 52 frames stacked in Photoshop
Foreground-Nikon D810|15 secs.|20mm| f/2.2| ISO 2000
I lit up the gazebo with 14 little tea lights. All the elements were blended in Photoshop CC 22.4.2
more to come…
Wordless Weds. Listen, do you want to know a secret?
Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Nikon D810| Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D| PS CC 22.4.2
I’ve included this video in case the title gives you an earworm. 😀
more to come…
Friday’s Feathered Friends- Lifers 3, 4, & 5 for 2021
Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
At the end of May He-Man and I went for a hike on a new to us trail called Deadman’s Creek Trail. It’s a nice short trail just a wee bit over a mile up and 280 foot elevation gain with a wonderful payoff at the end. There’s a lovely gazebo at the top of the hill, and the view is gorgeous.
To top this off being a nice hike it was an even better hike because I saw three new to me birds on this trail!!
Number 3 new bird for the year was the Rock Wren. It posed for me nicely. Later it sang for us too.
On the way down I saw the next two. First was the Female Lazuli Bunting. It’s not a great image as she was out of range of my lens, but it was a good enough look to get her identified. I’ve seen the male before but, not the female so I was excited to have now seen both the male and female of the species.
The last new to me bird was the Black-throated Sparrow. I’ve been back to try to get a better image of it twice, but I haven’t seen it again.
All I know of how the trail got its name is back in the 1860’s a man bought a ranch near here and grew produce to sell to the miners in the valley. In 1864 he sold half his ranch to another man who became his business partner, but in 1865 the two ranchers were found shot dead. It was first thought they were murdered, but later they changed the thinking to a murder suicide situation. It’s a story true to the Wild West tales that’s for sure.
On a happier note there were wildflowers in bloom along the trail too. I put together a Contact Sheet with several thumbnail images of the highlights of the hike to share.
We’ve had #1 Grandson with us for 11 days and Big Baby Boy flew up for a short visit too. We’ve been going to the lake to beat the heat and paddle on my SUP board. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some of my images and videos of that so I won’t repeat that here.
Big Baby Boy left Tuesday, and Baby Girl, The Handsome Surveyor, and Littlest are arriving this evening for a short overnight stay and take #1 Grandson home tomorrow. The visits went by too fast!! That catches you up on my doings. What’s new with you?
I hope you’re all having a lovely week, and you have a great week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| iPhone 7Plus| Photoshop CC 22.4.2
more to come…
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