iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 24.1
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Wordless Wednesday- On the bank of the River
Category: Nature
Whatever Weds. Fog, Clouds, and a Hawk
Copyright ©2023 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
We’ve had fog, and storm clouds the last week through the week-end up until last night. We also got a whole lot of snow. Here are a couple of images of the scenery. Recently the mornings have been foggy.
Foggy morning-
Clouds-After the storm had passed I looked out the window and saw Job’s Peak just peeking out from the clouds, and this brilliant cloud on the left lit by the afternoon sun.
Last week I took advantage of a break in the storm to go run some errands, and on my way home I spied this beauty in a tree on my street.
Red-tail Hawk-
We have cloudy skies in the forecast for the rest of the week. Temperatures are forecasted to be lows in the teens, and highs in mid 30’s I hope that holds so I can get out to do some birding and meet up with some friends.
I hope your week is going well, and you have a lovely week-end too!
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm Lens| PS CC 24.1.0
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Whatever Weds. First Snow of the Season!
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
It snowed in the valley and mountains yesterday evening then it rained, then it rained and snowed at the same time. That was weird. What’s that phenomenon called when it does that? Big, fat chucky snowflakes coming down while it was raining. I’d never seen anything like it before.
I woke up hoping the sunrise would be pretty and there would be snow on the valley floor, alas no snow on the valley floor and barely any on the lower PineNut Mountains, but the Carson Range and Eastern Sierras are gorgeous this morning.
It was 28 degrees F when I stepped outside to make this image, and there’s a better than 50% chance of more snow this morning. I am hoping we get a little more today but, not tonight. He-Man and I have been meeting friends off and on for over a month on Weds. nights to play trivia at a local grill/bar. We’re having a lot of fun playing. We came in 4th on our first night of playing and have made it to the leader board every time since but we’ve not yet made it to the top 3. We’re team “The Silver Foxes”.
I need to scoot and look for the clues to tonight’s questions. I hope your week is going well, and you all have a lovely Wednesday!
Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| PS CC 24.0.0
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Wordless Weds. A Crisp and Chilly Morning
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 16-80mm @80mm| PS CC 24.0.0
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Friday’s Feathered Friends-Red-Tail Hawk Chick
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
The Red-Tail Hawk is back using the same nest as last year for this year’s breeding season. Yipee!
On the 15th while on my walk I think I spied a little head so when I got home I grabbed my camera and went back out to take photos of the nest and sure enough there was a chick in the nest and Mom too.
It wasn’t long before Mom took flight to stretch her wings. She flew into a tree across the way a bit to keep watch and once in awhile she called out letting the chick know she was near…I think. I kept waiting hoping the chick would sit up and it paid off.
Look how fuzzy and soft it looks! 2 weeks later look how big it is and there’s less fuzz and more brown.
The tree has leafed out quite a bit too making it a bit more difficult to see the chick. This is heavily cropped as well.
I’ll keep checking in on it and hopefully, I won’t miss the fledging like I did last year.
Fun Facts-gleaned from allaboutbirds.org
- The Red-tailed Hawk has a thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound. At least, that’s what Hollywood directors seem to think. Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species, the shrill cry on the soundtrack is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk.
- Birds are amazingly adapted for life in the air. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the largest birds you’ll see in North America, yet even the biggest females weigh in at only about 3 pounds. A similar-sized small dog might weigh 10 times that.
- The “Harlan’s Hawk” breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form of the Red-tailed Hawk has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. It’s so distinctive that it was once considered a separate species, until ornithologists discovered many individuals that were intermediate between Harlan’s and more typical Red-tailed Hawks.
- Courting Red-tailed Hawks put on a display in which they soar in wide circles at a great height. The male dives steeply, then shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several of these swoops he approaches the female from above, extends his legs, and touches her briefly. Sometimes, the pair grab onto one other, clasp talons, and plummet in spirals toward the ground before pulling away.
- Red-tailed Hawks have been seen hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels.
- The oldest known wild Red-tailed Hawk was at least 30 years, 8 months old when it was found in Michigan in 2011, the same state where it had been banded in 1981.
I hope you all have a lovely week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm lens| PS CC 23.2.2
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Whatever Weds. Sunset Colors & Swirly Clouds
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
I’m home from a long week-end of camping and photography with friends old and new. I’m still culling images, but here’s one from Mono Lake taken shortly after sunset. I was set up to shoot west but looking around I saw this cloud developing to the northeast so I turned my camera around and waited for this to unfold. This cloud formation and color were wonderful and a beautiful end to a fun day.
Nikon D810| 24-120mm@24mm| f/10| ISO 100| PS CC 23.2.2
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Whatever Weds. This and That
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
We had #1 Grandson with us last week which was so nice. One of the things we did was visit an Animal Sanctuary in No. Reno called Animal Ark. My favorite were the Cheetahs. Here are two. One wanted to play but, the other wasn’t interested at all so, they’re just chillin.
Here’s a rare look at #1 Grandson. We had fun measuring our arms comparing them to wingspans of No. American birds. Mine was the same as a Turkey Vulture.
All too soon it was time to take him home.
The week before his visit I had gone birding locally and saw some good birds. One I was super excited about seeing was the Pinyon Jay. I’ve been waiting for their Spring arrival so I could try again getting a decent image of one. This bird was a lifer for me in 2019 but, they were flying by so fast then that I failed to get a decent shot of one. Finally, on this walk-about I got a few but, that tree on the right is in the way. I was afraid to get any closer and scare it off which I eventually did anyway. 😮 They travel and forage in large flocks- on this day I counted 17 in all.
Spring is breaking out all over the west now. When we took #1 Grandson home I noticed Baby Girl’s Apple tree was blooming so I took a quick snap of a blossom.
Apple blossom
I’ve been doing some projects from the book by Wendy Tait- Watercolor Flowers. This is project #2 Roses.
I’ve painted 3 of these now- 1 8×10 in. and 2 5X7in. I’m making progress getting my paint to water ratio right, and blending is definitely improving. There are 8 projects in the book with step by step directions and images. I like the book a lot. I’m moving on to project 3 hopefully I’ll continue to improve.
Tomorrow I’m meeting friends down in the Mono Basin to do some photography and camping. I’m hoping for good weather, and clear night skies. I hope you all are having a good week, and your week-end is fun!
Fuji X-T3| iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 23.2.2
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