Copyright ©2023 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 24.6
more to come…
Sunday Stillness-Cabbage White Butterfly
Category: Nature
Whatever Weds. This and That April 2023
Copyright ©2023 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
Here are a few images of some critters I’ve seen this month while out birding.
Big Horn Sheep- Males: These guys were such a great treat to see! I also saw Ewes with lambs up higher in the hills, and further west, but the images aren’t good as they were too far out of my lenses range.
Wild Mustang-Stallion
Wild Mustang- Mare
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 24.3.0
more to come…
Wordless Wednesday- On the bank of the River
iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 24.1
more to come…
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
more to come…
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
more to come…
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
more to come…
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
more to come…
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