Tag: Dragonflies

Whatever Weds. This and That July 2022

Posted in Family Fun, Family Traditions, Photography, Travel, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , 48 Comments

Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Hello! It feels like I’ve been MIA for awhile. We were in the Chicago Region for my Son’s wedding and extended our stay a few days to do a little sightseeing and birding.

They had both a professional wedding photographer and videographer for the day. Here’s one image of Big Baby Boy and the Dark Haired Beauty just after the wedding. May I present the Newlyweds!

#1 Grandson was the Ringbearer and what a handsome and stylish lad he was.

The whole wedding party were handsome and beautiful, and we’re so happy to been able to travel to be a part of their Big Day.

The following day I spent the morning birding around the Orland Park area. It’s a lovely area with lots of ponds, wetlands, and green!

I have to give a huge shout out and thank you to Pat from the Thorn Creek Audubon Society I reached out to them before the trip and he was very generous telling me about a few places to go to do some birding. I picked up a couple of bird lifers, and a dragonfly which I’ll share first. While waiting for one of the reserves to open He-Man and I stopped by a little fishing pond where I spied this beauty.

I think this is an Erythemis simplicicollis- Eastern Pondhawk. Don’t you love that color green and it’s common name? I do!

Photograph

The evening we got home I started feeling pretty achy and stuffed up, and the next day I tested positive for Covid and the following day He-Man did too. Sigh. Today I am finally feeling like I’m getting over it. I’m still weak and tire easily but I woke up feeling more like myself than I have in a week!

I hope this finds you all well and having a great week!

Dragonfly- Fuji X-T-3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 23.4.1

more to come…

A Dragon, Damsels, and a Sphinx

Posted in Insects, Nature PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , 47 Comments

Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Dragonfly
Damselflies ❤
White-lined Sphinx

It was the first time I’ve seen the White-Lined Sphinx. Some people call it the Hummingbird Moth because it looks and acts like a Hummingbird. It was so cool seeing it fly and hover over these flowers feeding.

Hum, I don’t know what’s happening but my images look soft in WP lately. Sigh. Any ideas?

I had company last week-end then we went over the mountains to see the boys, Baby Girl, and The Handsome Surveyor for a couple of days so I am behind, but I’ll catch up with you in a tick!

I hope you all have a wonderful week-end!

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 22.4.3

more to come…

Plan B is for the Birds

Posted in Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Birds of Prey, Insects, National Wildlife Refuge, National Wildlife Refuges in California, Nature, Nature Photography, Nikon, Photography, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, San Jose California Nature Photographer, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , 21 Comments

Copyright ©2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

My original Photography plans for last week-end fell apart mid-week when one of the friends I was going with fell ill.  Rather than go anyway which didn’t sit well with me or my friend Theresa we two switched gears and decided to go birding in the Central Valley to see what birds if any had arrived early.

I had read a few reports of early migrants in the area; we hoped to find one or two, and spend some time catching up with each other.

I left for T’s house early (6:30am) so we’d get to the Refuge in the morning when the birds are more active.

We found the first pond completely sans water. Fish and Wildlife have just started filling the ponds we discovered. Many of the ponds we’re used to seeing full of water were bone dry, but it is early in the season!

Just as we were starting the auto-route we spied a Doe and her Fawn in the tall grass. I didn’t get an image of them together. Mom decided her male Fawn was too close to the road and moved to higher grass.  Honestly, I think she looks young!

Doe Deer Female

The Fawn has two little adorable antler nubs.Fawn Male

Early arrivals: There were quite a few White-fronted Geese on the little islands in the ponds that had water.

White-fronted Goose

Northern Pintails, and Shovelers are showing up, but I didn’t make any images of the Shovelers they were too far out. You see a Northern Pintail in image above giving me a one wing salute. 🙂

Among the usual suspects here were thousands of Dragonflies,

Dragon Fly

Pied-billed Grebes

Pied-billed Grebe

Night Herons; most were deep in the foliage, but one was on Sentry duty,

Night Heron

We saw a female Harrier flying low in the distance hunting, a few Red-tail Hawks, and as we approached the tree the Bald Eagles hang out in there we saw there was a Peregrine Falcon perched on a snag surveying the land.

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Once the Eagles return I doubt we’ll be seeing this Falcon in this tree. 🙂

Plan B turned out to be a great day, and it was lovely  hanging out with Theresa. You can find her images on flickr here.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm VR| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2015.5

More to come…