My photography tends to be feast or famine. I didn't take many in the winter, even though, unlike Saskatchewan, it's definitely warm enough. (If you dodge the rain.) But since spring I've been taking lots. In the first six months of this year I took almost as many as all of last year. This batch of photos was all taken on one day, first in an early walk before work, and then later in the day on another walk to do some errands.
I didn't even make it out of our townhouse complex before starting. This is a Flowering Dogwood, as opposed to the native Pacific Dogwood which has mostly white flowers. "Flowering" Dogwood seems like a silly name, since the other dogwoods also "flower".
Although it was early (7:30am), it was warm enough for the bumblebees to be starting. They can't fly if their muscles are too cold, but they can vibrate their wings to warm up.
There are lots of Canada Geese around these days. This year's juveniles are looking almost like the adults now. These ones were feeding on the abundance of seaweed (algae). Of course, I like the background reflections.
I was walking along the path when I heard a strange croaking squawk. Maybe a Great Blue Heron? But I couldn't see any by the water where they usually are. Finally I spotted it in the top of the tree above me. It was an awkward angle for photographs.
I'm accumulating quite a few photos of oystercatchers, but I can't resist their bright red beak and eyes. It's hard to see against the dark background but this one had a mussel in its beak. I wonder how it was going to open it?
Early on a sunny morning is a good time for reflections. Here's one of many. (Good detail if you look closely.)
I got stopped outside our townhouse by the Calla Lilies.
Later, walking by the nearby marina, I noticed a good size Red Rock Crab. I'm always amazed how many crabs there are, especially since the otters and birds seem to pull out a never ending supply.
I noticed another crab, but this one was a Northern Kelp Crab.
I see the crabs quite often, but then I saw what looked like a sea cucumber, which I haven't seen before in the harbor. Sure enough, when I looked at it on the computer, it was a Giant Californian Sea Cucumber. It's fun to see this sea life without even leaving the walkway.
After a coffee stop at Cafe Fantastico, I saw this mother mallard and her ducklings in the water feature by the next door condos.
And where there's water, there's reflections.
I liked the color contrast between these purple flowers (some kind of lavender?) and the red leafed bush behind.
And a final quiz - before you look at the caption, can you guess what this is? (less than 1/2" long)
No comments:
Post a Comment