Lost:
As I walked past a nearby pond, still kind of scummy from the dregs of spring's melt, I found this fading rose. Perhaps from a weekend wedding party? Or last week's May Day celebrations? No idea.
On a side note, it wasn't until I opened this image in PSP X2 to resize it that I noticed the water bug next to the blossom. I love finding surprises like that!
Hunting:
I'd gone around the lake to see if the nests I'd taken photos of before were still there (they weren't - the park staff move nests if people won't leave them alone - not sure how they convince the geese to go long with it). On the way back, I saw someone had stopped to take pictures. Until then, all I could see where a few mallards, some far away goldeneyes, and more seagulls than I've seen in ages. It took me a few moments to spot this guy, hunting among the clouds of insects along the shoreline. I was able to get quite a few pictures of him, and was surprised that they pretty much all turned out. He was pretty skittish about me as I moved around, so I was taking the pictures at my maximum optical zoom (I don't use the digital zoom - it always comes out looking horribly grainy).
update: I now know that this bird is called a Greater Yellowlegs. Thanks, Inspíderwiht.
Bottoms Up!On the way back to the playground, I stopped to chat with a couple of people sitting by a dock. Which is probably the only reason I was able to see this - had I kept walking, they would've swum farther from the water's edge. The pair of mallards kept dunking down in tandem. It was really quite funny to watch!
Philippe: Couples, and couple-wannabes were out in force today.
Philippe: This guy was chased off by a more dominant male as he was trying to chat up the locals.
Philippe: Couples everywhere.. They do everything together, including landing :D.
Philippe: There was a guy feeding the geese as I was walking by; this goose decided I was going to feed her, so she followed me around for a while :).
Philippe: I could hear this guy for a while but we ended up playing hide and seek for a bit. He finally showed up and let me snap this.
Philippe: Now *THIS* guy wasn't shy.. He warned me away from his tree, and kept an eye on me as I left.
Philippe: This one loved fishing, and spent most of the time underwater.
Philippe: I've *no* idea what he was doing; it looked like gargling, complete with head shake and spit.
5 comments:
Great shots, but I LOVE the last one! :)
the bottom one makes me laugh!
I also like the sandpiper(y) kind of bird, it looks so delicate.
The shorebird is called a Greater Yellowlegs. (Field guides for the win.)
Very lovely shots.
Hello and thank you for coming by my photo blog and commenting. :-)
Not to worry about the tiny mirrors, covering the horse statue in my town though. They are so tiny that what they reflect of sunlight, is totally diffused.
Wonderful photos of in the park. Anna, your fading rose is simply lovely. So many stories could be woven, around it. Isn't that nice?
And the birds/ducks are great too. I especially love the skittish little bird...
Mari-Nanci
Photos-City-Mine
Thanks, everyone, for the compliments. :-D
Yeah, that rose has a lot of potential for stories. Now that I've remembered it, though, I'm 99% sure it's from the May Day celebrations, where everyone brings flowers and wreath making materials. We missed it this year, so I didn't think of it right away.
(note for others visiting and reading, P. added his photos long after these comments were posted, so references being made are to the first 3 photos in this post.)
Anna
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