Fontainebleau, Final

Sunset images at Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, Louisiana, 10/12/13.

Linking with OUR WORLD TUESDAY.

Bridles, Blooms, Bayous and Birds

Happy Monday! Our weekend was jam packed and fun for a change. It began Friday when I was finally able to see my high school friend for a much-needed girls day. I watched her take a riding lesson on Carson, an American Saddlebred once owned by Carson Kressley (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy). Afterwards we went to lunch, then drove down River Road, stopping along the way for photographs. Saturday was spent at my aunt and uncle's new camp on Bayou Manchac, then later that night we joined my cousin and his wife to listen to their friends' band play at a local establishment. Sunday was spent birding at Bluebonnet swamp where I saw THREE rose-breasted grosbeaks, numerous indigo buntings, and Mississippi kites flying overhead. A wonderful, fabulous three days. Now back to reality and on with the show!

Michelle and Carson, 4/19/13
She is doing so well riding him and looks so sophisticated.

First ever sighting of an Orchard Oriole, female.
The male is deep orange and black, but my pics of him were blurry.
Near State Capitol, 4/19/13

A walking iris (neomarica gracilis) in Michelle's garden, 4/19/13

Gator sculpture that came with my aunt's camp, Bayou Manchac, 4/20/13

To get to the camp we were ferried across on a pontoon boat.
Uncle Bubba was our capable captain. :)

Indigo bunting at Bluebonnet Swamp, 4/21/13

Rose-breasted grosbeak posing nicely on a limb, Bluebonnet Swamp, 4/21/13

Male rose-breasted grosbeaks, Bluebonnet Swamp, 4/21/13 

PARAKEET UPDATE: Thank you ALL for the wonderful advice on the parakeet that found its way into my yard. Before receiving your advice I kept thinking of the line by Shelby in the movie Steel Magnolias: "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful, than a lifetime of nothing special." However, many of you swayed me with the argument that since "Charlie" was domesticated he was ill-equipped to truly fend for himself. Despite my initial misgivings, I posted his photo on our HOA Facebook page and scoured the internet for "lost parakeet Baton Rouge" and came up empty handed. The parakeet's fate is unknown at this time since he has not returned to my yard. :( I wanted to respond to you all individually since many of you had taken the time to articulate such detailed (and respectful) arguments, but time got away from me and now I feel overwhelmed. So please know how much your comments meant to me.

I will catch up on blogs later today! Wishing you all a wonderful week, praying it's better than last week.

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Cecropia Moth

This Cecropia Moth (hyalophora cecropia) hatched at Bluebonnet Swamp recently. According to Wikipedia, this is North America's largest native moth, from the Giant Silk Moth family. These nocturnal moths are designed merely to reproduce, lacking working mouth parts and digestive systems. Their lifespan is about 2 weeks. The female emits powerful pheromones to attract a mate which the male can detect up to a mile away. Mating lasts all day, starting in the early morning hours and ending in the evening. Afterward, the female lays up to one hundred eggs which hatch into tiny black caterpillars. Isn't our world fascinating?

Cocoon and moth on Cypress branch 

Many thanks to the hosts of

Our World Tuesday!

Mellow Yellow

Our Easter weekend was very nice. On Saturday we were invited to my godfather's house for a cookout with my cousins. I took my 100-400mm lens thinking I would capture some wildlife since his house backs up to a pond, but my eye seemed drawn repeatedly toward my second cousins who range in age from 17 to 4. They're great kids, full of joy and life. The photos turned out better than I expected, so there's hope for me on the portrait photography front yet. I'd love to show you what I captured; however, I don't want to make them public without asking their parents first.

The photos below were taken in my yard the morning of the cookout. I couldn't believe my good fortune to get FIVE American Goldfinch at the feeders, all in breeding colors. I had seen one over a week ago and not since, so I thought he had already migrated. They say when their colors come in, they're about two days from leaving.

Bow your heads....

Let us pray.
There's always that one in the back pew who won't obey. :/

Double D is headed to Dallas early in the morning to hopefully make some money. I hope everyone has a wonderful springlike week!

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Flora of Avery Island

Spanish moss hanging from an enormous live oak tree, adorned by azaleas beneath.

Wisteria.
I experimented with different angles and backgrounds. Trees and sky in background.
All wisteria shots are from the same plant.

Pointing the camera at the sky gives a cooler color temperature and different perspective.

Bamboo as a backdrop gives a warmer look.

The fine leaves and bark made the photo look too harsh at f/8, so I applied a slight gaussian blue in Photoshop.
Is it too much? I'm trying to experiment more with processing.

The trees are filling out nicely already.
Breeding platforms for nesting egrets and herons. They use the trees also, but they seem to gravitate toward the platforms.

Does algae covered water count as flora? Great egret with breeding plumage and colors.

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In A Fog

Sorry if you came here hoping to see amazing photos of fog (although I managed to find one pitiful offering from my archives). Alas, it's my brain that's filled with fog, and believe me, you wouldn't want to see a picture of that even if I could somehow produce it. Brain fog is the worst!

In other news, our ruby-throated hummingbird is back to entertain us for another season. And the cedar waxwings have not stripped our holly berry trees just yet. The lazy, nest-stealing brown-headed cowbirds have arrived. I have pictures, but I can't get it together enough to post them. I also saw a red-breasted nuthatch in the holly tree yesterday afternoon, but he would not pose for me. Rude!

Well, I'm off to buy some new towels at Macy's. I washed Double D's new black jeans with our gold towels which turned the towels gray. I knew better, too! Darn brain fog. I'm blaming everything that goes wrong on that!

This is a park behind my house on 1/26/13.

Ruby-throated hummingbird resting on a crape myrtle branch on 2/20/13

Not sure if this is the same hummer.
Out of the three feeders located around the yard, he/she loves the one hanging on the palm tree.
This and remaining photos taken 3/10/13

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