Opie and the Gang

The first week of January I began visiting Bluebonnet Swamp, our local nature area that sits smack dab in the middle of Baton Rouge. For the next two weeks I observed a goofy-looking O'Possum who liked to amble over to the bird feeders to snack on seeds. I named him Opie. Each day I looked forward to seeing him; he came at the same time every day. The photos of him with his mouth open, appearing vicious, is really just him chewing on sunflower seeds. He was harmless. Unfortunately, Opie did not survive an attack by either an owl or hawk. I will spare you the grisly details. I was very sad.

During the time I was enjoying and studying Opie, I noticed a male and female House Finch missing the top half of their beaks. The photos were sent off by my birding friend to an expert in the field. Turns out they both had Pox which also affects their feet. Sad.

These images are just normal observations. Nothing odd or sad here.

GERONIMO!!!

Buff-bellied Hummingbird
A winter resident

Chickadee who got a little careless with his seed.

Holding tight to this one!

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Sharing with Anni at...

We Are Family

Double D and I happened upon a family of Black-crowned Night Herons. The young'uns are streaked with brown feathers and orange eyes; the adults have slate gray outer wing feathers with navy blue back and head with long white plumes, and red eyes. We discovered about a dozen of them near LSU Lakes in Baton Rouge. They were in a little pond tucked away from all the main activity. It was a nice find the third week of January.

2014 Photo Overload

Happy Monday, y'all! Here are (hopefully) the last of my 2014 photos. Hope everyone has a great week! Will be checking in during the next few days.

The Leaning Gazebo at City Park Lakes

Male Ruby-throated hummingbird
Magnolia, MS, Sept 2014

Jumping spider - my back yard
Oct 2014

Anhinga readying for take-off - Lake Martin
Oct 2014

White Pelicans - City Park Lakes
Nov 2014

Snowy egret - City Park Lakes
Nov 2014

Lord, give us this day our daily fish. Amen.

Happy birthday to my dear daddy!

In and Around the Lake

One of these days I will get caught up. I hope you have all been well. Recently, I decided that this will be a year for me to get out and meet more people, which means disengaging from the computer more often. I hate that, but after three years of mourning my mother's death, it's time. Past time.

These are some of the things I've been doing:

 - joined a local photography club;

 - took a photography class on advanced focusing techniques;

 - attended an art exhibit;

 - participated in a night photography workshop;

 - volunteered for the "Paddle Patrol"...kayaking around Lake Martin to protect nesting birds;

 - attended an astrophotography lecture and saw Comet Lovejoy through a massive telescope;

 - this week there is a hummingbird lecture and tour + a field trip with my photography instructor;

 - joined a Photography Meetup hosted by a local photography instructor.

In between all of that I have been taking photos. Before I can post though, I need to get caught up on 2014. Below are some November images I have not yet shared. All of these were taken at LSU Lakes.

Linking to

 

Double D's Picks

Hello gang! I hope everyone had a beautiful holiday filled with food, family, friends and fond memories. We had two wonderful gatherings with my kids, two weeks apart. Those visits pretty much wiped me out. I'm still in recovery mode.

After waiting several days for the sun to shine, our window of opportunity finally arrived: New Year's Eve day. So Double D drove me to my favorite spot in Madisonville, LA. I had hoped the morning light was going to be behind me, bathing the pelicans in light, but no such luck. Whether I had gone in the afternoon or morning didn't matter, since the sun was positioned on the sides of the water. I photographed from every angle imaginable, fiddled with my camera settings, and still, I could not expose the pelicans properly. Just when I thought I might have it figured out, we got run off by the cops, because apparently they are still working on the sea wall. Drats.

I worked with these shots in Lightroom and PS for a long while, finally losing perspective and patience. After two days, pulling every trick I knew, I summoned Double D and asked him to be totally honest and tell me which ones he liked. These are Double D's picks. :)

We were both on the fence about this shot since the bokeh is so overwhelming.
Although distracting, we thought it was a cool pic.

I will finish making blog rounds this week. Y'all have a good'n, and thanks for stopping by!

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around the world at
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