Here are just a few, somewhat interesting images. It is 5 degress here on this almost mid February morning and we don´t want to get out for a walk just yet so we thought we would look at some older images and let our thoughts wander here inside where it is not so cold.
This image shows two Sandhill Crane landing. The picture was taken at Whitewater Draw in Arizona a couple years back. It is a wonderful well known habitat wildlife management area where thousands of Sand Hill Crane and lots of other bird species spend the winter. The Crane towards the top of the image is a juvenile, last seasons young, you can tell that by the lack of red coloration on it´s head
The dead plant is an Arbovitae. It was located along a fence line two houses away from us here in Walla Walla. The specific spot in the ground appears to have a virus of some type as earlier attempts at planting in this same spot netted the same result. The owner had this plastice skeleton and placed it adjacent to the dead plant. Interesting image and I call it - We Commiserate.
Several years ago I went out to chat with a local wheat farmer with the intention of placing a couple of Barn Owl Nest Boxes on his property. In the workshop he had one of his large combines being worked on and this lab liked to sit in the tire well and watch the goings on. Just a fun image.
Cave Creek is one of the many regional parks around Phoenix Arizona. This Sajuaro cactus is situated along one of the numerous trails in the park and is nicknamed The Michelin Man because of the growth pattern.
On one of our many travels we were driving up I-5 in Northern California and Mount Shasta was presenteing itself in all it´s beauty. The crystal blue sky really accentuated the blowing snow. Looks a bit cold to me.
We were out driving along Johnson Hollow Road just east of Dayton, WA during the wheat harvest a couple years pack. At this point we are higher in elevation than Walla Walla and there are lots of windmills sited to catch the wind. We thought this was an interesting image with the wheat harvest and the wind mills.
Feeding the kids - here is a female Mountain Bluebird bringing bugs, which appear to be grasshoppers, into the nest box to feed the growing bluebirds. I spend some time in the spring, summer, and fall with a friend, Tom Scribner, building, placing, and cleaning bluebird nest boxes. It is a fun hobby and of great benefit to the bluebirds.
This seemed a most fascinating image. It was taken on a neighborhood walk and shows a puddle of oil after a rain. The oil dripped from a vehicle and the rain water does not mix well with the oil. I enhanced the colors by saturating them a little but I was surprised at the variety of color that showed in the image
Some of you may have seen this image before. It is of Palouse Falls a State Park here in Washington about 75 miles north of Walla Walla. There was an individual that intentionally went over these falls in a Kayak and as I recall all that got damaged was he broke one of his paddles. I believe there is a you tube video showing this feat. This is obviously a panaoramic photograph and it was taken with a smartphone. Seems you don´t need fancy equipment to get decent images.
This small insect is a Praying Mantis. There are over 2,400 species of praying mantises found all over the world. They are very beneficial in the garden as they eat a lot of other detrimental insects. It won´t be too long and the garden will get going and we might be able to find some of these insects hunting amongst the leaves, quite honestly I cannot wait.
Here is a Female Northern Harrier taking flight. You can tell it is a female due to the brown coloration. The male of the species is gray in color. These were called Marsh Hawks and can often be seen flying low over wetlands in search of food. They are a slight cross between a raptor and a owl in that they have very acute hearing and can detect prey by listening for them.
We hope you enjoyed this disparate collection of images. It is for us a nice respite from the cold and snow outside.
Let us know if you have any questions
All the Best
George & Deanna
