You might wonder why I have used this title but since the 25th of January changes have been made to Google Image Search that have infuriated webmasters, photographers, artists and many more.
I love winter, I love seeing snow on the mountains and feeling the crispness in the air but I am getting tired of gray cloudy days and heavy fog so I thought I would post a few images from warmer and sunnier days that I took while I lived in Florida.
Yesterday when I saw this running Chukar image on my camera LCD in mid-stride and mid-air I had to chuckle because it looks something like a feathered Nerf football some one tossed across the snow.
The majority of you voted for the correct answer: Juvenile Herring Gull, 1st winter Laughing Gull and Royal Tern
I came across this image this morning while working up my post Bird images from warmer days and all at 300mm or less and thought it might make a great image for a Bird ID Quiz.
Gray skies, freezing temps and the inversions are beginning to get to me so I thought I would share some bird images from warmer days on Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in sunny Florida.
The answer to the ID quiz is a female Green-winged Teal! Out of 49 people taking the quiz there were 6 votes for Mallard, 8 votes for Blue-winged Teal, 9 votes for Gadwall and 26 votes for Green-winged Teal.
One very foggy May morning I came across a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills in a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto's north beach and photograph them for about 15 minutes before they flew off to find food.
I photographed this female duck yesterday morning at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in northern Utah, she was on ice that was covered by frost flowers and was moving towards a group of males that were in open water.
These two "Great" images were taken two minutes apart of two different "Great" wading birds in Florida.
I am intrigued by how these herons evolved to have long necks that give them the ability to make lightning fast strikes at their prey some distance from their bodies.
2012 was a fantastic year for me as a photographer and I am looking forward to the joys that 2013 will bring. Happy New Year to all.
The Great Blue Heron I photographed on Christmas Day seems to have focused my attention on wading birds, yesterday it was Reddish Egrets and this morning I present a Tricolored Heron shaking its feather while on tip toes
Yesterday I took a stroll down memory lane, actually I looked for images I have taken either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in my files but in a way that is taking a stroll down memory lane.
Evening can have marvelous light too though as shown in the Roseate Spoonbill image above that I photographed in Florida as it hunted for prey in a tidal lagoon.
This fledgling Burrowing Owl was just learning to fly at the time and wasn't always great at landing. When I took this image it had made a soft crash landing into the Rabbitbrush and it was trying to get its balance back.
A simple image of a Red Knot taken in Florida in early morning light. Morning has been; and is, my favorite time of day to photograph birds and other wildlife because the rising sun can add drama and a warm glow to whatever subject I am photographing.
I recall that when I first started photographing the juvenile Red-tailed Hawks in this area back in August that they missed their prey more times than they would capture it and now they seem to have gone the other way, they are catching the prey more than they are missing it.
This Wilson's Plover and its mate were being run ragged chasing after the two chicks they had fledged, this adult stopped in front of me where I had laid down in the sugary white sand and rested a few moments in the dried Sea Purslane stalks.
Sanderlings look very different in appearance during breeding season and winter and novice birders might even think they are two different species.
I was tickled one morning when I came across this Turnstone in nonbreeding plumage perched on a piece of weathered driftwood just after the sun came over the horizon with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico behind it.
Since winter has thus far decided to stay in more northern latitudes and higher elevations I decided to post an image of a Long-billed Curlew taken in southern, sub-tropical climes a few years ago.
Due to a crash in the vole population at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last summer there weren't many Short-eared Owls around the refuge but the few that were there were real beauties.
This Western Meadowlark was a cooperative subject yesterday morning and allowed a close enough approach to get some frame filling images.
When I photographed this hunting Tricolored Heron I was laying flat on my belly in the shallows where the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico gently lapped the shore.
So, each time we see or hear Sandhill Cranes we are listening to and looking at a real living fossil.
I mentioned that there had been low light, falling snow and that the weather conditions before photographing the Loggerhead Shrike and Prairie Falcon weren't great.
I took this photo in Florida in 2008 as the adult Black Skimmer flew by whilst giving me "the eye". Isn't the color of the Gulf of Mexico behind the bird simply delicious?
While photographing this Snowy Plover in June of 2008 I was able to observe the tiny shorebird snatch an ant from the sugar sand of the north beach of Fort De Soto.
This adult Swainson's had two juveniles nearby that were perched on the conifer tree that their natal nest was in and the sun was getting close to setting. Sometimes I wish I could "speak" raptor so I could know what they are saying.