Another birding day!

Sunny today - cold, about 7 this morning but the sun warmed things up a bit. Back to the refuge for a see what we can see day and there was a plethora of birds of different kinds. Here's the ones I liked:

A small marsh sparrow greeted us on Goose Egg Hill.

My trusty traveling partner

A classic Kestrel pose

A female Northern Harrier and a Black-crowned night Heron - not sure what they were up to.

White-faced Ibis - they should have been gone long ago!

The Refuge Flasher - A Great Blue Heron landing.

A young Harrier in flight.

Wildlife Refuge

What a day at the refuge! I stopped to take photos of a Northern Harrier sitting on the side the stream and wound up spending a couple of hours in one place as a Virginia Rail ran between my legs and under the truck, Harriers were flying everywhere, Pied Bill Grebes playing in the water, Kestrels being cute and GBH's looking like a weird part of the landscape!
Sunny this morning so back out today to see what we see.

Stuff

The meadowlarks have found us and that is a good thing - their color and antics are always welcome. Along with their song which we haven't heard of a while.

Horseshoe Springs had this unique wooden sculpture in the middle of a pool of water.

Caught this gal as she flew away from us on our Skull Valley ride.

Erda Miscellania

A beautiful sunny day yesterday and promise of another for today. Here's a variety of photo subjects that appealed to me. The Sharp-shinned Hawk and the American Kestrel are becoming regular visitors and neither is too wary of me.

Christmas day evening as the kids left to go home after a wonderful Christmas day together, the moon was just coming up over the mountains and created a wonderful light spot in the clouds.

Murphy loves to just wander in the snow - destination was the garden this time.

The Kestrel was hiding on top of the outdoor light on our neighbor's garage.

Mysterious looking Sharpie.

Murphy doing his snowplow stuff!

The mountains and clouds are delicious in their beauty.

Merry Christmas

Visitors all over the place today - here's two that sat still long enough to have their photo taken!

Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel

Happy Christmas Eve Day

Cold and windy here - wind chill is about 10 degrees. But the sun is trying hard and between the clouds and the sun it is very beautiful.

Stansbury Island is lit by the sun as the storm clouds threaten behind it.

Ferruginous Hawk contemplating.

Panorama with Stansbury mountains to the left and Stansbury Island on the right.

A Sunny Day

We were greeted by rain and snow late Sunday night when we got back to SLC; and the following two days were mostly stormy - pretty but stormy. Today started out stormy but then cleared a bit and the sun warmed us for quite a while.  So nice to see and feel it.

Miscellania from NY

A cool crisp day with intermittent sun and the threat of snow but only a threat. Strange to see this area so close to Christmas with no snow.
We stopped and walked at a nature center outside of Baldwinsville and then watched the small birds and chubby squirrels play from the viewing area inside the center.

Syracuse New York

Diana and I are back here for Jon Keller's, our BIL, funeral and being with his wife Lucille and daughter Kelly and family and friends. A sad time as all funeral are with some laughs and catching up with old friends and acquaintances. Eating fish on Friday - a mainstay for Diana as she grew up here.

It's mostly been rainy, then cold. But I got a couple of shots in and today is sunny so perhaps some more!
First photo op was Diana's old elementary school with separate entrances for boys and girls!  It's now a Catholic school. We're staying in Baldwinsville between the Seneca River and the Erie Canal so some shots of there.
We're headed home tomorrow to see our dog and cats!

The water on the left is about 12 feet higher than the water on the right!

A bit of color from Mother Nature on an otherwise gloomy winter day!

A splash of color and song got me moving with my camera yesterday.

Footprints in the sand

The footprints ask a lot of questions for us who came late to the scene....

Light and clouds and shadows

Often when I drive past the Kennecott operations I see some wonderful possibilities with light, shadows and clouds/steam. This time I stopped and did an HDR capture, then converted to B&W and it captures a little of what I like.

Jon Keller - R.I.P.

Gloomy day Fiery sunset

After a rather gloomy day, although nice and warm, the sky surprised us with a fiery sunset. I sat and watched if for a while before getting my camera and taking a few photos. The beauty is heart-warming.

Sun and wind and water and rainbows!

From the Headlands at Port Orford you have an incredible view of the ocean, port, and beach. While up there the waves flashed their beauty and the wind and sun added to it.

More Oregon

I love the ocean and the challenge of capturing and sharing what I see is a lot of fun - and I am still working on it! Here's a number of shots that I liked taken mostly last Friday when the sun was out all day - kind of a rarity in winter here.
Enjoy!

Early morning moon over Lake Garrison.

Coast view by Cape Blanco lighthouse.

Pastoral scene across the Sixes River.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse.

Scenes from Port Orford.

Headland views

Big Guy!