Late Spring Splendor

Wood Lake

Summer is here. The long lazy days under the sun are spread out like a lush wedding banquet. The air hangs heavy, raspberries are erupting with tart flesh and nests are becoming increasingly empty. So, I better publish my spring post stragglers! I love this heron shot with a goose photo bomb.

Wood Lake

A late day tale of two families.

An old stairway melts into the hillside.

Wood Lake

A muskrat reflects on a vegetarian meal.

Wood lake

A bufflehead is profiled.

Wood Lake

A doe at dusk.

Wild River State Park

A camouflage tree frog scales a log.

Stower Seven Lakes Trail

Two swans diverge.

Richfield Lake

Hang in there weird chicken.

White Tail Woods

Old Aspens

White Tail Woods

A winding walk to remember.

Wood Lake

Red wings are better than buffalo wings.

Wood Lake

It's a snap!

Wood Lake

No trouble with the curve.

Richfield Lake

Splendor in the grass. 

Have you met Mrs. Pigface?

I'm opening up my old school doodle diaries over at The Chorus of the Crows!

Happy Independence Day!

Buy The Levitation Game!

Discover my author website!

Wood Walks

The requisite shadow photo.

We had so many nice walks at Wood Lake last summer.  Evening and sunset walks are especially nice.  And I'm always happy if I haven't forgotten my camera. I missed a just hatched snapping turtle scuttling  beside a just hatched painted turtle last spring.  Shoot. (I would if I could)  And then there was the time we sat down right beside a baby swallow who was looking to the skies for his mom.  He was right by our feet.  No camera.

There were so many wildflowers, butterflies and bugs.  But speaking of bugs, the breeze and the mosquitoes prevented me from taking more photos. Someday I'd like to get a better camera with a great macro lens for times like these.  But for now I like the ease of a light weight automatic one.

This one turned out great even without a fancy lens.

A song sparrow (or female red winged black bird) has caught some dinner. 

Mallards swimming in the sun.

A big bird headed somewhere...

Sunset.  Another beautiful evening comes to an end. But since it is spring 2015 a new season of walks is just beginning.  Thank goodness!

Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday's Critters

Bird d'Pot

Jay Walking at Wood Lake

I caught a Blue Jay at Wood Lake.  He is not a "friend" of most birds.  But look at his amazing plumage.   A beautiful bully.

He looks like a bearded grandpa here.

"The objective is to teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees and enjoy what he understands"

Aldo Leopold

Thanks wise old Blue Jay for pointing out this quote to me.  I hadn't noticed it before.

Saturday's Critters

Wild Bird Wednesday

Into the Woods

Spring was in a holding pattern a few weeks ago.  There was unwelcome cold, rain, tornadoes, and floods.  Now the landscape is lush and green.  But we are still having cold, rain, tornadoes and floods. Yikes.  So when the sun finally came out earlier this month it seemed like a joyous event. I headed to Wood Lake Nature Center for some well...nature.

The buds were unfolding their wings.

There was a little bit of color sprouting around.  But not much!

A hawk was waiting for a meal to drop by.  I love how the new growth looks like a watercolor wash in the background.

All the other birds were darting around for their meals.  This photo has a literal water background.  But it also looks like a watercolor wash.  

The muskrats were swimming around.

I spotted a nest in the vines.

The buds were accumulating overhead.  Now spring is turning into summer.  But there is such beauty in the contrast of the beginning.

For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

Raccoon week

We were in the middle of yet another scenic walk at Wood lake when I spotted this Raccoon paw print. And you can see in the other picture where it wandered up onto the boardwalk. We actually had a showdown on this boardwalk with a masked creature once. None of us had guns, but we all had opposable thumbs! Trapped on the boardwalk and surrounded by water the masked one ran towards us. We held our ground and he went for a swim. I ran into more raccoons at Corkscrew swamp sanctuary. Just photos, no rabies shot required. And no blog week would be complete without an art post. Humble as this one is. And maybe a little scary. You open your mailbox and there's a creepy little raccoon. Yikes! Now for the fun part. You absolutely have to scroll down for some heartwarming family photos.