Photographs through a Window – August 2016

August has been hot, humid – punctuated with thunderstorms. Photography through the windows of our house has still be good. The doves are still around – coming for water at the bird bath frequently.

There always seems to be a wasp that leans too far into the bird bath and ends up drowning. I watched one for several minutes and saw that even when it maneuvered itself close to the side, the wasp could not get enough leverage from only 2 or 3 of its legs touching the side to lift itself out of the water.

There has been an uptick in gold finch visits. The bird bath is popular with them just like it to the doves.

But the gold finches like the zinnias

And the high narrow perch of the hanger for the bird feeder (empty during the summer) that the doves are too big to enjoy.

There was a molting American Crow on a neighbor’s roof.

We had more butterflies around in August. The zinnias were visited by spicebush swallowtails and

Tiger swallowtails.

The tiger swallowtails are probably our most prolific large butterflies because we have so many large tulip poplar trees in the forest behind our house (tulip poplars are host plants for the tiger swallowtail caterpillars).

August was a good month for through a window photography!

Zooming – April 2016

The images I selected for zooming collages this month – all reflect springtime. The Carolina Wren that scouted out nesting locations and selected an old gas grill that we had not gotten around to arranging to take to the landfill (not it won’t go until the wrens are finished with it, the blossoms of a fruit tree and maple samaras…

Horse chestnut leaves, gingko male flowers and leaves, and a daffodil….

Another type of maple samara, a dove in the sunlight, and dogwood flowers….

A goldfinch, robin and bluebird looking a little scruffy (getting their spring/summer plumage) and the beginning of dandelion flowering….

Morning glories and irises from Texas (they had a very mild winter in the Dallas area and lots of rain so the gardens are well developed) ….

A lizard and water lilies (also from Texas).

It’s a vibrant spring and we’re enjoying the cool mornings and near perfect afternoon temperatures in Maryland.

Zooming – February 2016

Birds dominate the zooming post for February. There are a lot of clips of the heads. If you want to see an enlarged version of a collage – click on it and a window with the enlarged version will appear.

In the first collage, there is a female cardinal, a male house finch, a pileated woodpecker (from the top of his head), a titmouse and a male cardinal.

Next up is a dove, a crow, velvety buds of a Princess Tree (one of the few botanical images), a robin’s foot – missing a toe, and a blue jay.

The swish of color at the top of the collage below is a blue jay flying away. The blur of color appealed to me. There is snow in a Crepe Myrtle seed pod, and a robin.

The last one is for fun – showing a dove showing off what is under its wing…and a dove blinking. In the lower right corner is the empty ‘nests’ of bird’s nest fungus.