Western bluebird and two hungry mouths to feed. The nest is high in an old aspen. I cropped away more than half the image I was able to capture from a respectful distance with my telephoto zoom extended to 400mm.
Summer’s finally here and so are ducklings. My first sighting of the tiny yellow and brown swimmers was on an early morning walk around the lakes at Lower Lake Ranch.
Clouds overhead reflect white in the dark water while low morning sunlight traveled up the valley to light this straggler.
The reflections changed as I moved around the lake. Light changed, too, cloudy one moment, a bit of bright sun the next.
Goose with goslings, one of the images I’m printing for bookmarks this year.
goslings nibbling grass by the lake
This morning at Lower Lake Ranch I found the Canada goose still sitting on the nest I’ve been watching. Then, I wandered around looking for something else to photograph and found a family of geese with six goslings near the creek. The parents didn’t want me close to the kids but I managed to get a few images without troubling them too much as they moved between the creek and lake. There are three pairs of adult Canada geese staying at the ranch ponds this spring. I wonder how many goslings will be there tomorrow.
My field guide for N. American birds says they nest in Alaska and Canada. But then I checked the breeding map and saw an area along the southern and central Rockies in the U.S. marked as a breeding area for them as well. They must like it here as much as I do.
western bluebird
flicker, full image
male mallard
This beautiful couple stood on an icy pond just before sunset yesterday evening.
female mallard
mountain chickadee on feeder hook
mountain chickadee moon
As if to say, “shoot this!”, the chickadee presented its tail feathers.
Ok. I like shooting the moon.
I'm Con Daily.
I make images of nature, wildlife, old structures, and other things found near my mountain home in Colorado.
