I always find this interesting

Todd and I often carry our cameras at the same time. His is so much better than mine but mine is decent. What I find interesting is that Todd and I are looking at the same things on our adventures but our photos are always from different perspectives. Here is my photo from Saturday of a blue heron.

From henricus

and now look at his.

The day I had been looking forward to...day four

When Todd and I decided to go to Alaska, the one thing I knew I wanted to do was go whale watching. I began researching companies and reading reviews on all the different tours. There was an incredible sounding trip. A nine hour tour with no more than 25-30 people. The captain questioned the passengers that morning on what they wanted to see and then he decided the route of his boat. One problem. We arrived August 22nd. The last date of this tour was August 23rd. Oh well. I found an eight and half hour tour that did a very large tour of Kenai Fjords National Park and also stopped for dinner on the way back. The tour we did was with Kenai Fjords Tours. It was a long and wonderful day. I became emotional as we were leaving Seward. Most of it was from anticipation. A very small part was my need to see wildlife (especially whales-Killer or Humpback) and my tears were from sheer happiness that a dream was being fulfilled. Here are some of my photos. My purpose was to enjoy the day and not necessary capture it on film. (Todd did that for me...wait to you see his large mammal photo).

From alaska #1

This is the town of Seward...seen from the boat.

From alaska #1

My best picture of the Orca.

From alaska #1

Stellar sea lions...I love the one yawning.

From alaska #1

Doesn't he look like he is covering his ears. I either under or over exposed all my photos of sea otters.

From alaska #1

Here is the glacier calving. I believe this is Aialik Glacier but I can't remember exactly. I am going by a map I have from the trip.

From alaska #1

This is one of my only two pictures of the humpback. He was a lone male feeding when we (or the captain) found him.

From alaska #1

A strange place for the horned puffin to take a nap.

Another favorite bird

I believe I have only seen these birds in Florida but I KNOW I really like them. I think my fascination is due to their pink legs. These birds are called Black-necked Stilts. This picture is from our trip in January. I can't remember ever seeing this bird out of water...for all I know it may have yellow feet.

Cedar Waxwing

Recently (Easter day to be exact), Todd and I went to Deep Bottom Park in the eastern end of Henrico. Being a Henrico County employee, I thought I knew all the parks (and had visited them) however, I was wrong. Unless you fish or canoe, there isn't much there. That day as I arrived at Todd's house, I had my camera with me. He always wonders should he take his camera. It was an unknown park, would there be anything to see, etc. Since I was taking mine, he decided to take his. He would have been so upset if he hadn't. We discovered a large flock of Cedar Waxwings eating left over berries. These are really beautiful birds and I can't say I had ever noticed them until I started dating Todd. This is the second time we discovered them feasting. These are not great photos but they show that bright yellow tip of their tail and the mask they wear. I had a very poor photo that showed the red on the tips of their wings but it wasn't worth putting on here.

If you look closely, there are three feeding in this shot. You can also see the yellow on their stomach (is that the right bird terminology?)

Note from Cornell: The Cedar Waxwing is vulnerable to alcohol intoxication and death after eating fermented fruit.

It is a juvenile Double Crested Cormorant

I never really trust my bird identification abilities and I was wrong. I thought this was a Great Cormorant not a Double Crested. However, Todd guided me to the right one.
We walked the Anhinga Trail while we were in the Everglades. These birds, Anhingas, an American Bittern, lots of herons, and some alligators could be seen around this trail. This is were we first met our English friends. Todd was trying to identify a Eastern Phoebe and they came up to us. We quickly saw a Great Egret (if I remember correctly) and a Common Yellowthroat while we were standing with them. I tell you birdwatching makes fast friends.


I zoomed in. My ISO was too high and that is why I have over-exposed areas on him. I forget how to use my camera between each trip and then I have about a two day learning curve. All my pictures from the first day are over exposed.

They Wanted My Food

The first day in Yellowstone, we hiked the north rim of the Grand Canyon. In Yellowstone, you can drive, park and walk a short distance to lookouts or platforms to amazing places...such as the Grand Canyon. Or you can find a path and walk several miles, probably alone, and get to these lookouts along with other amazing views. We were going back to our car along this trail when we stepped into a cluster of Clark's Nutcrackers. They were all feeding in the evergreens along the path. They just kept flying from tree to tree and flying right by us. I was eating trail mix at the time. I was worried they were wanting my snack instead of what they were eating in the trees. However, they did not take any thing from my hands. They are pretty birds but sound like blue jays.

Mountain Bluebird

Todd seemed to beat me on this one too. Since we were together on this vacation, we have very similar pictures. Today he also posted a mountain bluebird.

We believe this is a first year male molting. Of course, I may be wrong. It says juveniles have a white eye ring. Adult males are very vibrant.

Can you find the bird?

Going through my pictures, I discovered this. I know you can't label which bird it is but overall, I like the picture. Kind of funny actually.