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Phainopepla and the Dragon
Ok, so this is one photo I did not submit to the contest. Why?
Was it because I didn’t think it had as good a chance as the others? No.
In fact, I thought it might have a better chance because the Phainopepla is a bird less often photographed.
This image was not among those I submitted because……….I forgot. 
Yes, I am a birdbrain.
I have yet to employ a filing system—either on my computer or in my head—that adequately compensates for that. Oh, well.
It just dawned on me yesterday, as I was driving around town, that I had left it out of the mix.
Skykomish River Valley
A couple of days ago I submitted ten photo-creations to Audubon’s 2015 Photography Awards contest. I was happy they had an “Art”category this year because, though I do have some pretty nice bird photos, I don’t have any as magnificent as those that typically win this competition. I decided to post my entries here one at a time—there is quite a bit of detail in some of them :-). The first is my homage to the eagles that regularly accent my view of the valley. The fun thing for me with Photoshop is that I can take photos that range from excellent to pretty awful on their own and mix them up to create my own visual poetry.
Bunny vs Squirrel
I recently witnessed an interesting interaction between a bunny and an Eastern Gray Squirrel. The squirrel acted as if it had never seen a rabbit and didn’t quite know what to make of it. Eventually, the squirrel determined the rabbit was probably not a predator, but it was certainly competition. The two took turns spooking each other off my patio until the squirrel got very aggressive and the rabbit did an amazing bit of aerobatics (which I caught on camera) to make its escape. While the rabbit waited in the bushes, a Douglas Squirrel came across the lawn to the same bush. The rabbit had its eye on the Gray Squirrel, so the Douglas Squirrel’s arrival was a surprise. The rabbit leaped out of the bush in such an animated fashion that it scared the Gray Squirrel off as well. Unfortunately, I did not get a video of all this, but I put together a slide show of the photos I took through my kitchen window.
Just click the arrow on the right of the image to move to the next slide
Birds Fly Bias
I was able to get nine exposures of this Northern Harrier as it flew by at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge, but nine made for a very wide photo.
Northern Harrier Hawk
Knights Ferry, California
Gallery
This gallery contains 12 photos.
Here are more photos I captured at Knights Ferry. The decaying structures of the old flour mill make great subjects, and I lucked out with the cotton ball sky that day. The steel door is from the jail house in … Continue reading
Lost Opportunities
“All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.”
? Sean O’Casey 1880-1964
Voussoir Caché
In the audience
I am as cool as Sherlock Holmes
On stage, I sweat
The lights are blinding
Where are my lines?!!
……Your window was open
I looked in
drawn, moth-like, to all the possibilities
of what it is you are about
Yes, though your window was open
wontedly
I discovered only myself
looking out
An entire building abandoned
Current Thinking on High Voltage Rapture
Current Thinking
Trees / To Climb is Devine
My back-up brain, Katie, suggested “trees” as the theme for my calender this year. Not too long into the project, I realized it should have been obvious. What better calender can there be, but a tree? The slideshow below contains the images I chose for this particular calender, and the poem immediately below is on the cover:
TO CLIMB IS DEVINE
Descending
from The Tree
fruit in hand
to rest our soles
upon the land
Now, looking back
with longing eye
we were so much closer
to the Sky
I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree…. Joyce Kilmer -1913
TIMELY TREES … poetphoto 2015:
Logging time and season from their birth
Ringing in each year with added girth
Can there ever be a real challenger
For the noblest subject of a calender?
Click the above image to view or purchase the Calendar on Zazzle
P.S. I realize 2015 is underway and you likely have your calendar by now–I could have been more “timely” publishing this, but all my calendars will be reincarnated for 2016. Subscribe and I will keep you informed when that happens. Thanks!
I See Your Point
When debating the Heron or the stately Egret,
never, never respond with, “and your point being?”
That is a comeback you would likely regret.
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret