Ocean sand slide

 
The water slides up and along the beach at Perdido Key in Florida. While a couple figures splash along.


--steve buser

Steamy D.C. sunrise

 
This was the steely-blue scene in Washington D.C. recently when we travelled to see our son in a triathlon. The sun was still yawning and jets flying in over head were leaving vapor trails behind them as the snaked along the river into the Ronald Reagan National Airport nearby.


The summer humidity was already wrapping us up even in the early D.C. hours.

Can I have a bite?

 
This is one of the gators at the Louisiana Gas and Oil Museum in Jennings, LA, where I stopped off the Interstate the other day. If I remember right, he is about 14 years old. It's a fun stop for kids and the whole family. The visitors center there is a great place to stop and learn more about the region and these guys.


This gator has just one question for you. "Can I have bite?" Fortunately, he can't get to you.


--steve buser

Come on, let me see you wash a tail feather

Bath time. Save these pictures for the next time the kids complain. Even ducks like to take baths. This fellow was ruffling his feathers at the Louisiana Oil and Gas Park in Jennings the other day. Several good long splashings later, he was ready to retire to the shade, straighten out his feathers and pick off the stuff that had come out.




Abraham Lincoln on this bird blog, Sunday, had a great little write up about this routine and more.

Stare-down -- Great Egret and Comorant

 
A Great Egret and a Comorant seem to be having a stare-down on the small lake at the Louisiana Oil and Gas Park in Jennings, Louisiana. The Egret flew off when he noticed me. A few minutes later the Comorant's partner swam up to it as if to plead with it to make a quick escape, also.


The I-10 park, which is midway between Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, is a great place to pull over for a break and a little scenery


--steve buser

Washington Monument -- early up

This is the Washington Monument in Washington D.C in an early-morning, before-sunrise shot.
We were up early to make it down by the Tidal Pool for my son, Charlie, who was racing in the Nation's Triathlon.


-- steve buser

Wind and water skimming

A Great Egret (Ardea alba) skims gracefully away over the water to find a better feeding spot. This is at the Louisiana Oil and Gas Park in Jennings where I stopped the other day for a break from my I-10 travels. Never one to miss a good shot, even on a bathroom break, I had to hold nature back while I ran back to the car to get my camera. Map

Buddy, can you spare a meal?

 
I looked down and this Ring-Billed Gull was standing right beside me. Maybe he was just trying to get a hand-out, but he stood still long enough for me to get his picture. Then he had a enough and took flight.


This was on the Nation's Mall in Washington, D.C.


-- steve buser

Jefferson Memorial

 
The Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. is a good ways away from the other monuments.  The lazy walk around the tide pool to get there is well worth the effort. When we got to the Memorial on our recent trip to the nation's Capitol, I had one of those aha! moments. Why did they build with columns so much in ancient public buildings? It allowed access, free flow of air and light -- I suppose a closed in building in historic times could be a pretty dark and steamy place.


- steve buser

Gustav's angry seas, frothing sky

 
Who would have ever thought that if you went more than 200 miles from where a hurricane hit, you would be lashed with tropical storm force winds. Angry seas and frothing skies threatened us for two days in Perdido Key, Florida, where we evacuated from Hurricane Gustav. Gustav, for his part,  was zooming toward New Orleans at the end of August.


--steve buser

Aragonite, the unstable sister

 
No idea.

I had absolutely no idea there were so many varieties of gems and minerals in the world. We were touring the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. and wandered into the gem and mineral display. I could have spent days in there. But, had to settle on a half hour. Gleaming, beaming, shining, waxing, and every other thing a mineral can do, they were there.


This is a specimen of Aragonite, a strange, and weaker sister of plain calcite.


-- steve buser

Starling -- the beautiful pest (Sturnus vulgaris)

 
They're mostly considered a pest. Nonetheless, the they have striking markings. This European Starling came right up to the table as we sat the National Mall, in Washington, D.C. this weekend.


We were just drinking lemonade at the outdoor stand, but across the patio, the couple was enjoying a hamburger and french fries. Suddenly, a Starling swooped in and stole one of the fries from the woman's basket as she held it. Needless to say, she was nonplussed by the theft.


The birds were artificially introduced into the U.S. from Europe.


-- steve buser