Mt. Ranier... Seattle, Washington

This is Mount Rainier, near Seattle, taken from a plane.

Spider lunch time

This spider, hanging in my back yard, was munching down on his lunch, when I came upon him.  He had a couple future meals  hanging elsewhere on his web.  He probably lost those, though, because later in the day, the wind blew away his spindly fortress.

Alaska wows with cold sites

The mountains slide past our cruise ship as w3 sail the passages near Skagway, Alaska, on our recent vacation,  My wife, Linda, is holding on to her hood because of the brisk, cold wind.  Two things to note about this photo 1) the glacier in the middle of the picture sliding down the mountains ( you can slightly see the blue color of the ice). 2. the guy walking in shorts toward us -- he must have been doing the ice bucket challenge or something.  Oh, by the way, this is from the first week of August.

Ducklings get lessons on grooming

"Okay kids, you had your dinner and your play time,  now it is time to clean up."  A mother duck, sheppards  her ducklings, teaching them good hygiene habits.  The scene is from Lake Washington.

Whale wakes whale watchers with tale show

This shot is from our recent Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Jewel. We took a whale watching tour out of Juneau, and saw quite a few whales from afar.  After about 45 minutes of this, we ended up in a place where whales were mulling around, but not close to our boat. The captain turned off  the motor and decided to wait and see. Just as he was walking to the front to start the boat to leave, this whale and a companion surfaced about 40 feet from us to gasps and "wow" from all of us. This is the Humpback whale's signature move as he starts a deep dive for food.

Seattle slides away

This was the view from the Norwegian Jewel as Seattle slid away from us and we set sail for an Alaskan Cruise.

Eagle brags about his Salmon catch

After an hour of watching this Alaskan  eagle from afar, as we were walking back to the bus, he zoomed to a tree by the road which we were walking past.   I was so excited to shoot the shot, that I did not notice the salmon hanging down.   You can barely see it, but he has already eaten the head off of his catch.  This shot was from our recent Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Jewel.

In the dust

Found in the wreckage in Oklahoma this past summer.

Eastern Blue Bird

Eastern Bluebirds aren't a common site, chez moi, so I was glad to see this visitor.

Shade Bathed

After the rain is gone, sundrops hang on for as long as they can in the shade.

Bluebonnets and friends

I pulled over on the side of the road and took this shot a few weeks ago.  It was a patch of Texas Bluebonnets and their friends.

Red-Headed Woodpecker

This Red-Headed Woodpecker was flying around City Park in Baton Rouge, unbeknownst to the kids having fun with more terrestrial pursuits. AllAboutBirds.com notes "These birds don’t act quite like most other woodpeckers: they’re adept at catching insects in the air, and they eat lots of acorns and beech nuts, often hiding away extra food in tree crevices for later."

Roadrunner

This Roadrunner I met in Austin this weekend didn't feel comfortable enough to let me get close.  He did however let me get close enough for a zoomed in shot.

Butterfies fill the air

Butterflies were all over the backyard Monday.  This is the only one that would sit still for a portrait, though.

Beautifully ugly

My iguana friend kept a sharp eye on me, but still let me get more than a dozen pictures of him without flinching.  This was as close as I felt like getting for fear of chasing him away -- I just wanted a good clear picture of his beastly bling bling.

Egret unruffled by my camera

You know that this egret had to feel pretty safe with me shooting pictures of him, if he took the time to scratch.  There was a good bit of swamp between the two of us.  Still, he was playing it pretty cool.

Flowers passionate about time

The Passion Flowers are still hanging around in the backyard, opening by day, closing by night -- floral clock style

Greetings from the big-billed bunch

This was the committee that flew in to greet us at the Bolivar-Galveston ferry a couple weeks ago. This flock of ferry followers were waiting for us to get off so the boat so it could resume churning the waters for their favorite foods.

Tree top egrets post watch

In Lacassine, LA, these two were posting watch at the top of the tree as their feathery fellows came circling in.  On the left is a Ibis, and on the right, a Cattle Egret.

Hitchhiking hummingbird

On our recent Caribean cruise, this cute fellow was a hitchhiker that joined us just offshore.  I think he disembarked in Jamaica.

Hot air balloons make the Moon Glow

A hot air balloon pilot release sa flare of fire into his eagle-shaped hot-air craft at the festival yesterday in Gonzales, LA.   We were there for the Moon Glow -- a show put on by several dozen of the big heat bags.   Quite a show.  Check out my post on New Orleans Daily Photo for another peak at the fun.

Heron "hand" stand

I don't know what the one-legged stand is all about. Perhaps this tri-colored heron is just practicing gymnastics with a goal of a run at the Featherlympics?

Fantasies of Chuckie Cheese's

Our granddaughter, Sophie, slowly releases her Nanny's hand as she heads off into a world of dreams and fantasy at Chuckie Cheese's. It's a world that they love to travel to.

Caterpillar strikes fear in his crawl

This prickly little caterpillar can put a whole can of hurt on you with his minute stingers.   I have a close up below.  I learned the hard way to stay plenty far away from these guys.

Born digital means not having to ask how to plug in

The Millenials, including our grandson, Slade, are born digital.  They instinctively know how to use technology.  Slade, for example, who in this picture is 11 months old, doesn't need any instructions on how to use a computer.  It has a seat, and a back -- climb on, sit down and get plugged in.

Tongue is bird's best tool

A sparrow performs magic with his tongue. After cracking a seed with his beak he uses his tongue to flit out the shell an preserve the tasty germ of the seed.

Food fights at the bird feeder are serious

I told you, stay away from my side of the bird feeder, you thief.  The attacking sparrow, lets the snacker know he is serious by putting his claws on him.

Never had the swing of it

I never was much good swinging on those handles.  When I see kids doing this with such deft and ease, I get jealous.   Not jealous enough, mind you, to want to jump on one of these playground contraptions and risk wounding my body and pride.

Don't jump!

Who do you suppose would have jumped the farest if the glass had not been there?  I suppose the iguana and our grandchild Sophie, would have both set a world record. Right there in downtown Houston at the Aquarium.

Hummingbird -- That's a lot of nectar, by golly.

This is something new for the Hummingbirds that have been hanging around our backyard.  This guy stands on top of the plastic petals and stares at the nectar reservoir.  It's like he's planning how long it will take him to drink it all.

The rest of them will take their drink and then fly away or fly up to the top to play King on the Hummingbird Feeder -- chasing after any rival that comes near it -- including, one time, giving me a ear-popping buzzing as I was walking past.

Fountains whet appetite for concert

Sometime back, we were at a concert in the courtyard by the Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge, LA.   I don't know if this is a common occurrence, but many of the kids were splashing in the ponds and fountains.  It was great relieve from the heat, I am sure.  This young man took it up a notch, lying in the water and leaning over the waterfall.  It was not long, though, before dozens were as immersed in the water as the adults were immersed in the music.

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Sunny Serenity of Selected Seats.

Looking out from a baptismal font in a church into which we wandered in Washington D.C.  The sun had found a trio of windows it could blaze through and was adding real ambience to the scene.   It's nice to have a production assistant like that when your shooting photos.

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Ferris Wheel wait

These two are waiting to go soaring at the Aquarium in Houston.  Big Ferris Wheels always get my stomach quesy.--steve buser

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Smiley Gators

Well, snap my finger!  

It looked like a chorus line of Alligator mississippiensis.  They sat staring out at the crowds from their French Quarter shop perch.  They seemed almost to be saying "Come on, snap me up."
Okay, it was a bad joke, but I tried didn't I?
-steve buser

Aligators, New Orleans, French Quarter

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Duck -- the water is your world.

When you live in it, swim in it, and eat from it, even a little extra murkiness in the water can't stop you from appreciating its vitalizing power.  Yeah, that's refreshing.
--steve buser

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Nightfall hush

Nightfall out in the backyard.  Calm, quiet, still. As if the night had sucked the sound as well as the sun from the horizon.
-steve buser

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Black-Crowned Night Heron

I go all over the place trying to find these birds, then I walk out my door a few months back to find one is there in the ditch.   This is a Black-Crowned Night Heron.
--steve buser

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Rules of the road: buffalo rule the road.

Don't get out of your car to get close to wildlife near a road, the park rangers tell you at Yellowstone Park where this was taken.  Still, people do it all the time. The buffalo looks calm and peacefule moving across the road, but apparently they can get riled easily.  If they do get riled,  they can put up such a tantrum that a car can be the loser.

--steve buser

Yellowstone National Park, buffalo

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Giraffe ballet anyone?

A little giraffe ballet anyone?   These giraffes were just checking me out -- trying to guess if I was going to feed them or something.  I was standing about eight feet back from the fence at Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, LA. Nonetheless, the attendant wandered over and suggested that giraffes have a longer reach than that, should they decide to lean across.   I had no problem moving back.
--steve buser

Giraffes, Louisiana

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Giraffe, eye-to-eye.

Seeing wildlife is an up close and personal thing at the Global Wildlife Center near Folsom, LA,  north of New Orleans.  The animals come up to the wagon train to eat from the visitors' food cups.

--steve buser

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Crystal flowers from Yellowstone

I love these lovely crystalline structures that grow in the pools of geysers at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.   Unless I am mistaken, that is a quarter that someone dropped (hopefully accidentally) on the "flower" -- it gives a sense of the dimension.
--steve buser

Yellowstone National Park

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Cool journey home

In the cool of the evening and in frigid mountain waters, this gal was slowly making her way back home up in the mountains.  This is on the west side of Yellowstone National Park, shortly before you exit the park.
--steve buser

Yellowstone, Mountains, Wyoming

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Skipping Sanderling

A Sanderling (Calidris alba) skips rapidly across the sandy beach at Perdido Key, Florida, finding a lot of good things to eat on the shore because of the high wave action in the Gulf of Mexico.
--steve buser

Sanderling, Florida, Perdido Key

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