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Monday, April 2, 2012

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.


Monday, March 26, 2012

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.



Sunday, March 25, 2012

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.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

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.

Monday, February 27, 2012

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.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

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.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

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.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

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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Saturday, February 26, 2011

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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Saturday, September 11, 2010

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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Friday, February 12, 2010

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

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

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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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

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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Friday, January 22, 2010

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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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

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



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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

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


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Monday, January 18, 2010

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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Saturday, January 2, 2010

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




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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

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


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Friday, November 27, 2009

Skipping Sanderling



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


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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Chipmunk


This little chipmunk pounced out of the rocks in front of us on this trip to Colorado.  I don't think it was because he was not afraid of us -- more than he just wasn't paying attention to us.
--steve buser

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Duckling sitting -- Salt Lake City


Mama watches over her young ones (although they are getting pretty big) as the sun rises and the joggers come out.

The pond was near our hotel where we stayed on a recent trip to Salt Lake City.
--steve buser
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Sunset breath-stealer at the Grand Canyon



The Grand Canyon at sunset is one of the real treats at this national park.  There are good spots and better spots to do this.  We kept traveling along the rim of the Canyon looking for that perfect spot.  Finally as the hour grew late, we pulled into a parking area and found a "suck-the-breath-out-of-your-lungs" view.  The scenery, the colors, and the shadows made a constant play as the sinking sun skimmed its rays over anything it could still hit.
--steve buser


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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Egret -- just winging it.


A Great Egret takes a leap into the air and glides away from his perch.  The picture is from the Oil and Gas Park in Jennings, LA. His companion for the the morning, the Anhinga on the right side, doesn't give it much attention.
-steve buser>


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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Sniping Stripes --Zebras zerks


My biggest surprise at Global Wildlife Center where we visited this past weekend was the orneriness of the Zebras.  They would push their way to the front nearthe wagon train we were in and then chase away any animal that would push on them.  We were warned not to feed them from our hands because they will bite -- apparently an expression of affection. Apparently, from the way I see it,  the stripes are just to a make them look more friendly.

--steve buser
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Monday, October 26, 2009

Wildlife are happy to greet you



We had the grandkids and a bunch from Linda's family at the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom this weekend.  I don't think I have ever seen brighter kids' eyes thatn when they found out they got to feed giraffes, zebras and buffaloes and more.  It's a vast open range prairie that the animals roam freely.
--steve buser



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Friday, October 23, 2009

Elk eye contact



A young buck elk in full velvet in Yellowstone National Park stops eating leaves for a second to check me out. I guess he was wondering what that big eye was sticking out of my face.  This was on a recent vacation Linda and I took at the end of the summer.  There was a big buck looking over the herd of about 12, mostly females.  He was laying in the grass and barely looking around.


--steve buser

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Great Egret,


This lone Great Egret (Ardea Albus) was ranging around the pond at the Oil and Gas Park in Jennings today. I managed to get in a spot, just behind a tree, that allowed me some camoflauge and a place to steady my shot.  He quickly found me, though, and took a couple stares right at me to check for threats.

The fishing wasn't so good, so he soon decided to head to his (seemingly temporary) nesting place in some bushes near the bank. 

What surprised me on this shot, was how limber you have to be, to be a Great Egret and keep your feathers straightened.
--steve buser
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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Pasture perfect



Old school buses, put out to pasture, now just lineup behind a fence and watch the I-10 traffic flow by.   Near Winnie, TX (to the east of Houston)
--steve buser


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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Green Heron



This Green Heron at Austin's Arboretum was wary of me, but didn't fly away as long as I kept my distance and didn't make sudden moves.
--steve buser
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Washington Monument at the edge



Our son, Charlie, and my wife, Linda, check out the map of Washington D.C. in the portico of the Washington Monument during a recent trip there.
-steve buser


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Friday, October 9, 2009

Black-capped Chickadee



I had to shoot between the legs of a railing to catch a shot of this Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) eating on some tender shoots of a branch in Yellowstone National Park this summer.
I think the railing provided just enough cover to keep my friend here unfrightened by me.
--steve buser
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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Blowing off steam



Will the geyser blow soon?  If you know the ways of this beast, you can probably guess the time it will blow within a couple hours.  A Yellowstone National Park ranger would come out to the site periodically to check the signs and give her prediction. 

When the geyser blows, it really puts on a visual and sound phantasmagoria.
--steve buser


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Saturday, September 26, 2009

A Peek at the Peak Peak



At the top of the photo is the peak of the Grand Teton.  The photo is from our trip to Yellowstone earlier this month.   We were climbing to Inspiration Point on the far side of Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons National Park.
--steve buser





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