Perusing the 500+ photos in my archives from three years ago, in June, 2015 brought back wonderful memories. As usual, I searched for favorite memes: Skies, reflections, fences, all kinds of critters, and those photos which speak for themselves about places and seasons.
We started the month in our Florida home. June brings on the rainy season which also means the threat of hurricanes, but many mornings begin beautifully, even if a deluge is expected by afternoon. Sure enough, on June 1, as we headed back home from our early morning walk, clouds were already gathering over the ocean to the east:
Fledgling Green Herons had attested to a successful breeding season in the rookery:
Their interactions were amicable:
A Halloween Pennant dragonfly even seemed to have a friendly face:
A Brown Basilisk peered up from the grass...
...as did a Raccoon:
A Marsh Rabbit rejoiced in having eluded the Bobcats (so far):
We're only up to June 2nd and have a surfeit of creatures, so I will skip ahead. It's hard to ignore this Northern Cardinal on June 5th...
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...or this White Peacock on June 8th:
A Golden Sunrise on June 11th celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary (Plus 5):
Mary Lou and I set out on our Anniversary trip only three days later. We will ride the Rocky Mountaineer railroad train through the Canadian Rockies from Vancouver, British Columbia to Banff, Alberta.
Vancouver Harbor (sorry, I meant to say Harbour):
Our first sighting of big game was this herd of Bighorn Sheep along the rail line:
The delightful train crew would serve our private car through three days of travel:
So many wonderful sights! The sky over Thompson River Valley:
Thompson River, which I rendered here as an oil painting (click to enlarge):
The rapids in Kicking Horse River:
Fantastic Emerald Lake:
On the final leg between Kamloops to Banff, gorgeous mountains..,
...and impossibly blue lakes:
Freight train (and its reflection) coming our way!
Bow Falls:
The river above Bow Falls (another oil painting edit):
Our objective-- three nights at the Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise:
Finally (not bored yet?),,, The view of Lake Louise at sunrise, from our hotel room:
Lake Louise, its waters milky with glacier dust:
C'est moi (Oh, to be eighty again!):
I prepared this in advance and may miss my next Thursday morning post due to medical issues.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
A train trip into the Canadian Rockies has long been on my Bucket List. Mary Lou was rather reluctant as she thought that sitting on a train for two straight days could be difficult. Twice on trips to Alaska we took an observation car ride on the Alaska Railway from Denali to Anchorage and enjoyed it immensely. I finally convinced her that, since we would be staying at hotels each night there would be ample time for us to get some exercise. This was not a "wildlife tour," though it held the promise of possible sightings of bears, deer, elk, Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats. I did not expect that there would be much time for birding. Much of our time would be spent on moving trains and tour buses. In the interest of portability and convenience I decided not to pack my big camera rig (Canon EOS 60D 18 MP Digital SLR Camera with 420 MM lens system: Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM telephoto Lens with 1.4X extender). Instead, I carried only my pocket camera, a Canon SX700 HS with 30X optical zoom. This turned out to be a wise choice. We departed at 6:00 AM from Fort Lauderdale and flew to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, where we connected with the flight to Vancouver. Each leg was about 3 1/2 hours.We gained 3 hours on the clock, arriving at our hotel at about 1:00 PM, so it was a very long day. We took advantage of the daylight by ascending the Vancouver Lookout Tower, where we captured nice views of the city and the harbor. The sun was still bright at about 8:30 PM, providing some interesting REFLECTIONS: We boarded the Rocky Mountaineer train early the next morning, moving through Vancouver's extensive freight yards. Remotely-controlled switching engines scurried about. Flashing red lights warned that no humans were aboard. Reflections from the car's windows and the movement of the train ruined almost all the photos I took the first day. As bad as this photo turned out, I liked the sense of motion and the reflections of my camera and the passengers instead of the lake, my intended target, in the background: Soon we were following the Fraser River, which widened to form several beautiful lakes. As the river entered Fraser Canyon the stream narrowed and created Hell's Gate, a tremendous torrent which few boats are able to cross. If the video fails to load in the space below, please click HERE
After a night in Kamloops, we resumed the journey, continuing along the Thompson River. Now I took photos from the observation deck. Despite the movement of the train, some came out very nicely.
In contrast with the hundreds of skies and reflective lakes, contacts with "CRITTERS" were few and far between. On our bus trip on the Icefield Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper, we startled a Black Bear that was eating dandelions along the road. I had to shoot through the curved windshield from the opposite side of the vehicle, and this distorted the only image I obtained: A pair of young Bighorn Sheep blocked the highway, allowing me to get a few shots as well as a video: BIRDS presented few photo opportunities. Black-billed Magpies posed on the hotel grounds at Lake Louise: Another Corvid species, Clark's Nutcrackers, were also noisy visitors around the hotel:
My closest approximation of a MACRO photo during the Canada trip is one that shows colorful river rocks with Victoria Mountain and Glacier in the background, at Lake Louise:
This bona fide macro was taken back in Florida, showing a tiny clump of flowers, about 1.5 inches (4 cm) wide, taken from a distance of only about 3 inches (8 cm) with my PowerShot. It turned out looking like a huge bouquet:
My FENCE photos are both from the Columbia Ice Field glacier area. Here is Mary Lou in the wind and rain with the Athabascan Glacier in the background. We subsequently walked up on the glacier.
I was the only one brave enough to take the Jasper Glacier Skywalk, a glass walkway that looks straight down almost 1000 feet into the valley:
Linking to I Heart Macro by Laura ________________________________________________ Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display ________________________________________________
During a visit to the zoo she noticed a sparrow in the tree above:
At four years of age, she loved to find fossils along the shore of our lake in Florida...
...and watched the Bald Eagle nest:
Graci enjoyed nature walks with her little sister and their huge Tibetan Mastiff:
Graciela writes-- Several times I tried to set up a bird walk with my grandparents but the first couple of times it rained. They did take me out to Bliss Woods but the mosquitoes almost ate us alive! Grandma with me on the bridge over Blackberry Creek in Bliss Woods: We heard this House Wren singing very loudly: A phoebe was catching mosquitoes and I saw it carry food to a nest under the picnic shelter. Gramps couldn't find it at first in the dark but it flicked its tail: I could not see the whole nest, behind the post: When it stopped raining we planned to walk at Nelson Lake, particularly to try to see a Bobolink. On the way I asked Grandpa to stop off at a neighborhood park because I had found a nest and did not know what type of bird it belonged to. The nest looked like a Chimney Swift's nest but it was made of mud stuck to one of the metal support posts under the edge of the roof of the pavilion. I did see the bird but did not know what kind it was. It had a blue back, cinnamon color on its throat and a dark line like a collar. Grandpa said it sounded like a Barn Swallow and sure enough it it was. If the video does not launch in the space below, try this link.
While we watched the nest an adult bird flew in and seemed to be feeding one or more tiny babies. We were not able to see them, but after getting a few photos and a video we moved on to Nelson Lake. It was cloudy and pretty cool for July: We began hiking the trail and we saw lots of birds, mostly Red-winged Blackbirds. There was a large picnic shelter and I went under it to see if I could spot any bird nests. I found three nests, one with a robin sitting in it. We saw some precious baby swallows on the roof of the shelter, but inside there were no swallow nests. I saw some places where there may have been swallow nests but they looked like they had been knocked down, hopefully not on purpose.
The tiny swallows looked right into the camera when Grandpa took their picture. They were so adorable! As we walked along the path I mostly heard Red-winged-Blackbirds and Song Sparrows: Then I heard the Common Yellowthroat singing "wichity-wichity-wichity." After Grandpa spotted the yellowthroat and pointed it out to me I said it was very cute with its little black mask. He had to wear a coat but I live in Illinois and am used to the cold weather. There were many milkweed plants with flowers, Black-eyed Susan and sunflowers. We saw some Cedar Waxwings among the Queen Anne's Lace.
The meadowlark was whistling "Spring of the year." At first we could find no Bobolinks until Grandpa saw a female, which flew by really fast. Then I spotted a male down close to the ground. It kept moving but down low where I could not see over the grass. Gramps could not get a picture of it, but a Dickcissel suddenly hopped up on a flower right next to the path. I didn't know how beautiful it was until I saw it on the computer: The good thing was that there were no mosquitoes! Two days later we went over to check the Barn Swallow's nest again. This time we could see FOUR baby birds! Ten days after Graci found the nest, on July 15, 2015, there were FIVE hungry nestlings! (Click here if video fails to load in the space below):
Well, here is Grandfather back again, to add some sky and reflection shots from our Canada Rockies rail trip. This is Lake Louise, Alberta on a very calm morning... ...and this is an oil painting effect on a photo of Bow River just above the falls at Banff, Alberta (click to view full size image in FLICKR):
Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart Linking to I Heart Macro by Laura
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display _______________________________________________
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