This month's potpourri gathered from the archives features the themes of critters, fences, skies, macros and reflections. It is a retrospective view of photos taken three years ago, in October, 2012. At the time I did not seek to portray each of these memes, so it is a bit of a scavenger hunt. Let's see how far I need to go into the month to find at least one of each. If I can get them all I will have won the game ten months in a row since starting in January, 2015. This month's flashback once again produced the required set of images, but not until the 23rd of the month.
As usual there were plenty of photos of CRITTERS--
My first photo foray into our neighborhood Florida wetlands yielded on October 3, 2012, a nice portrait of a Prairie Warbler:
Two mornings later we encountered an adult Bobcat, sitting in the middle of the gravel road that accesses the wetlands:
Male Black-throated Blue Warbler on October 10:
Fall migration generally provides a greater abundance of colorful warblers than in spring, and 2012 was no exception. This is a Northern Parula, photographed on October 14...
...a Yellow-throated Warbler on October 22:
Halloween Pennant dragonflies, as seen in this MACRO were numerous:
We "reverse migrated" to NE Illinois at the end of October to celebrate a Halloween party and pig roast in honor of our son-in-law's milestone birthday. Rudely thrust into winter-like weather, I did photograph some species for the first time, such as this Purple Finch, on October 25...
...and a Lapland Longspur on the last day of the month:
I would be remiss if I did not include just a couple of more "party critters," yours truly, in costume...
...and unmasked...
...and Cleopatra (Mary Lou)...
flanked by our granddaughters Cinderella (Cari)...
...and the Queen of Hearts (Graci):
My search for REFLECTIONS and SKY photos was productive of many images, such as this Sunrise on October 7 from the back patio of our home:
Paradoxically, this early morning shot on October 8, looking to the southwest over the wetlands seems to portray the sunrise, but the apparently diverging rays are not from the rising sun but rather from the opposite direction (behind my LEFT shoulder)! The rays of the sun filters over the tops of the thunderheads and paints long parallel pink streaks. Perspective gives them the appearance of diverging from the west, but they actually are converging towards the vanishing point. Almost every summer, tropical winds carry dust particles 5,800 miles across the ocean from northern Africa. The dust is able to cross that distance because it travels in its own air layer — the Saharan Air Layer.
I captured another "mirrored sunrise" on October 20, this time directly opposite the rising sun (notice how the clouds are illuminated from the near side rather than from behind):
Saharan dust produced the pink sky that enhanced this view of a Great Egret, on October 26:
At first I thought my search for a photo of a fence in the October 2012 archives was in vain, until I looked closely at this photo of a gathering thunderhead. I was rushing home to beat the storm. It looks back to the gate to the gravel road that leads out of the wetlands. A vehicle is parked just outside the fence, but you must click on the photo to enlarge it:
Fearing that Tex would ban me from her meme for posting the above, I carefully re-reviewed the month's photos and discovered that I had overlooked this October 23 image of a family of Wood Storks gathered on a neighbor's back yard FENCE:
As our most recent visit to NE Illinois draws to a close, the visions of Snow Buntings, Northern Shrikes and Snowy Owls that danced in my head are beginning to fade. While time afield has been limited by the weather and our duties, we have had a few opportunities to drive out to vast areas of corn fields a few miles west of Batavia, where we have been staying in our daughter's home. She and her husband made progress in their recovery from recent injuries. Thankfully, she is now able to drive their two daughters to school. Since this was the most critical task we had to perform for them, there is now less need for our continued presence.
When we arrived in early February there were a few clear days before the snow and cold set in. We did not find our target birds, but this old barn was an attractive subject.
We visited the banks of the Fox River and found flocks of Common Goldeneyes.
The males were performing courtship displays, fluffing their head feathers and pointing their bills straight up to the sky. The females acted as if they were not impressed by this amazing feat.
Several Bald Eagles flew over, including this immature bird.
The ducks took flight at the sight of the eagle...
...but soon settled back down on the river.
Several Common Mergansers were also present.
Most of our "birding" was at the feeders in our daughter's back yard. Before the snows came I could get good shots of Northern Cardinals and Black-capped Chickadees from their rear deck.
Then came the snow. Agramonte, their 100+ pound Tibetan Mastiff really enjoyed falling asleep under a blanket of the white stuff.
The snow has been deep enough to block access to the feeder on the other side of the fence. Now the little plastic barn feeder that hangs just off the deck is the only one in operation. This does bring the birds closer, but they must be photographed through double-paned glass windows. Therefore my images are mostly soft and blurry. What else is a birder to do when house-bound?
The local throngs of House Sparrows were joined by Dark-eyed Juncos...
...the Northern Cardinal...
...more chickadees...
...and a flock of American Tree Sparrows.
Dried cherries clung to two trees in the back yard, attracting juncos...
...American Goldfinches...
...and American Robins.
When the roads were cleared we ventured out to the cornfields.
Mary Lou usually accompanied me, as I can depend upon her sharp eyes to spot little flocks in the snowy fields, if they are present. So far we have found only Horned Larks and a single Lapland Longspur. I have had to settle for distant views and soft images of both species.
Early one afternoon I drove out alone and Mary Lou missed the best sighting. I spent about an hour scoping out the cornfields in Sugar Grove, west of Batavia, again looking for Snow Buntings. None were to be found, but I saw this Coyote.
Two Northern Harriers swooped over it, one a subadult male and the other presumably an immature female.
The harriers exchanged places on a fence post and watched the Coyote as it passed by along the hedgerow.
The Coyote moved directly to the north, and when about 0.7 miles away (per Google Earth) it turned to the left and started chasing two deer along a farm road. The Coyote ran after them in two sprints, then stopped. The deer looked back at the Coyote on the road.
The Coyote gave up the chase and simply turned around and walked away.
The two deer were joined by another that came out of the high grasses along the track. They watched the Coyote for a few minutes and then walked back along the same path and disappeared behind the hedgerow.
I just know that as soon as I get back to Florida I will start reading about all the Snow Buntings that are flocking in these corn fields! And shrikes? Snowy Owls?