Crops & Clips: Flashback to August, 2017

I had only 419 images in my archives for the month of August, 2017. Yet, in retrospect, it was a very active month for us, including  5 flights and lots of family, fun, and  photos. As usual, I peered through the retrospectoscope and searched for images which depicted favorite memes-- Critters (especially birds), skyscapes, reflections, fences, flowers and scenes which speak for themselves.

We started out the month at our second home in Northeast Illinois, where a falcon and doves symbolized peace.

An American Kestrel...

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... was joined by two Mourning Doves:



Local butterflies included a Painted Lady:



We then flew back to Florida on August 5, visiting the local rookery, where the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons had finished breeding. Their legs had turned dark and their crowns have lost their golden hue:



I could not resist capturing a closeup crop of this one's face after it had splashed after a fish :



An immature Great Blue Heron occupied a high perch:



A wild Pink Phlox brightened up the barren gravel path:



I was experimenting with my new Olympus E-M10 Mark II, a mirrorless four-thirds camera with a 75 to 300 mm zoom lens, which I planned to take on our upcoming trips. It is much more compact than my full size Canon 80D with its massive 420 mm prime lens system. I was pleased with its low-light performance, 15 minutes before sunrise on August 9:



The Olympus produced this nice detail of Melaleuca trees next to a flooded ditch:



A hand-held shot of the full Moon was remarkably sharp:



Sunrise on August 9:



We were off to the Texas Panhandle on August 11 to celebrate the wedding of our grandson at the chapel on the grounds of WTAMU (West Texas A&M University) in Canyon, where he was a pre-med student:



Our son and newly enlarged family:



The happy couple, after the ceremony:  

 

We visited nearby Palo Duro Canyon State Park: 



Barn Swallows nested on the porch of the Park headquarters:



Rock formations at Palo Duro Canyon resemble imposing architectural structures:



American Bison near Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge:



On August 16, Corpus Christi, Texas was our next destination, where we stayed at a condominium on the Padre Island beach.

Golden Padre Island sunrise (August 17):





Willet:



Piping Plover:



Ruddy Turnstone and Sanderling:



Night fishing with our daughter's family off the pier at Aransas Pass:



Port Aransas harbor:



The Lighthouse at Port Aransas, Texas on August 18, 2017. Little did we know that, one week later, Hurricane Harvey would make a direct hit and devastate this harbor:

 

From Texas, we flew back to Illinois on Aug 20.

This Great Egret roosting near the Fox River made me feel as if already back in Florida:



Hoping for one last sighting of the Lark Sparrows in a field near our condo, we only saw a nice male Dickcissel:



We arrived back at our permanent Florida home on  August 25. In our back yard, a Tricolored Heron hunted and a fish disturbed the mirror surface of  the lake:



In the local wetlands, a White-tailed Deer buck was in breeding condition:



On my birthday, fall land-bird migration had already begun, as evidenced by the arrival of this Northern Waterthrush...



...and a Blue-gray Gnacatcher:



A large feral hog boar, which usually fled any time we approached, caused concern when he ran across in front of MaryLou, who froze in her tracks. They can be very dangerous, so I started carrying a defensive weapon:



My photo does not do justice to the metallic silver spots on the undersides of the wings of this Gulf Fritillary:

 

A colorful sunrise from our back patio:




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Linking to:

Fences Around the World

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Timeless Thursday

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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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Crops & Clips:Texas Panhandle birds

These natural rock formations in Palo Duro Canyon resemble ancient edifices:



I have supplemented my heavy Canon 80D DSLR and its 420 mm lens system (300mm L/4 with 1.4x extender) with a mirrorless Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II and an Olympic M.ZUIKO MSC ED-M 75-300mm II (f/ 4.8-6.7) zoom lens. It weighs only 2.05 pounds (0.97 Kg) compared to the  5.16 pounds (2.34 Kg) of my big rig. After experimenting with the rather complicated settings, I felt confident enough to leave the DSLR behind for a 10-day trip to Texas.

Here is a comparison of the two cameras, with lens hoods extended and then stowed:





For landscapes I switched to a tiny electronic zoom Olympus M.ZUKIO ED 14-42mm (f/3.5-5.6) EZ lens:



This was not a wildlife expedition. Indeed it was a wonderful family affair on the occasion of the marriage of our youngest grandson. The wedding took place in the Texas Panhandle south of Amarillo. They left the serious photography to a professional photographer, though I did take several hundred photos of the pre-wedding shower as well as the rehearsal and wedding ceremony.



The chapel at West Texas A&M  University:


 
The groom with his bride, his parents and four siblings:



The reception was held at a good old country restaurant:



During the 5 days surrounding the wedding we went sightseeing in the nearby and very impressive Palo Duro Canyon. Flash floods the night before (when 15 members of our family attended the famous open-air Texas Musical which is held in the depths of the Canyon) caused all the trails to be closed. Even the paved road had to detour around an area of deep mud. We were rained out only about 10 minutes into the show and returned home soaked to the skin!

At the visitor center we saw this lizard:



Barn Swallows nested under the porch roof:



It was sunny and very hot. Photographic conditions were not favorable because of the glare and deep shadows. A wildlife blind was located near bird feeders and a small water source.  House Finches outnumbered the other avian visitors. This male appears to have an eye infection:



Golden-fronted Woodpecker:



Watching a Lark Sparrow as it fed a fledgling was a treat:





Later in the day we moved on to Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge. We have visited this refuge many times over more than twenty years that our son has worked as a meteorologist in Amarillo. 

The lake has gradually dried up because of the combined effects of prolonged drought and the dramatic drop of the water table due to greatly increased agricultural demand. The last time I saw significant water  was around 1998. Waterfowl and migratory wading birds abounded, and during the winter Bald Eagles gathered there to fish. In 2008 it was nearly dry but a small section recovered a bit in 2009. Now the entire lake is bone dry. 

A small herd of "buffaloes" (American Bison) wallowed in the mud in a pasture near the entrance to the refuge:





I enjoy photographing small birds, so they were a test for my new camera. Given the conditions, the images were fairly good. This is a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher which is growing a new tail after molting:



Against the bright sky, this photo required a full stop of exposure compensation:



Even at some distance, the camera obtained fairly decent resolution of this back-lit immature Red-headed Woodpecker:



A female oriole posed nicely. I believe it is an Orchard Oriole:



A Swainson's Hawk wheeled overhead. Because of shutter lag I only had one opportunity to capture this image. I still need to learn more about how to obtain rapid bursts:



As I write this, a storm with the potential to bring heavy rains and possible hurricane-force winds is bearing down on Corpus Christi, where we vacationed until just four days ago. More about this in a future post, but here is a sunrise on our first morning on the beach at North Padre Island:



Back home in Florida the rain has kept us inside, but this photo of a back yard Tricolored Heron satisfied my desire to include a reflection of a neighbor's fence:


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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to FENCES AROUND THE WORLD by Gosia

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 Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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