My weekly potpourri of photos gathered from the archives features the colors of beauty, love and value,... purple, blue and gold, symbols of royalty, the sky and the most precious metal.
CRITTER: Great Blue Heron
This heron was walking along our lawn at the edge of the lake, but as soon as I opened the back door it took off:
Purple, blue and gold adorn not only the peacock's tail, but also these baby Peacock Bass:
Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,
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FENCE: Purple pre-dawn at the dead end
This is the view looking back to the east towards the barrier that separates the paved portion of Miramar Parkway and the unfinished western extension that leads into our local patch of wetlands. Happily for us, funding and property acquisition issues stalled the project over 12 years ago. About 10 minutes before sunrise, the sky is already quite bright:
Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa).
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SKYWATCH: Blue sky at dawn
As the road curves northward, a look back as, just before sunrise, the sky takes on a blue hue:
By the time we reach the lake, golden sunlight sets the altocumulus clouds ablaze:
Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy
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REFLECTION:
Sunlight has reached the tree tops on the opposite shoreline but not our side of the lake. The bellies of the clouds reflect purple, blue and gold on its surface:
Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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We have seen few Wood Storks on our lake this fall, probably a good sign as water conditions appear more ideal for breeding. All have been single birds, hopefully foraging to find food for their incubating partners or nestlings.
Remarkably, this stork walked right up on our patio and to the back door. I hope no one has been feeding them as the behavior is unusual. Our neighbor's playful dog ended this magical encounter just as I was getting ready to make a video.
Mary Lou alerted me of the stork's presence along the edge of our backyard lake. I quickly grabbed my new pocket camera (Canon PowerShot SX 700 HS) and carefully stole out on the patio to get this photo:
The stork seemed to ignore my presence and started walking up on the lawn towards me. I backed away to fit the entire bird in the camera's frame:
It then balanced on one foot, characteristically holding onto its knee with the other foot, as if wondering about what to do as I slowly backed into the house.
From inside, I watched through the window as the stork approached on our patio:
I shot this photo through the screen, adding texture to the image:
It moved right up to within less than 3 feet of the glass door:
The stork's bubble-gum pink feet are an adaptation to its style of tactile foraging, the better to startle small fish into its open jaws as it stirs the water:
Again I backed up, this time into the kitchen, to capture the entire scene:
Through the window, a portrait. The reflection from the window glass is captured in its eye:
Suddenly the stork appeared alarmed and quickly leaped up and flew away to the right. Within a second our next door neighbor's Goldendoodle pup streaked across in front of the window, in hot pursuit of the stork, which continued flying directly away over the lake. The dog, still full of energy, returned back towards home (or perhaps saw some ducks she could harass):
