One of the curses, and sometimes blessings of getting older is that a good night sleep begins to escape you. Waking up at four in the morning, and tossing and turning for an hour kicked started me on my adventure earlier than I had expected.
But good fortune was to be had as a rain storm has passed the late afternoon before and a glorious sunrise began a wonderful day. It has been a while since I’ve had a chance to bird, and I wanted to take advantage of the cooler morning. So down the country lanes I drove in the wee hours of the morning. The sun rising brilliantly over the freshly dewed wheat fields.
Several readers mentioned with the Flutter By post that they have missed seeing butterflies this season. As I haven’t really payed attention to when they come out in Maryland, I kept an eye out for a new one to share.
Eastern Black Swallowtail – Black Phase, Female
And of course I have to find a barn for Drake of Le Drake Noir
The birds amazingly did not disappoint. It was harder to find them as migration and breeding season is over. And the trees are filled with leaves. So more patience was required, but it paid off well. A tally of 42 species for the day, with one new one for me. Here is a sampling of the day’s discoveries for Jerry of Quiet Solo Pursuits to enjoy.
The best highlight of the day for me was when I arrived to the horse farm, a Red Tail Fox was at the wood’s edge. I’ve seen them here before, but never have my big lens and camera ready to capture them. Today was my lucky day.
I must say that I’m absolutely loving my new camera. It’s fantastically sharp and handles ISO noise so well. Even though it is a full frame sensor versus a crop sensor, I’m not missing that in-camera crop at all.
Hope you had a lovely day as well ! Bella
Categories: 2013 Project 365, Birds, Nature
Emily Carter ~ Nature as Art 
Beautiful shots! I wonder how to tell the ruby-throated hummingbirds from the Anna’s. They look the same to me.
That is a challenge indeed. From what I can see, the Anna’s throat color is more purple in color.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ruby-throated_hummingbird/id
Thank you so much for your kind comment. 🙂
Actually my Anna’s go from orangey red to magenta depending on the light. The only ones that have the deep purple are the black-chinned. Maybe it’s a CA variety. 🙂 My broad tailed and Rufous also change wonderful colors.
I just love what you do Bella. Start to finish, text, images, motivation/reverie/spiritus, and your ability to make us all fell like we are right THERE, seeingit all with you. Thru’ your lens. Makes my day every time you post!
You are amazingly too kind Sally! Can’t tell how much it means to me that someone actually likes my dribble. It’s a pleasure to share my world with you. 🙂
PS Sorry for all the typos, Bella, thinking faster than I can type. Have tweeted you a cleaner version, just thanks for making this novice blogger/artist’s day! 🙂
LOL ! You are too cute ! Happens to me all the time too. 🙂
I should SO know to proof ALL messages/responses, glad it made you giggle, I was just so thrilled with your beautiful work and typing waaaay to fast for my own good! lol
LOL ! Indeed, it is a gift to be able to type fast. Try it on an iPad or iPhone, you get all sorts of weird words. 🙂
And I must confess, I don’t TYPE! I think all my years playing piano made me pick it up on my own, but it is so amazing that the technology can actually be slower than ME! 😉 lol
Absolutely fabulous! Not sure which image I like the best in this post, they are all so superb! That fox is a real cutie, though…. 🙂
You are too kind Sheryl. Must admit I was super jazzed to capture the fox too. 🙂
Great photo set!
Thank you so much D.A.
beautiful captures ! they flow like a fresh spring of color across a peaceful meadow –
and yes – getting older is not for the wimpy – but it can often let you glimpse the birth of a new day that so many will miss
I love your poetic prose Will. It is true, an early start is truly glorious.
What can I say, always speechless when I see the beauty you capture through those lenses. I think the Fox is ready to play with you.
I love that fox ! Next time I’ll get Remy and have a fox hunt. 🙂
hey, hey, hey… no hunting, please.
Naw..just play, like we do with the geese. We like to cut one out of the flock and chase it around a little. Pretty comical actually.
Before I forget, thanks for the shout out!
Old??? Wait another twenty years, then you can start talking about getting older.
I can see why you’re liking the new camera, all the shots are excellent, the sunrise is spectacular, almost the equal of your recent sunset photo.
LOL ! Please..don’t want to think that far out. I’m suffering as it is. I like this sunrise, but am looking forward to next month so I can capture one in Maine to go along with that sunset pic. Thank you so much for your kind words.
Gorgeous photographs Bella. Your birdy pictures are stunnung as well. I love waking up at the crack of sparrows but when I do the kids are still fast asleep so I am limited to the garden. 🙂
But how glorious that must be. To enjoy the garden with a nice cup of coffee and the kids are asleep. Bliss.
The early bird gets the worm (good light and shots). The set is great, and the barn shots gets two thumbs WAY UP. 🙂
I have to agree Tom ! That barn shot is my best so far ! See. this project 365 is starting to pay off. 🙂
Interesting application of HDR in some of these, especially the corn! Was it done in camera or in post?
Actually none of these are HDR either pre or post. They’ve been edited in Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro. Most liked filters are the detail extractor and brilliance/warmth. Also use the grad ND filter. Hope this helps.
Stunning as always… beautiful sunrise (feel free to send a copy to go beside the sunset!) 😉 heh heh sorry, couldn’t resist but joking of course! 😀 Wonderful shots all of them, what a great way to start the day! 🙂
I just may do that..although wait a month until I get back to Maine to see if I can get a perfect sunrise to go with “Fleeting”. You know I’d totally send you one. 🙂
Ah bless you, that’s so lovely of you! Of course I’d love to have one to go beside the other, that would look awesome but let me pay you for it this time or it wouldn’t be fair! 🙂
Naw…you’d be surprised how affordable it was. Remind me though..I may forget. 🙂
I’m not very good at doing things like that… I wouldn’t want to feel I was taking advantage of your wonderful nature, that’s why I said I’d pay so I’m afraid you’ll either have to let me know how much for the print and the postage or it will just have to materialise in my letterbox one day! Thank you so much though, for the thought, you’re wonderful! 🙂
Wow! The detail on that butterfly is amazing! Beautifully captured. And how wonderful to see that fox! Early bird gets the worm!
You’re right..and what a great morning that was. Couldn’t believe all the exciting things I found. Thank you Fatima.
WOW – AMAZEBalls Photos – love the 1st one and taking a photo of a fax is so cool!!! Happy Thursday:)
Thank you so much Renee. You are truly too kind.
Absolutely beautiful sunrise! I enjoyed seeing all the pictures on this post as well as the picture Perpetua reblog, which is stunning. Bella, thank you for sharing your talent. Pam
Perpetua is amazing isn’t she? She is so kind to share “fleeting” with her readers. Great meeting you and look forward to sharing more with you in the future.
A present for you, Ms. Emily:
http://theseeker57.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/one-size-fits-all/
Hot Tamale Perpetua ! You are truly too generous. I humbly accept this award and will make sure I share it asap. Hugs..Emily
You will look good in Red. I don’t know about the heels, tho’. More like a deadly weapon. 😆
What a wonderfully productive day with your camera. So many beautiful images, but I never see a fox, (unless it is roadkill) so this is a treat.
Super wonderful then ! That I could share my fox with you. He’s quite noble looking.
Amazing… 🙂
Thank you so much Drake !
Wow you sure made the most of the early morning with these tremendous shots Emily! So glad you were up to catch all this while I snoozed! 🙂
Would you believe it’s taken me 3 days to recover from such an early start. But it was so worth it. Thanks Phil for your kind words.
Wonderful post! Today I felt as though I was on the early morning drive with you enjoying the sights, smells and sounds – amazingly good photography. The grass is terrific, wow what depth and interesting colors, love the slide show, very cool and the birds just beautiful – especially in flight, and the fox – poor little guy looks too skinny. A great way to start my day today!
How you would love to be along with me on these adventures. You the painter, me the photographer. The world is our oyster.
Actually, the fox looks really good for a wild animal. I’m always tempted to leave cat food out for him so I can see him more often, but probably not a great idea.
You are so right – would love the whole idea of discovery from two different perspectives of photography and painting. I like how you explore the world around you. We think there might be a bobcat hanging around our place at night – makes me a bit nervous. We have a rabbit who has decided to live at in our yard and he has been scared to come out. Yesterday I coxed him out and he was a happy little guy hopping around munching on all our greenery ~ a fox though, I don’t know about that one.
A bob cat ! How cool is that ! I would love to see him. The fox was quite unsure of me and took off rather quickly.