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Black-bellied Whistling-Duck on the trunk of a tree in the Banana Creek Marsh in the Circle B Bar Reserve in the City of Lakeland in Polk County Florida U.S.A.
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The Painted bunting is a small brightly-colored member of the cardinal family. The males are brightly colored with blue, green, red and yellow plumage. Females and juveniles are bright green with pale rings around their eyes. The male is considered by many to be North America's most beautiful bird, and they are one of the most popular visitors to bird feeders. Painted buntings are one of the most spectacularly colored and visually impressive birds in the United States and are the only U.S. bird with a blue head along with red underparts.
Painted Buntings are still fairly common, but populations have been dropping for several decades. The North American Breeding Bird Survey estimated a decline of 62% between 1966 and 1995, but the 1966-2014 survey does not find significant decreases, suggesting that populations may have stabilized, or at least the decline has slowed, since 1995. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 13 million, with 80% spending at least part of the year in the U.S., and 51% in Mexico. The species rates a 12 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, and is not on the 2014 State of the Birds Watch List. Painted Bunting is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.
Found this male in Lake Wales, Polk County, Florida.
Anhinga mimicking a Penguin photographed at Lake Mirror Park in the City of Lakeland in Polk County Florida U.S.A.
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This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. The photos may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie
Day Tripping Raft - Death Row Designs
The Float House - Never Totally Dead
Sailor The Cat - Remarkable Oblivion Gacha
Floribunda Rose Chihuly photographed at the Magnolia Building Rose Garden in the Lake Mirror Park located in the City of Lakeland in Polk County Florida U.S.A.
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, occasionally corrupted as bobbed wire or bob wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property. It is also a major feature of the fortifications in trench warfare (as a wire obstacle).
Michael Kelly Invented the First Barbed Wire Fencing
The first wire fences (before the invention of the barb) consisted of only one strand of wire, which was constantly broken by the weight of cattle pressing against it.
Michael Kelly made a significant improvement to wire fencing, he twisted two wires together to form a cable for barbs - the first of its kind. Known as the "thorny fence," Michael Kelly's double-strand design made fences stronger, and the painful barbs made cattle keep their distance.
Joseph Glidden Was Considered the King of the Barb.
Joseph Glidden's design made barbed wire more effective, he invented a method for locking the barbs in place, and invented the machinery to mass-produce the wire.
Living patterns of the nomadic Native Americans were radically altered. Further squeezed from lands they had always used, they began calling barbed wire "the Devil's rope."
After its invention, barbed wire was widely used during wars, to protect people and property from unwanted intrusion. Military usage of barbed wire formally dates to 1888, when British military manuals first encouraged its use.
During the Spanish-American War, Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders chose to defend their camps with the help of barbed fencing. In turn-of-the-century South Africa, five-strand fences were linked to blockhouses sheltering British troops from the encroachment of Boer commandos. During World War I, barbed wire was used as a military weapon.
Even now, barbed wire is widely used to protect and safeguard military installation, to establish territorial boundaries, and for prisoner confinement.
I found this barbed wire along with the male Blue Dasher Dragonfly perched on it, at a Polk County park along Lake Kissimmee. Polk County, Florida.
Happy Monday! I recently visited this architectural marvel. The Polk County Courthouse is a stunning Beaux-Arts building. Its majestic exterior and grand interior reflect its importance as a hub for legal proceedings and a symbol of civic pride. I felt that dramatic BNW edit will work the best for this image. What do you think?
Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major) hunting for anything edible amongst the rocks in the Banana Creek Marsh area of Circle B Bar Reserve located in the City of Lakeland Polk County Florida
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This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. They may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
American Crow (Corvus brachyrynchos) cawing up in a tree in the backyard in Highland Village located in the City of Lakeland Polk County Florida U.S.A.
Yum! Yum!
The Roseate Spoonbill feeding in the Banana Creek Marsh out at CBBR in the City of Lakeland in Polk County Florida U.S.A.
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This photograph and all those within my photostream are protected by copyright. The photos may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written permission.
A busy late morning between Polk Street and Roosevelt Road on the south end of Chicago Union Station finds BNSF 2655 switching bilevels in the "Zephyr Pit" while a pair of F40PHs in solid Metra blue shove an inbound BNSF (or possibly Southwest Service, I wasn't paying attention) run into the station. Meanwhile, Amtrak P42DC 11 pulls out, heading for the coach yard with the equipment of that morning's train 29, the 'Capitol Limited', which arrived from Washington, DC only slightly late, for a change.
Palm warblers are migratory birds. They spend their summers throughout much of Canada into the Northwest Territories, and the northern tier of the United States, where they breed, then head south for the winter. They'll arrive here as early as September and October and will stay until April, when they make the journey northward.
Palms can be found throughout Florida, up the Atlantic Coast into the Carolina's, and along the Gulf Coast to Texas. They also winter in the Caribbean, including Cuba, the Yucatan and into Central America. We've seen them as far south as Key West.
Palms are brightly colored in the summer, with a rusty-red cap and a bright yellow belly. However, they're on the dull side during winter when we're most likely to see them. About the only bit of color on them in winter is some yellow near the tail. If you look closely at the top photograph, you'll see a hint of the palm's red cap.
They might be confused with a yellow-rumped warbler, but the yellow on the yellow-rump is mostly on the lower back, while the yellow on the palm is mostly below.
Other key markings include a dark line through the eye and a light line just above. Palm warblers have dark and light chevrons on their back when their wings are folded. They resemble an enlisted soldier's stripes. Often when you spot one palm warbler, there will be several others nearby.
Two behavioral traits also help ID Palm warblers: they tend to spend more time on the ground than other warblers, and they frequently, almost constantly, flick their tails. Palm warblers mostly eat insects, but in winter, they'll also eat seeds and fruit. They frequently forage on the ground.
There are two types, or subspecies, of palm warblers, the Western and the yellow. Both are found in Florida during the winter.
Palm warblers are members of Parulidae, the wood-warbler family.
I found this one in my backyard in Polk County, Florida.
As viewed looking north from the Polk St. Bridge, the Southwest Chief departs Chicago for points west. The right of way between Polk and Harrison streets has since been covered up by air rights overhead construction.
Created for TMI's ROOTS! challenge and for Hypothetical Awards' "C’MON, SING US A SONG" challenge.
Song inspiration: Tony Joe White's "Polk Salad Annie".
These are all root vegetables: rutabaga, red radishes, black radish, purple and orange beets, ginger root, parsnip, yuca root, and one whose name I forgot ;-).
Yellow-crowned Night Herons are found in hardwood swamps, mangroves, and coastal wetlands. They are year-round Florida residents, more common along the wetlands of the Gulf coast than elsewhere in the state. Though they are called night herons these birds may also be active during the day. They are ambush hunters, and use their powerful beaks to kill and eat crabs as well as other crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic insects and fish.
They often roost during the day in trees in swamps and wetlands.
Thanks to "Wally B" for Identification help on this one.
This is my first capture of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.
I found this one along Alligator Alley Trail at Circle B Bar Reserve.
Polk County, Florida.
A dome car in the consist of the Capitol Limited and three Amtrak F40s are seen at Polk Street, in June 1984.
The Polk County Courthouse in Osceola, Nebraska, is a Beaux Arts-style building designed by architect William F. Gernandt. It was built in 1921-22 and is located on the Courthouse Square in Osceola. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
It is a two-story courthouse building on a raised basement, about 98 by 68 feet in plan, with entrances on north and south facades. Its National Register nomination describes it as "a tour de force of classically inspired ornamentation rendered in creamcolored terra cotta and contrasting tan-grey brick. A variety of rich classical detail, immense columns, pronounced cornice, and rusticated basement are hallmarks of the Beaux Arts Style exhibited on the building. In particular, the terra cotta detail is a visual delight. Acroteria and rosettes march along the top of the projecting cornice, with consoles in an acanthus pattern and an egg-and-dart course below. Shields, della Robbia wreaths, swags, and geometric patterns further adorn the facade."
My former employer (UW-Oshkosh) asked me to design their campus library out of Lego! The model has about 4800 pieces and is 15" x 22.5".
www.google.com/maps/place/Polk+Library,+Oshkosh,+WI+54901...
A very large building at 1030-1038 Polk Street at the corner of Post Street, San Francisco, California. The bottom floor is retail, and houses the Halal Green Apple Market, while the upper floors are apartments.
"If some of ya'll never been down south too much
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this
So that you'll understand what I'm talkin' about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods
And in the fields looks somethin' like a turnip green
And everybody calls it polk salad, polk salad
Used to know a girl lived down there
And she'd go out in the evenings and pick her a mess of it
Carry it home and cook it for supper
'Cause thats about all they had to eat, but they did all right...."
~Tony Joe White