The Sword-billed Hummingbird is a charismatic species from Andean South America. It is found from Venezuela and Colombia in the north to Bolivia in the south. The species belongs to a monotypic genus, Ensifera, and is quite different from all other hummingbirds; metallic green and bronzed overall, with a black bill that is slightly upcurved and longer than the body length. This is the only bird species with a bill length that exceeds the body length. When seen perched, the species usually holds its bill quite upright, presumably because of balance issues stemming from this long and relatively heavy structure. Picture taken at Zuro Loma, Ecuador.

Have a Peaceful Travel Tuesday!

Thanks a lot for your visits, comments, faves, invites, etc. Very much appreciated!

© All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated by any means without my written explicit permission, including the use on websites and similar medias. All rights reserved. Please contact me at thelma.gatuzzo@gmail.com if you intend to buy or use any of my images.

My instagram if you like: @thelmag, @thelma_and_cats and @teg_photo_arts

Member of Nature’s Spirit

Good Stewards of Nature

I dearly love finding dandelions in my garden, whether they are the yellow flowers or the soft puffs of seeds ready to take to the wind. Generally I leave the dandelion there (unless I am removing weeds, and then I say goodbye to my little friends). However, this one time I decided to break the dandelion puff off of the stem to take inside the house for a photo session. The moment I removed the puff, the bottom of the stem curled into these two tightly wound circles. What a treat!

The common sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds which are used in the production of cooking oil.

The Helianthus annuus has a variety of purposes e.g. food for livestock, bird food, and planted in domestic gardens for aesthetics. The Helianthus annuus is known for its multiple flower heads, whereas the domestic sunflower often possesses a single large flower head atop an unbranched stem.

In the binomial name Helianthus annuus, the genus name is derived from the Greek ἥλιος : hḗlios 'sun' and ἄνθος : ánthos 'flower'. The species name annuus means 'annual' in Latin.

Common sunflower was one of several plants cultivated by Native Americans in prehistoric North America as part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex. Although it was commonly accepted that the sunflower was first domesticated in what is now the southeastern US, roughly 5,000 years ago, there is evidence that it was first domesticated in Mexico around 2600 BCE. These crops were found in Tabasco, Mexico, at the San Andres dig site.

The earliest known examples in the US of a fully domesticated sunflower have been found in Tennessee, and date to around 2300 BCE. Other very early examples come from rockshelter sites in Eastern Kentucky. Many indigenous American peoples used the sunflower as the symbol of their solar deity, including the Aztecs and the Otomi of Mexico and the Incas in South America.

In 1510, early Spanish explorers encountered the sunflower in the Americas and carried its seeds back to Europe. Of the four plants known to have been domesticated in eastern North America and to have become important agricultural commodities, the sunflower is currently the most economically important.

Matilija Poppy has been called the "Queen of California Flowers". Unique and distinct, it is one of the most recognized and beloved of California’s native plants. The large white blooms are the size of a saucer. The petals look like wrinkled crepe paper, the center is a bright yellow disk. Some have likened the flower to the appearance of a fried egg. A solitary bloom is a very fine thing, but a large stand of Matilija in full bloom is a sight to behold! Hundreds of huge white flowers borne at eye-level on long straight stems, contrasted by attractive blue-green foliage… a real show stopper in late spring/early summer!

Thanks to everyone for stopping by to view, fave, and comment!!

(Information is from the California Native Plant Society Blog)

Pink Dog Wood Flowers have extra long Stems.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT AND FAVES

ON THE REACTIONS I WILL TRY TO RESPOND BACK

~ aziza "likey?"

For Judy.. Just because:)

After reading all the good things you guys wrote about my work over the month of march I am truly touched.. thank you so much my beautiful friends.. I wouldn't have done anything without your constant support and inspiration:)

HGGT to you all

Explore# 327

Southern BuIlrush - Typha domingensis

Cut at water level shows this rush is built for absorbing water and waving in the wind.

Interestingly, this rush species has male and female flowers on the same stem. Top brown flower is male, bottom female....

I was just certain this stem was the perfect place to be completely camouflaged.

IMG_0650c 2021 06 24 001 file

flower (Daisy) stem .....rip detail where I pulled the single bloom

from the multiple bloom stem.

Хлоропласты в устьице эпидермиса стебля тюльпана. Проходящее косое освещение в поляризации с самодельным компенсатором. Стэкинг 4 кадра. Микрофото с объективом M Plan S-Apo 100x0.90 DIC wd 1mm с Raynox DCR-150 в качестве тубусной линзы на штативе микроскопа МББ-1А. Масштаб съёмки 119:1

A female olive-backed sunbird (cinnyris jugularis), perched on a reed stem and outlined against a cloudy sky. Photographed on Hat Yao Noi, Phang Nga, Thailand.

Baby euphorbia plants with attractive red stems, growing in beach sand, on Kangaroo Island.

The head of a partly opening Agapanthus flower supporting a slender grass seed stem by our local lake.

Effect is purely from taking the description of the Slider Sunday group seriously and pushing all ten of my basic sliders to the extreme. Five each way! The background of the original image was just pale blue-grey water in the lake.

Happy Slider Sunday!

Happy Monday Blues too!

California State University Fullerton

I have been thinking lately that I need to take some wider angle photos and it is difficult when I enjoy the world close up and macro. My next goal should be wide lens work of people and places.

360/365 -Around the house - Day 360

IMG_1170 2022 04 06 file

Spring Flowers Plants Yellow Daffodils Outdoors Petals Stem Green

Shrooms with long Stems are reaching for the Sunlight.

It is in late autumn when the leaves are on the ground that you notice the character of the leaf. The veins and stem have always been there but are not as noticeable in the summer when the leaf is green and still connected to the tree.

Stems of the Stipa shrub growing on the edge of the pinery within the Kuneevsky forest area in Togliatti

Mushrooms in the yard

And shades of orange

Dotted Stem Bolete / Flockenstieliger Hexenröhrling / Neoboletus erythropus

For Macro Mondays' "Halloween" Theme.

The stem is about 2" (50 mm) long

HMM

san francisco, california

When constructed in 1890 the Peter Iredale was 285 feet in length.

Stem

Poison hemlock stems have distinctive purple streaks on the stems, and fernlike foliage.

Captured for Macro Mondays theme: spiral. HMM everyone!

Playing with lights and shadows of an apple stem in a way you normally don't see it.

After emerging from it's cocoon, this male io moth spent the day drying it's wings a the tip of a crape myrtle stem. After a full day of getting the opportunity to photograph this beautiful moth, it flew off just after sunset.

My adorable little model Cutie-Pie perfectly posed beside a stem of a Brown Eyed Susan. He's surrounded by yellow petals of sunshine!!! Pure happiness =))

Young Dotted Stem Bolete

Flockenstieliger Hexenröhrling

Reflected sunset light on Yeruham Lake.

Out taking a break and came upon this beautiful specimen. I think it is the green strip and the red stem though that caught my eye when reviewing the images from my walk.

I would rather not title or describe this image, words are not always necessary, it is what it is. Enjoy!

Waiting for the dusky night, the function is lost by the twilight

+LITERALLY+

[] HaMeD!caL []

#AbFav_blackwhite

#AbFav_PHOTOSTORY

A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae, or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars.

They form a group of plants that can be erect shrubs, climbing, or trailing, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles.

WHERE DO YOU GO TO MY LOVELY… Rose

youtu.be/qc8aHX5EWOc

Thank you Peter Sarstedt

A crying Rose.

The best roses come from my own garden, more fragrant and more opulent they are.

Monochromatic? Not really he? All the shades of grey... from a true black to white... as it should be!

A flower image in b&w...

I love the subtle tones, all the varied tones, that give the flower/petals/stems their texture, depth and form, their delectable shapes accentuated, extracted and emphasised without the colour.

Don't you agree?

My latest project, THE MONOCHROMES, THE BOOK can be viewed and purchased now: www.photobox.co.uk/creation/4656305615

Already working on the second one.

I wish you a day filled with peace in your heart! Thank you, M, (*_*)

For more: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

"conceptual Art", Rose design, b&w, sorrow, monochrome, water-drops, "black background", colour, studio, Hasselblad, "Carl Zeiss lens", square, "magda indigo"

#ABFAV_graphic_minimalism

These here are the stems of Narcissus... one... with ATTITUDE and great nonchalance, not a care in the world... whistling???

Stems have four main functions which are:

* Support for and the elevation of leaves, flowers and fruits. The stems keep the leaves in the light and provide a place for the plant to keep its flowers and fruits.

* Transport of fluids between the roots and the shoots and blooms .

* Storage of nutrients.

* The production of new living tissue. The normal life span of plant cells is one to three years. Stems have cells called meristems that annually generate new living tissue.

Each time I think... that's it, there's only so much you can do with flowers... and yet again and again, I'll see something new.

Being creative is not a choice... it is an urge in me.

THANK you for ALL your comments and visits, so appreciated.

Have a wonderful day, filled with love and beauty, M, (*_*)

ALL IMAGES ARE BEST seen On Black, yours too!

For more here: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved