I shoot them where they lay.
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Surrounded by nothing but turquoise lagoon which melts into sapphire blue, the Maldives island of Anantara Kihavah and its pure white sands rise up out of the ocean like a mirage.
For centuries, this was where Arab traders sailing to the Far East took shelter; a lush paradise blessed by coconut, papaya and mango trees. Navigating archipelago to archipelago by the stars, the seafarers were also drawn by the riches of the ocean surrounding the island – where a prehistoric volcano sank back into the depths, leaving blooming corals within a house reef and a wealth of lagoon fish.
Wishing to keep the pristine nature of the island intact, not one tree has been moved – as evidenced by the villas growing up around them. The design pays homage to the seafarers of old, fusing Indian Ocean, Arab and Portuguese motifs with indigenous materials.
We call them "Fish Flies" in Michigan, but this type is properly called Giant Mayfly (or Michigan Mayfly). The adults are short-lived (Ephemeroptera), and erupt from the water by the millions in late Spring to early Summer. Fish and birds must love this "banquet" time of year.
This Common Grackle seems to have found a tidy snack of "Fish Flies".
FORAGING in low scrub, rather warbler like, picking and hovering from the underside of leaves, Was told of this uncommon bird to the Kotu area, and have to admit to spending more time looking or waiting for an appearance, than any other bird on the trip, but it did put an appearance just for a few seconds, would have loved to have got a side image, to show its full beauty.
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THANK YOU, for your visit to my Gambian images, hope you are still enjoying them, I love reading your kind comments and doing the same to your latest posting. Enjoy the Lord's day, God bless and keep you safe and well..............Tomx.
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UNITE IN PRAYER FOR UKRAINE
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www.crannog.co.uk/oakbank-crannog
How Scots lived 2,500 years ago - did they use them to protect their families and livestock from the local Bears, Wolves & Lynx etc. as it would appear they traded, manufactured and farmed - it is also questionable that they ate fish despite the fact Loch Tay must have been full of Salmon & Trout.
Wow, it's a beautiful January day today. Temp's in the low 80's and a chance of butterflies and sunshine.
There are at least six monarchs flitting about along with several zebra longwings and a couple of goldrims.
The bird shows are beautiful too. The yellow-rumped warbler has made an appearance, I haven't had to opportunity to photograph one yet this year but as long as the palm warblers don't run them off, perhaps I will get a snap in a day or two.
Have a wonderful day and happy snapping.
Hello Everyone,
Yesterday morning was rather exciting because there were several Wood Ducks in the pond. I don't know what got them going, but they were all on the move and speeding around in different directions. It made for quite the challenge, especially because I'm just starting to get outside with the camera again.
Thanks a million for taking a look and leaving me a comment. I do love hearing from you!
Have a fantastic day!
©Copyright - Nancy Clark - All Rights Reserved
Switzerland, May 2021
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI
You find a selection of my 80 BEST PHOTOS (mostly not yet on Flickr) here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi... (the website exists in ESPAÑOL, FRANÇAIS, ITALIANO, ENGLISH, DEUTSCH)
ABOUT THE PHOTO:
So this photo is a bit of a novelty for me - at least here on Flickr, but it's also a journey back in time in a sense. I've always loved b/w and sepia photography; already as a very young teenager I would go out into the woods with an old Pentax Spotmatic (which I had nicked from my father) whenever it was a foggy day to shoot b/w compositions of sunbeams cutting through the ghostlike trees.
I used films with a sensitivity of at least 1600 (for those of you who remember what that means 😉 ), and the resulting photos had an incredibly fine grain which I loved; I blew them up to the size of posters and hung them on the walls of my teenage man-cave next to Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Slash.
But then I abandoned photography altogether for 20 years, and when I finally picked up a camera again, it was one of the digital kind. Now neither film nor grain played any role in my photographic endeavours - let alone b/w compositions: because the reason I fell in love with shooting pictures once more was the rare and incredibly colorful lizard species that had chosen my garden as its habitat.
It's this species - the Lacerta bilineata aka the western green lizard - that my photo website www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ and also my Flickr gallery are dedicated to, but I've since expanded that theme a bit so that it now comprises the whole Lacerta bilineata habitat, which is to say my garden and its immediate surroundings and all the flora and fauna I find in it.
I like that my gallery and the website have this clear theme, because in order to rise to the challenge of portraying all aspects of a very specific little eco system (which also happens to be my home of sorts), it forces me to constantly explore it from fresh angles, and I keep discovering fascinating new motives as my photographic journey continues.
Which brings me to the horse pasture you see in this photo. This playground for happy horsies lies just outside my garden, and it normally only interests me insofar as my green reptile friends claim parts of it as their territory, and I very much prefer it to be horseless (which it thankfully often is).
Not that the horses bother the reptiles - the lizards don't mind them one bit, and I've even seen them jump from the safety of the fly honeysuckle shrub which the pasture borders on right between the deadly looking hooves of the horses to forage for snails, without any sign of fear or even respect.
No, the reason I have a very conflicted relationship with those horses is that they are mighty cute and that there's usually also foals. The sight of those beautiful, happy animals jumping around and frolicking (it's a huge pasture and you can tell the horses really love it) is irresistible: and that inevitably attracts what in the entire universe is known as the most destructive anti-matter and ultimate undoing of any nature photographer: other humans.
Unlike with the horses, the lizards ARE indeed very much bothered by specimens of loud, unpredictable Homo sapiens sapiens - which makes those (and by extension also the horses) the cryptonite of this here reptile photographer. It's not the horses' fault, I know that, but that doesn't change a thing. I'm just telling you how it is (and some of you might have read about the traumatic events I had to endure to get a particular photo - if not, read at your own risk here: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/51405389883/in/datepo... - which clearly demonstrated that even when it's entirely horseless, that pasture is still a threat for artistic endeavours).
But back to the photo. So one morning during my vacation back in May I got up quite early. It had rained all night, and now the fog was creeping up from the valley below to our village just as the sky cleared up and the morning sun started to shine through the trees.
And just as I did when I was a teenager I grabbed my camera and ran out to photograph this beautiful mood of ghostlike trees and sunbeams cutting through the mist. There had already been such a day a week earlier (which is when I took this photo: www.flickr.com/photos/191055893@N07/51543603732/in/datepo... ), but this time, the horses were also there.
Because of our slightly strained relationship I only took this one photo of them (I now wish I had taken more: talk about missed opportunities), and otherwise concentrated on the landscape. It was only later when I went through all the photos on my computer that I realized that I actually really liked those horses, even despite the whole composition being such a cliché. And I realized another thing: when I drained the photo of all the color, I liked it even better - because there was almost a bit of grain in it, like in the photos from my youth.
Since then I have experimented quite a bit with b/w and sepia compositions (some of which I will upload here eventually I guess), but this photo here is the first one that helped me rediscover my old passion. I hope you like it even though it builds quite a stark contrast with the rest of my tiny - and very colorful - gallery. But in the spirit of showing you the whole Lacerta bilineata habitat (and also in the spirit of expanding my gallery a bit beyond lizards and insects), I think it's not such a bad fit.
As always, many greetings to all of you, have a wonderful day and don't hesitate to let me know what you think 😊
The one and only McGown Peak, as backdrop to Stanley Lake, provides an experience that boderes on the religious and sometimes even more.
For a sense of scale, Stanley Lake sets at an elevation of 6513 ft (1985 m) and McGown summit is 9860 ft (3010 m)
A good friend and I left Boise in the middle of the night to catch sunrise here and the lack of sleep was totally worth it. It was one of those mornings, that if you listened close you could hear the mountains sing.
Thank you for taking the time to visit, comment, fave or invite. I really appreciate them all.
All photos used are my own.
All rights reserved. This photo is not authorized for use on your blogs, pin boards, websites or use in any other way. You may NOT download this image without written permission from lemon~art.
Amsterdam - Vondelpark - Eerste Constantijn Huygensstraat
Copyright - All images are copyright © protected. All Rights Reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.
Shot near Central Park.These are the actual colors on the structure.I just enhanced them a little.I don't exactly know which street I took this shot,but between 59th and 79th streets there are many old mansions that once were owned by some of NYC elite from the 19th century.Some of them have been converted into embassies and museums.Most of the museums are strewn along 5th Avenue between 82nd and 104th streets in what is known as Museum Mile.
God has editing rights over our prayers. He will... edit them, correct them, bring them in line with His will and then hand them back to us to be resubmitted. Stephen Crotts
~happy fence friday~
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.” 😉
― Bernard M. Baruch
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A hummingbird can rotate each of its wings in a circle, allowing them to be the only bird that can fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways or sit in sheer space.
naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/ca/facts/birds/annas_h...
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A small and shy resident goose of the Indian subcontinent, found throughout the year in freshwater lakes and ponds. They are social birds and always seen in groups of 4 to 6 or more.
The birds are visibly smaller than the other ducks such as Whistling teals and the Spot Billed Ducks found in our region. I love to shoot them in flight, but they fly fast and are quite wary of humans.
Shot them near a lake full of Jacana's and Coots. These goose stayed for a while and then flew away far from human activity..
Many thanks for all your views, likes and feedback. Much appreciated.
I wish love and joy to nest in the hearts of people and to warm them, adding a note of happiness to the difficult daily life of this time.Stay Strong.. Stay Safe.. Soon all we will be better! Faith, Love, Courage.. Merry Christmas to all!!!Big hug! With Love Ela ♥♥♥
Believe..
Children sleeping
Snow is softly falling
Dreams are calling
Likes bells in the distance
We were dreamers
Not so long ago
But one by one
We all had to grow up
When it seems the magic slipped away
We find it all again on Christmas Day
Believe in what your heart is saying
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste
There's so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need
If you just believe
Trains move quickly
To their journey's end
Destinations
Are where we begin again
Ships go sailing
Far across the sea
Trusting starlight
To get where they need to be
When it seems that we have lost our way
We find ourselves again on Christmas Day
Believe in what your heart is saying
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste
There's so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need
If you just believe
If you just believe
If you just believe
If you just believe
Just believe
Just believe
Song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Avycrez66o&ab_channel=JoshGr...
Have you ever visited Sandbanks Provincial Park, nestled on the west coast of Prince Edward County? To be completely honest, and I don't want to exaggerate, but every person I have ever talked to in my life about provincial parks love this place.
There is our opportunity for an exceptional exploration and full enjoyment of the beauty of this park at this time of a year, especially, when all the summer crowds were gone. This image is taken on the stunning Woodlands Trail that leads across old farm pastures to hardwood lots. A walk over the leaf carpeted trail is breathtaking, and you can enjoy hearing the rustle of the leaves while walking. Awesome!
The fall colors amaze everyone, so enjoy them until you can, because the remanence of Hurricane Patricia will bring all the foliage down today!
© all rights reserved by Mala Gosia. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
I do not want to stand
under quiet skies.
I want them filled with bird song,
the intertwining symphony
of life breathing life
singing life
I do not want silent trees
or Silent Springs
without the buzzing
of hummingbirds
or the whisper-flight of wrens.
The grass has held worm
for robins, warm-breasted
and numerous —as far
into my memory as I can search.
Where are the robins now?
I haven’t seen one in so long.
The Aves are in decline.
I do not want to live
in a world without birds.
Without the intricacies of color
the dapper dancing for mates
the delicate strength of wings
teaching us to soar above things,
to be light as the wind
and quick on our feet.
How can I soar on wings like eagles, Lord
if there are none to inspire
my soul to lift?
Who will announce the gift of sun
after rain? Who will skip on delicate
feet along the shoreline, or lift
their notes on wind and wing?
Who will bring morning?
Coming too soon —
artist renderings,
a cross-stitched Avocet
on white linen, framed,
picture books and stories
telling of days when the skies
were ablaze with a flurry
of swift flying creatures
— this is what we give
to the generations?
Tales of them?
Empty skies
and our
remorseful eyes?
I cannot live
in a world without birds.
— forgive us our trespasses
Poem written by Christina Ward
Its time for them to bloom, this year it has many arms with cluster of flowers, this is one plant that does okay without help or water,
the simple morning dew it keeps it alive.
Sometimes bygone springs, full of warmth and scents, blossom yet again inside us. And we carry them through the winter, protecting them with our chests. Then, one day, those bygone springs begin protecting our chests from the frost when we find ourselves on the other side of the window, where winter is not just a picture. It is now the ninth winter that I have had such a spring inside me, and it is still keeping me warm. Imagine, in this winter, two such springs touching like the scents of two meadows. That is what we need instead of overcoats. . .
Milorad Pavić
🎼 Que Je T'aime - Johnny Halliday
Burn all of the books Watson!! They all need to be destroyed the world must not learn these stories!!!
Thank you SneekyBrat for the fun pic!!!