What a hog

Groundhog, that is. While rambling around today I spotted this guy...

So I stopped to take some pics and spotted several more.

Perfect for Groundhog Day.

I get around

I should get out more now that I have wheels to get around. I haven't been doing that much photography mostly because I'm dissatisfied with the quality of my images. I really like the camera (a Canon S5IS) but it has some serious shortcomings. Notably, the inability to take pictures in RAW mode.  I really want an Olympus E-3! It has the longest exposures I've found on a DSLR. But, the winter birds are here so I'll just use what I have until I can afford an E-3

 The common Merganser (and who cuts their hair?)

 Canada goose

 

Snow goose

A Red-tailed hawk getting a lesson about trespassing

Who's a coot?!?!

I've been chasing this coot for a while. I spotted him at the local park but was never able to get close.

He'd swim around for a while, dive,

  
surface with a mouthful of  food,

Then swim away to a tree overhanging the bank

So I crawled through the brush and the mud and the duck sh whatever until I was close.

The miserable bird watched for a few minutes, the preened

and then nodded off on me.

After a few seconds, he woke up and had the nerve to yawn at me!

Twice!!!

Then he tucked his head under his wing and went to sleep.

So I crawled up real close and woke him with the camera flash.

 

American Coot 

Fulica americana

The night sky

Jupiter is finally starting to appear.

Jupiter and the Moon over Sparks, Nevada

Jupiter, the Moon and Venus over Reno, Nevada

And lately the International Space station has been passing overhead.

Bloomin' crazy

The canna lilies are blooming for the third time. They were bought early in the year and bloomed shortly after that. A month or so later they bloomed again and now here they are again. They have a brilliant orange flower that sort of glitters when the sun hits the flower at a certain angle.

And a little spritz of water....

On the UNR campus

 Irises so dark they look black

I was surprised to see rhododendron here. I thought it would be much too dry. 

The prickly pear cactus. It has incredibly delicate yellow and red flowers that last only a day or two.

I really need to be sorting some of these books and getting rid of a few of them but I just hate to get rid of my books. I have thousands of them. I don't need that many books but I don't want to get rid of them. I start sorting them into boxes and then I just run out of energy.


Summer. It's hot. But the flowers are blooming. And blooming flowers means things are attracted to them.

A honeybee in a poppy.

And in a prickly pear cactus flower.

Dragonflies use the flowers as a resting place.

And the Tiger Swallowtail butterflies