Reconnecting with nature through hiking, camping, and paddling
People often assume this bird is a Red Headed Woodpecker. The confusion is understandable as the Red Bellied Woodpecker’s head is red on the top and back. By comparison the Red Headed Woodpecker’s head is red on the top, back, sides, and front. If you happen to catch a glimpse of this bird’s stomach you’ll see the red patch for which it is named.
This family of aphids watches helplessly as one of their clan is ruthlessly devoured by their arch enemy, the ladybird beetle (aka ladybug). When you look at a ladybug it’s easy to forget they are savage predators.
I like the color, the texture and the irony of this photo. The irony that the bolt, which helps hold the trailer together, required a hole to be drilled through the metal, which is ultimately causing it to fall apart.
If you click on the image you can see a larger version of it, which really highlights the texture.
The tower at the Circuit Of The Americas track in Austin, Texas stands 251 feet above the race track. I didn’t go up the tower but it was pretty impressive to look at from the ground.
I’m not sure what this guard was protecting in the Vatican but the doorway looked impressive enough.
Sometimes being a morning person pays off. I took this photo during a trip to the beach last August. I noticed the cloud bank that night and thought it was a shame the clouds probably wouldn’t be there at sunrise. To my great surprise, the clouds barely moved overnight! I awoke before dawn and watched this amazing sunrise slowly transform into morning.
This tree stood along a trail I was hiking one morning. I thought the vivid, rusty bark contrasting with the greens of the moss and pines made this an interesting study of color and texture. The early morning shade provided the perfect soft, even light to produce the deeply saturated colors just as I remember seeing them.
Colorful damselflies roam the shoreline of the Rappahannock River in Virginia. I photographed this one during a summer canoe trip.