This flamingo stood out among the group of its peers. It was a bit more relaxed and kept lifting its head, lending itself to a nice avian portrait.
Mourning Cloak
This Mourning Cloak butterfly stops to rest and feed in a patch of tiny, purple wild flowers. I encountered it while hiking with a friend this spring in the Great Dismal Swamp near Suffolk, VA.
White Breasted Nuthatch II
White Breasted Nuthatches have the odd habit of creeping down tree trunks. This one stopped to survey it’s surrounding. In the process it showed off it’s flexibility by craning it’s neck more than 90 degrees to assess the scene. This photo was taken on a rainy day and you can see a tiny drop of water clinging to the bird’s belly.
Unlikely Fisherman
Five of the eight legs of this spider were on the surface of a small pool of water. The other three were resting on a leaf floating on the surface. At first I thought this spider had been stranded on the leaf but I later realized it was probably waiting there for lunch to come along.
Like all the photos on my blog, you can click on the image above to see a larger, high resolution image of this photo.
Weekly Photo Challege: Up
I watched these tundra swans paddle around in the water for a while and hoped they would take flight. When they finally did I was able to capture a few photos.
American Coots
The American Coot is a rather funny looking bird. They break the old rule that says “if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it must be a duck”. They are actually more closely related to rails and cranes. When you get a good look at their feet, which are not webbed, you realize they must not be ducks.
King of the Mud Puddle
Walking in a park near the James River on spring afternoon, I stopped to see if there might be anything interesting in a large puddle adjacent to a small pond. Sitting, quietly a few feet from the trail was this red toad. It remained so motionless as I photographed it, I began to think it might be a toy frog somebody put there as a joke.
Female Cardinal on Feeder
This female cardinal enjoys the sunflower seeds at my backyard bird feeder. I was out taking photos and the feeder was in full sun when I snapped this photo.
Bumble Bee on Redbud
Over the weekend I sat on my roof to get a better view of the bumble bees pollenating our redbud tree. These trees never cease to amaze me. They are in full bloom in Richmond and quite beautiful right now. The bees will be all over them for the next few weeks. Some of the birds will even eat the flowers. Then, late in the summer they will start to produce seed pods and become nature’s perfect bird feeder. Of course the trees benefit immensely from feeding the birds. We have one full sized tree in our yard and we must get a hundred saplings sprout up every year.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Color
A Zebra Swallowtail butterfly feeds on henbit and buttercups along the Washington Ditch in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge near Suffolk, Virginia.