Mothers Day Sunset

Happy Mothers Day!

For Mothers Everywhere!

Perpetual Favorite

The American Goldfinch

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Super Moon!

Photo taken around 8:30 p.m. in the town of Arkwright, New York

Torpor Tonight?

Temperatures tonight will be flirting with the freezing mark.  The recently arrived hummingbirds are really filling up this evening.  It seems they know it's going to be a cold night and are preparing for noctivation.  Here's a great article about how they survive the cold:  http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2006/04/hummingbirds_and_torpor.php

Question Mark Butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis)

First Day Back

First of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to show up in the area for the summer.  If only they could tell us about their amazing travels...

Neotropical Arrivals

Baltimore Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, House Wrens and Black & White Warblers all made their first appearances in the yard today with the warm front that rolled into Western New York.  Pictured above is a female Oriole (with fresh grape jelly on her beak!).

Crane Flies

A pair of Crane Flies mating in one of my flower beds.  They look like giant mosquitoes but they don't bite and are very beneficial in the garden.

Good Morning

Afterglow

The actual sunset over the lake was blocked by clouds but then a nice afterglow appeared about a half hour later.

Cold Snap!

Frozen Apple Blossoms

Doe with a "Baby Bump"

Admire the Admiral

Red Admiral on Dandelion blossoms.

Sacral Colors

Sacral colors in the sky this evening!

The Sky is the Limit!

Another amazing sunset over Lake Erie tonight!

Return of the Red Admirals

An unusually large migratory influx of Red Admiral Butterflies (Vanessa atalanta) arriving in the area today.  

Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Cabbage White Butterfly

Trout Lily

The tiny Trout Lilies are in bloom.  These endangered wildflowers live in old growth colonies that can be as much as 300 years old.  All Trout Lilies in New York State are protected by law.

Lesser Scaup Drake

Yummy!

Three week old kid named "Blossom"

Hello to Spring!

Farewell to Winter

The Golden Hour

Pretty Maidens All in a Row

Spring Prelude

Signs of Spring

American Robin

February Sunset

"Nothing is worth losing your inner peace.

Take action as circumstances require, but never surrender your inner peace.

Stop.

Breathe deeply.

Close your eyes and breathe deeply again.

Then, and only then, take action - from a peaceful heart."

~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Mourning Dove

"But if you're in the eye of a storm

Just think of the lonely dove

The experience of survival is the key

To the gravity of love"

~  "Gravity of Love" lyrics by Enigma

Colorful Contrast

Winter's Last Stand

A Bird of Courage, According to Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin wrote:  "I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character.  He does not get his living honestly.  You may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of a fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.  Besides, he is a rank coward.  The little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district.  He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest of America.  For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird and withal a true original native of America... a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on."     

Dusk on the Ridge

Otherwordly

A thick coat of ice covers a breakwall and trees in Lake Erie.

Ice Volcanoes

A cryovolcano, better known as an ice volcano along the Lake Erie shoreline.  During the winter months, high winds create these cone shaped ice formations and allow water, slush and sand to blow up through a hole in the center of the cone.

Great Black-backed Gull Eating a Fish

Green Leafy Environments Essential for Human Health

http://naturalsociety.com/green-environments-essential-for-human-health/

Young Tom

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Snow Painted Trees

Frozen Pasture