Pretzel's Snack-A-Day (365 for 2014)

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Day 187 - ARGH!

Found a spot, on the previous day, that had HUNDREDS of these blooms, with some kind of white bloom mixed in. Apparently, though, they are morning bloomers and weren't out for the sunset light as I had hoped. Just these few were blooming when I arrived, so I made the best of it.

I have to admit, these are some of my favorite wildflowers ever, and I just found out tonight that they are the state wildflower of FLORIDA! No wonder I like them so much! I hope to live with 'em down on that southern peninsula someday...

I present the Plains Coreopsis, or as some call it, the "Tickseed".

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When I turned around, saddened by the lack of HUNDREDS of blooms, I caught these 3 Killdeer watching me from under a weeping willow. I think the couple from yesterday ratted me out, and I'm starting to get nervous...

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Day 188 - Lunar Callings

One subject I'll never get tired of shooting... the moon. Really worked the heck outta this shot, sharpening and drawing out details to see how far I could go. Shot it with the Primal Beast in 1.3x crop mode, then cropped some more.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Day 189 - Shots of Opportunity

Not GREAT shots by any means of the imagination. I took my lunch hour and went to my local park to see if I could catch the Green Heron running around again, but guessing it was too hot for him today. After an uneventful (but sweaty) stroll, I headed back to the car to see these two barn swallows just laying there on the side of the concrete drainage ditch, several feet from each other. They hadn't been there when I got out of the car, so I dialed in from WAY away to get these shots, and from zooming in on the camera, assumed they were dead. I started to walk closer to see if I could figure out what happened, and POOF, they hopped up and started flying in their normal constant circles like nothing had ever happened!?

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Has anyone ever seen Barn Swallows do this before? You rarely ever see them stop, period, but this!? It was VERY hot and muggy today... 96 with a heat index of 103, but wouldn't think they would stop to cool off on the pavement?

That's it for today. I was so confused, I didn't even try to shoot anything else, and now that I'm home, I'm just tired.
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
Eyelight said:
I've seen a bird hit something like a window, get knocked senseless, but then fly off after a bit.
Click to expand...

No large sections of plate glass here, though... so unless they both just flew straight into the concrete and took a min to recover? I could imagine one doing that, but two so close to each other?

Unless there was a chase of some sort going on...

I'm still puzzled!!!
 
Vixen

Vixen

Senior Member
Pretzel said:
Day 189 - Shots of Opportunity

Not GREAT shots by any means of the imagination. I took my lunch hour and went to my local park to see if I could catch the Green Heron running around again, but guessing it was too hot for him today. After an uneventful (but sweaty) stroll, I headed back to the car to see these two barn swallows just laying there on the side of the concrete drainage ditch, several feet from each other. They hadn't been there when I got out of the car, so I dialed in from WAY away to get these shots, and from zooming in on the camera, assumed they were dead. I started to walk closer to see if I could figure out what happened, and POOF, they hopped up and started flying in their normal constant circles like nothing had ever happened!?



Has anyone ever seen Barn Swallows do this before? You rarely ever see them stop, period, but this!? It was VERY hot and muggy today... 96 with a heat index of 103, but wouldn't think they would stop to cool off on the pavement?

That's it for today. I was so confused, I didn't even try to shoot anything else, and now that I'm home, I'm just tired.
Click to expand...

I've seen other birds sunning themselves, lying in the dirt like this, but not swallows.
 
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SteveL54

Senior Member
Soooooo The Virginia Commonwealth University has been spending money since 1957 doing research to tell us that some birds go into a trance like state when it gets warm.....
 
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SteveL54

Senior Member
It took them 57 years and countless researchers to observe this.

Pretzel, you did it in the click of a button.

Well done, sir. Well done.
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
SteveL54 said:
It took them 57 years and countless researchers to observe this.

Pretzel, you did it in the click of a button.

Well done, sir. Well done.
Click to expand...

To be fair, it took me a couple of days of button clicks. Well, ok, total time between the two days, about... 30 mins.

I think I need to slow things down, apply for a grant, and "research" for a living. ;)
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
Day 190 - nothing

When the fam says "no camera tonight, let's watch a movie." You do it (every once in a while)

Then ya sneak a pic with the phone for the 365 ;)

9esaguny.jpg
 
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Pretzel

Senior Member
Day 191 - SURPRISE!

I spent all day at work thinking, "This rain is gonna be good for my flowers!"

Then I came home to find out that my Marigolds didn't like the TORRENTIAL rain... they were bowing their heads in defeat.

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Then, just before it was too dark to get a pic, our backyard bunny poked his head out. We've had the honor of watching him through the window as he's grown, but every time I try to ease the door open, he's taken off. Tonight, he perked up and looked at me nervously, but didn't run! This is a crop from 300mm at the back door. I didn't try to get closer just yet.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
Day 193 - Super Moon Day 2

Yup, another shot... then a couple of the moon helping with a different kind of shot.

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Sweet Gum Tree - probably could have gone to ISO 200 for this one.

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Sycamore Tree

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