19-Jul-2019
The Beautiful Great Blue Heron
Besides being a great hunter, the Great Blue Heron is a stately bird with its coloration and its size and wingspan of 6 feet! They not only eat fish but also such small mammals as gophers, and amphibians as bullfrogs, etc. They can strike amazingly fast for a bird that usually moves about with slow deliberation. I never lose my fascination for this fine creature!
"Great Blue Herons can hunt day and night thanks to a high percentage of rod-type photoreceptors in their eyes that improve their night vision."
I had no idea that excellent vision was another of the interesting facts about the Great Blue Heron!
17-Jul-2019
Unusual Rose Gall
I don't know what this blossom is (I guess we can call it that!). I saw it on a walk in a county park. It was on a bush growing wild there. I think it is intriguing and beautiful in its own way. Can you help ID it?
Ah thanks to Jeanne and to Rick, who both referred to the rose. Jeanne suggested I google 'mossy rose gall wasp' and sure enough I learned that this is a blight caused by two types of wasps. Wikipedia says, "Diplolepis rosae is a hymenopteran gall wasp which causes a gall known as the rose bedeguar gall, Robin's pincushion, or moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal bud, mostly on field rose or dog rose shrubs." Mystery solved, but sorry to say it isn't natural beauty. I still think it is pretty.
16-Jul-2019
Three For Emphasis!
I liked how these three small sailboats are positioned on Fern Ridge Lake, lined up front of the distant mountain.
For some reason, I always find the sailboats on Fern Ridge Lake to be so fascinating and quite attractive.
15-Jul-2019
Chopper
In this photograph, I liked how the color of the sky matched up well with the color of the helicopter.
14-Jul-2019
Blacktail Doe in Backlight
Carol looked out the window in time to see a deer eating her flowers in the front yard. :) When it started on her Hydrangea, she couldn't stand it anymore. I went out and chase it away. The deer jumped the fence and started grazing in the field on the other side. I liked this back-lit shot.
13-Jul-2019
Proud Mama Displays Daughter's Painting
Our granddaughter is a very good artist. She can quickly paint a picture from an idea in her head. She did this painting in a short time yesterday. Of course, our daughter is a proud mama! :)
12-Jul-2019
Wild Turkeys and Poults
Wild turkeys have certainly made a comeback in Western Oregon. Where we did not see much of them for a number of years, they now are plentiful everywhere. We have seen as many as two dozen in a group here. This is the first time I have got to see little ones, called poults.
"Adult male turkeys are called toms and females are called hens. Very young birds are poults, while juvenile males are jakes and juvenile females are jennies. A group of turkeys is called a rafter or a flock."
"Due to overhunting and deforestation that eliminated wild turkeys’ habitat, these birds were nearly extinct in the 1930s. Today, there are more than 7 million wild turkeys, and the population of these birds is increasing in many areas. Their range is spread throughout North America, from Canada to Mexico."
"Wild turkeys have very powerful legs and can run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Their top speed in flight is 55 miles per hour. Domestic birds, on the other hand, are bred to be heavier so they provide more meat and therefore cannot fly, though they can still run."
11-Jul-2019
"What Are You Looking At?"
I don't know what this nice couple was looking at, but I liked what I saw. This happened after I talked with them. As I was leaving Perkins Peninsula Park, I saw them looking at something through their binoculars. So I stopped and shot the picture. I do know they were bird watching, but just wondered what bird they saw.
10-Jul-2019
A Green Heron
I met a new friend today in Eugene, fellow Pbaser Paul (Carter Creek), and we took a short walk in Delta Ponds. There we saw this green heron, and at times two of them. Paul. I enjoyed the walk, the coffee break, and the green herons.
The Green Heron is a beautiful little bird. It has a green back and head, and a chestnut and white colored body. It likes to be in the edges of ponds or marshes, in shallow water, or concealed in vegetation. 'All About Birds' has this to say about the Green Heron, among other things:
"Green Herons are common and widespread, but they can be hard to see at first. Whereas larger herons tend to stand prominently in open parts of wetlands, Green Herons tend to be at the edges, in shallow water, or concealed in vegetation."
"The Green Heron is one of the world’s few tool-using bird species. It often creates fishing lures with bread crusts, insects, and feathers, dropping them on the surface of the water to entice small fish."
08-Jul-2019
Apple Eater
The deer have started showing up to eat apples. The apples are small and far from ripe but they seem to love them. I had to shoot from behind obstacles and that is what causes the blur at the bottom of the picture.
07-Jul-2019
Tiny Crab Spider
I learned an amazing fact about the Crab Spider. It can change color, depending on the flower it is on. White, yellow, green, pink and other colored crab spiders have been seen. The Crab Spider is also poisonous!
