Three on a feeder... one on approach! Snowy day feeder visitors... January 30, 2010

Surprise... the 1-2" of snow forecast for our area turned into about 8" of accumulation... and provided more snowy opportunities for capturing the feathered visitors to my garden and feeders. You may have to look carefully to see the tail of one almost completely hidden bird (the third ON the feeder) sticking out behind the feeder... I just love that I managed to capture the House Finch on approach here. Enjoy!

About as close as I could get... Amaryllis stigma... January, 2010

There are three photos in my Amaryllis series ... close, closer and closest. The previous post is the "close" view... today's post is "closest." Thought I might bore everyone if I posted THREE in a row but simply love this view of the stigma in all its shiny glory backed by the luscious red petals.

Close view of stigma and anthers of an Amaryllis blossom... Jan 26, 2010

I noticed an Amaryllis macro on Flickr awhile back where the image showed the stigma of the flower as you see it here. I had to look up flower parts in order to name this part of the flower... it is the part of the flower that gathers pollen to aid in flower reproduction. The anthers carry the pollen and when it is released, or gathered by friendly pollinators, some of the pollen will wind up on the sticky part of the stigma. The other thing I learned about the stigma is that many flowers have stigmas that will selectively reject pollen from plants other than their own kind.

Anyway, I just experimented today with capturing a close-up of these parts of my Amaryllis, currently on its second round of blossoms. Hope you enjoy it and that you are having a great week!

Helenium 'Mardi Gras' with its skirt-like bloom... Summer, 2009

An earlier post shows one of the many pollen gatherers that I so enjoyed watching collect pollen from these blossoms all summer long. The flower itself fascinates me because only a single row of anthers opens each day... providing a long period of pollen availability for each tiny blossom. (This image and the other images that will be included in my gallery show are in a set on Flickr that may be viewed as a slide show if you care to have a look.)

Hydrangea Blossoms wet with rain... Summer, 2009

My Hydrangea survived and is slowly coming back... despite an attempt by a landscaper's assistant to kill it off (accidental, of course) by cutting it to the ground a couple of years ago. I've had this bush for over 30 years so it was quite upsetting to discover it cut down to within two inches of the ground after a winter cleanup of the garden. (The blue Hydrangea wet with rain is another image that will be in my gallery show in February, 2010... view all the images as a slide show if you have a couple of minutes to spare.)

Male cardinal in the rose brambles from December 19, 2009

Anyone living in the Greater Washington , DC metropolitan area will recall our huge storm of Dec 18/19, 2009. It's pouring down rain today which MAY melt the remaining piles of snow left behind when our streets and parking lots were plowed. In the meantime, thought I'd share another snowy image from that storm... taken through my kitchen window because the snow was piled so high on our deck that I couldn't get out the back door!

Hoverfly in flower garden... Red Lodge, MT, September 2009

While listening to friends play 'oompah' music in the park near the farm market on a sunny Saturday in Red Lodge, MT this past September, I set up my tripod with my 70-300 mm lens and amused myself photographing the bees, hoverflies and other insects in the flower garden.

(This image and the other images that will be included in my gallery show are in a set on Flickr that may be viewed as a slide show if you care to have a look.

Sharing... three hoverflies on a wildflower... September, 2009

While traveling, I choose to not carry my macro lens... it's quite heavy! This was taken using my 70-300 mm telephoto lens (a leftover from my film camera days) mounted on a tripod. I'm not sure what the wildflower is, but the bees and hoverflies were busily gathering pollen and I watched them (and photographed them) for quite awhile along the shore of Stanley Lake in Idaho.

(This image and the other images that will be included in my gallery show are in a set on Flickr that may be viewed as a slide show if you care to have a look.

Carpet Beetle munching on Stokes Aster... June, 2009

I'm TRYING to be more regular about posting... so many distractions involved with getting ready for my upcoming gallery show. This is from this past summer when I went out to photography my Stokes Asters and discovered this little guy munching away on the petals. Carpet beetles are so named because their preferred habitat (supposedly) is carpets where they can find all manner of food droppings to munch on. They also seem to enjoy exploring my flower garden! (This image and the other images that will be included in my gallery show are in a set on Flickr that may be viewed as a slide show if you care to have a look.

Sunset over Washington, DC from "up on the roof..."

This image was taken from a roof-top in the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington, DC during a spring party hosted by friends. What struck me most about this image besides the intensity of the sky is that it could just have easily been taken anywhere there are radio towers dotting the skyline. It's certainly not obvious that this was taken in a city anywhere! (This image will be included along with others in the upcoming gallery show of my photographic images. Other images that will be included are part of a set on Flickr that may be viewed as a slide show if you care to have a look.

Ice decorates the holly... December 31, 2009...

Woke up during the night and heard 'plink plink plink' on the skylight over our bed... freezing rain turned into snow at some point and the yard had a dusting of light snow when I awoke. Managed to wake up early enough to grab a few shots of ice decorating the holly tree before it melted completely and rather like how this one came out.