I am continuing today
with more photos
of the garden blooms,
one of my favorite birds
and
Blueberries!!!
Coneflowers are fun to photograph because of their shape and texture!:
Their centers remind me of exploding fireworks:
They are great to snip off and bring into the house for a centerpiece:
We have several Flicker birds
in our neighborhood.
We hear them all the time..
but they are very shy here...
I have chased after them with my camera more than once,
only to have them fly away before I even get within zoom range.
One day,
I was weeding my garden and heard their familiar call....
and realized one must be
very
close...
Sure enough..at the end of my driveway, sitting
in the grass...
was a Flicker!!!
I ran into the house and grabbed my camera,
figuring it would be gone before I got back out...
But to my surprise, it was still there in the grass, forging for food and not noticing me.
One of the things that I love most
about them
is their little red patch on the back of their heads:
They have long yellow tail feathers, but unfortunately, I could not capture this in the photos:
I think this was a young Flicker....
so he hadn't learned to be afraid of humans yet.
But--he was GORGEOUS!:
One of my garden flowers:
And the rewards of going into the woods for a ride:
By the way, if you think my hand is rather masculine..
well,
I DO ALOT OF GARDENING, people!!!
Who has time for a manicure????
(Just kidding....
this is my HUSBAND's hand...but I had you going there for a moment, didn't I?)
*************************************************************
You DO REALIZE that you only have THREE DAYS LEFT
to enter into the August FREE PHOTO CONTEST,
don't you????
The theme is:
Sunrises or Sunsets
So, get going RIGHT now and send in your winning photo
to me by midnight, August 31st following THESE RULES!!!
Wow, lovely lovely! Your nature photos are always so good!
ReplyDeleteI have a pair of flickers who come to my suet feeder. They had a baby flicker who was trying to learn to use the feeder, it was fun to watch. And our blackberries are now ripe and the birdies are leaving purple poop on my porch!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous shots. I always enjoy browsing through your photos.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! Love the pics of the pretty baby Flicker. We had a nest of chimney swifts in our chimney this summer. They're gone now but it's been wonderful to listen to them chirping and twittering every night! A few weeks ago we even saw all of the babies flying around our back yard!
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are beautiful.
ReplyDeletegreat capture of the flicker...the cone flower is magnificent as well...and i still want some of those blueberries...i think you are just rubbing it in at this point...smiles.
ReplyDeletePretty cone flowers and what a colourful bird.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of your husband's hand with the blueberries is so close I can see his fingerprints!
ReplyDeleteThe flicker is really so pretty. Especially the last photo of the flicker which is really clear.
Gorgeous pictures, Joan... Glad you captured a picture of one of your Northern Flickers... This one is NOT too young though --since he has his RED color... They start out with a brownish color --before it changes to red... But this one is gorgeous...
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Betsy
Great captures... I have never seen a
ReplyDeleteflicker that close. Truly gorgeous. !!
I was looking at the center of coneflowers the other day too. I thought they shined in a very familiar way. Now I know that it was fireworks that they looked like.
ReplyDeleteConeflowers do make great photos and yours are beautiful. We have Flickers that come to our yard sometimes but as you said they are very shy. Great shots of the little one.
ReplyDeleteYour other garden flower is one of my favorites, a Gaillardia or Blanket Flower. The bees love the pollen on those blooms.
Beautiful photographs. I think I have some nice shots of what must be a coneflower that I got at the San Francisco Botanical Garden the other day.
ReplyDeleteYou captured that little bird very nicely, I love the Coneflowers..but they signal and end to the summer.. I am off to get you a photo for the photo challenge now:)
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Lynn's blog where I found your comment...
ReplyDeleteYour photographs are beautiful!
I wanted to check the rules for your photo contest but the link is broken.
I'd like to add my photo but not before I know the rules...
Greetings from Casablanca, Morocco!
Felt like I could reach and pick a blueberry from your hand, Joan! Great photo!
ReplyDeleteFirstly, your pink coneflower and blanket flowers are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I came from a Google search for the bird with red patch on the base of its neck. I had one in my backyard today, got a photo, but didn't know the name.
Thanks for the identification!