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Despite wonders of California wildlife, home is sweet
Family events kept us quite busy in Laguna Beach and Claremont, California, but Sarah and I had a bit of time to walk, and that means taking pictures. The trip home took us through the Mohave Desert, and later to Kingman, where we spent the night. From a rest area along US Interstate-40 in the…
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Laguna Beach sojourn
I’ve spent the last week in southern California— in Claremont (subject of a future posting) and Laguna Beach, a lovely smallish city lapped by the waves of the Pacific Ocean, some-time home to dolphins, with attractive old cottages in the town above, overlooking the ocean. Photos from this trip can be found here: http://www.wilcephotos.com/Beyond-northern-Arizona/ I…
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Hummingbirds!
I’ve pasted a photo of a hummingbird perched on a pine branch in our (Cheshire) neighborhood in Flagstaff, AZ. How can one NOT love hummingbirds! I’m including a link here to a photo of another female broad-tailed hummingbird in what is probably an even more typical hummer habitat— a field of free-ranging if not “wild”…
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Looking back: New and old photos
I was looking through some photos that are up to a decade old today, because I remembered some of them fondly. Three cameras are represented here— a Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z6 (2004-2008), a Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd, and my current Canon Powershot SX50 HS (with just a few shots between the Finepix era and the Powershot era…
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Do birds pant in the heat?
Some, including Kathryn Knight in the Journal of Experimental Biology, say they do. And during our visit to Phoenix yesterday we were overwhelmed with the heat, especially as we tried to amble around the Arizona Desert Botanical Garden. The roadrunner pictured here might have been feeling the heat, too. Or I might have caught him…
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Purple is the color…
The other day I snapped these two pictures of two different purple flowers. They underscore what the beauty of the place we live— Flagstaff, AZ. The liatris grows in our front yard. For more information and a better shot, click here to go to my SmugMug page. The other purple flower, called vervain, grows wild…
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Showdown at the Lepidoptera Corral (in which Little Moth faces down Big Butterfly)
This is one of a series of photos I am calling Front Yard Wonders. Thanks to my wife, Sarah, who planted such things as the echinaceas in the photo, the front yard attracts wonders from the bird and insect world. These two are a Veined Ctetucha Moth (on the left) facing down the White Admiral…
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Some Little Miracles
Originally posted on somewhere up a tree: my dear, you are a tiny Tintoretto, a gangly watermelon-striped ball of feathers and hope that against waves of crushing odds manages to keep its head above water.
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Minimalist
Originally posted on The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface: SIMPLE — A dragonfly on a stick. Doesn’t get at more simple than that.
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White Wagtail
Originally posted on Carpathian Adventure: The ancient harbour wall around our house in Croatia was home to a pair of White Wagtails (Motacilla alba). One is pictured here with an insect in its mouth. They spent much of there time calling out alarm cries or trying to distract us from nearing their nest.
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Another great day for insect photography in Flagstaff
Until just two or three weeks ago it’s pretty safe to say I knew nothing about butterflies and moths (except that they like milkweed), let alone other insects. (Well, of course I knew a bit about honeybees, bumblebees, wasps, flies, mosquitos…) But did I know anything about butterflies? Only monarchs. Dragonflies? Re. the order “Odonata”…
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North of Flagstaff: The Fort Valley Experimental Forest, a young ground squirrel, and a native thistle with honeybee
On Wednesday July 15 my wife Sarah and I drove north on Hwy 180 past the Arizona Snowbowl road, stopping well short of the Grand Canyon and joining a tour of the Fort Valley Experimental Forest, home to roughly a century of forestry research— and to lovely flora and fauna! Of course my goal was…
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One doesn’t (personally) care about the latest (current) fashions or trends; one cares about…
Originally posted on Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog: . One doesn’t (personally) care about the latest (current) fashions or trends; one cares about lasting and eternal truths that remain forever. . [A Fire Beetle and a Sulphur Butterfly (i.e., Alfalfa Butterfly) contemplating their next move.] Sulphur Butterfly and Fire Beetle. The Important Conference (2).…
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Butterfly photos by Wilce, Peace, and Sherman
Tom Peace has a gorgeous picture of a sulphur butterfly (click here). (Sulphurs and whites are members of the family Pieridae.) My shot of it is available here (at wilcephotos.com). Butterflies are understandably connected with the soul, transformation, etc. in ancient traditions. And bravo Catherine Sherman for your beautiful shot of a cloudless sulphur butterfly!…
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Two flying things– so different yet…
Two very different creatures— a bird and a butterfly. However, this female broad-tailed hummingbird is one of the smaller birds, whereas the mourning cloak butterfly is definitely not one of the smallest of its group. Neither one is the showiest of its group, yet both are beautiful in their own ways. Soon a lot more…
outdoorswithcamera
photographic encounters with earth and sky and all the creatures that live there, plus what thoughts & feelings they inspire
outdoorswithcamera 