Wildlife at Home, the Wetlands and Lakeside Park

The pollinator meadow at Lakeside Park was being put to good use this morning by a number of monarch butterflies that were busily feeding on nectar from the flowers: The bird in the next photo, believe it or not, is a cardinal, be that one very wet and bedraggled cardinal. It was in the process of sunning itself in the bushes beside the parking area but appeared to be getting wetter from clambering through the dew-covered leaves of the bush: Had it not been for the flight of this plume moth, I would never have known that it was there. As soon as the plume moth came to rest, the moth disappeared and in its place was what looked like a small twig or piece of grass. A survival tactic facilitated by the rolling up of the plume moth's wings: A number of northern flickers congregated in the tops of the trees this morning, catching the first rays of the sun. This is something of a morning ritual for the northern flickers, but today I managed to find a reasonably close vant...

This morning saw me waiting for the sun to rise and cast some light on a bumblebee that was resting on what I believe was a sneezeweed flower. I'd invested in a monopod on Wednesday, primarily for close up work and this was going to be my first chance to try it out with my older Pentax and my DIY macro lens. It's a full 45 minutes now before the sun rises after I leave my workplace at 6 AM. The nights are gradually closing in, and I am now reluctantly coming to terms with the fact that I soon won't be able to continue my photography at Lakeside Park in the mornings, stopping off on my way home from work. It is simply too dark. I was resigned to my soon-to-be fate and thinking to myself that I probably wouldn't see much of anything before it was time to leave the lake when this beautiful great egret flew in, landing very close to me. I apologize for the blur in this photo, but I simply had to include the egret's flight: Closely watched by myself and the great b...

I was determined to try harder this morning. So many missed opportunities yesterday and I would have to attribute that to my error in focusing correctly. I left the older Nikon with its auto-focus lens at home and set off with my Pentax. First was the great blue heron which was skirting the edge of the reed beds in search of its breakfast. The great blue heron can be most accommodating if you stay a modest distance away and do not make any sudden movement. It's in the shadows here with the sun not yet clear of the trees: The heron worked the edge of the reeds, snatching a few tiddlers here and there before ending up belly deep and in the first rays of sunlight: The family of mallard ducks which the red-tailed hawk was harassing yesterday came close, so I quacked and they duly joined me on the bank's side. I never feed the ducks at Lakeside Park or anywhere else, so it isn't food they are looking for, buy rather the security of knowing predators will not come close...