Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #157: Getting Away

Today’s challenge is “Getting Away”, something I enjoy doing as often as possible. However, we aren’t the only ones who like to get away.

Here’s what getting away looks like in McDowell Forest Preserve, Naperville, Illinois. I came around a corner of the trail to find both a fawn and a doe. I froze, allowing me to appear unthreatening for at least long enough to get some photos.

(I’m going to publish this post with four photos, the first of the fawn. But although all the photos show up in the draft, the preview doesn’t show it. I’ll see what happens and if it doesn’t work out, try editing the published version. Ahh, WordPress, why do you do these things??)

The doe was on the move at this point.

OK, I’ve tried everything I can think of to get that photo inserted but WP won’t let me do it. So instead I’ll use another one. This buck was happily standing in the path looking at me until a cyclist, out of my line of sight, came zooming along.

Getting away in Wyoming might look like this and it wasn’t even Thanksgiving! I love the expression the eye seems to have.

And getting away at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, Arizona might mean flying high. This guy seemed to have been carrying some sort of foliage with him.

Whatever getting away means to you, I hope you’ll be able to enjoy it as soon and as much as possible.

Cormorant tree and a blue duo

Often there are as many as seven or eight cormorants perched in this tree overlooking one of the lakes in the Riparian Preserve. The two on either side appear to be watching the one in the middle groom/preen. They must be taking a break from fishing.

As I’ll probably be doing often during this month, I’m doubling or tripling up on challenges in order not to drive you all mad with multiple posts on multiple days. This is for “blue” and “FOTD.” You get a bonus visitor too.

Swanning around

Jude’s moved from purple to white as the color of the month, maybe in deference to the white heat of Arizona (106F today). While back in the park during my recent trip to Illinois, I spotted one of a pair of mute swans. My guess is that this is the male and the female is either somewhere sitting on a nest of eggs or hanging out with tiny cygnets. I managed to creep up relatively close to this one by walking along a back path, moving very slowly once I got within sight, and then stay more or less behind some bushes.While beautiful to see, swans are often very aggressive so it’s just as well I wasn’t too close.

for Life in Colour: white

Meet

for One Word Sunday: meet/meat

Lean

for One Word Sunday: lean

Point

for One Word Sunday: point

It’s time for a little something

for Six Word Saturday and (for that little touch of purple), Life in Colour: purple

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #142 – You Pick It!

Ann-Christine gives us the choice today to pick what we’d like to share and her beautiful flowers can literally be picked. What do I have here in Arizona? Since our move just over a year ago, other than cacti, I’ve been mostly taking photos of birds, so here are a few recent favorites.

Let’s drop in at the Riparian Preserve and see what we can find. A harrier hawk is always fun.

“He imagines a necessary joy in things that must fly to eat.”
― Wendell Berry

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”
― Robert Lynd

Then there’s the spoonbill who came during one of the storms in the south and has been here all winter. Here it’s balancing on one leg while looking astonished. Is that like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time? Pretty in pink but what a big mouth!!

may my heart always be open to little birds who are the secrets of living ~e. e. cummings

There are lots of spectacular birds but there are also the cute, more approachable ones that you might see in your yard.

Wherever there are birds, there is hope. Mehmet Murat Ildan

If you’re a fish, you’d prefer to see this haughty cormorant perched on a limb rather than in the water where they run silent, run deep, run deadly.

Tomorrow, the birds will sing. Be brave. Face life. ~Charlie Chaplin

A pod of pelicans arrived towards the end of last year and a few have stuck around. I didn’t realize that pairs like this fish and swim in tandem, for all the world like synchronized swimmers. Of course the swimmers don’t usually eat fish while performing, at least I hope not!

And now it’s back to the weekend. I hope you’re enjoying yours.

Bird with a ‘tude

This guy may be little but he looks…intent? Ticked off? Determined? Whatever word you choose, he looks like he’s got more than a bit of attitude. The tie-in to Becky’s challenge is that I’m looking up at the bird and perhaps he thinks I’m an upstart for taking his photo! 🙂

for SquareUp 1.12.21

Backlit