Flying between the lines

I really did want to do Friday Flowers but frankly there aren’t that many flowers here right now that I haven’t already shared so we’re flying instead. Just a bit of fun to kick off the weekend, which I hope is a wonderful one.

The Riparian Preserve

As most of you already know, last week I left my canal walks, heading for The Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, Arizona. The City of Gilbert manages the seven recharge basins (lakes) to replicate wet and dry periods.

A riparian habitat or riparian zone is a type of wildlife habitat found along the banks of a river, stream, or other actively moving source of water such as a spring or waterfall. The term generally refers only to freshwater or mildly brackish habitats surrounded by vegetation and may include marshes, swamps, or bogs adjacent to rivers. The Spruce

Birds are the big draw for a large number of people. The many trails are also perfect for walking, jogging, biking, or even in some places, horseback riding. It’s also used for dog walking and fishing and…photography.

Even at 5 am, just before sunrise, everyone is out and about! There are lots of egrets rushing in all directions for juicy insects and perhaps some fish.

The duck family wasn’t too afraid of me and although Mama kept an eye on me, everyone else was busy eating and cleaning themselves.

Taking flight

Tomorrow I’m taking flight to France, although by plane, not by my own wings. God willing, I’ll be back in October with lots of photos and stories to share. BTW, we celebrated our 35th anniversary yesterday. Bless my husband for not minding that I’ll be vacationing when he can’t go! He’s a keeper (obviously). 🙂

I was finally able to get all my photos off my phone so I’d be ready for all the vacation shots, but it took hours and hours. I’d try one thing and it would work, but the next time it wouldn’t (or I’d forgotten how I’d done it.) Or I’d find empty files while my phone was filled with photos. Ah, for the days when I’d plug my phone into my laptop, the photos would show up, I’d copy, then delete. Sigh. Such is life in the virtual world.

Be safe and happy while I’m gone!

An egret flying in four seasons

It’s time to pair six words for Saturday with a photo.  A few weeks ago I had only my iPhone when I spotted the first egret of the season.  It was very shy and even though I was at quite a distance, as soon as I stopped, it took off.  Needless to say, the resulting photo was less than stellar.  But I played around with some editing and came up with something I thought was fun and looked like the same egret during four various season.  I could have called it “Making the best of a bad shot”, but that’s seven words and Type-A people like me always try to follow the rules.   🙂

One Word Challenge: Birds…on the I&M Canal

Pardon my double-posting today, but I just saw Jennifer’s One Word Challenge theme, “Birds” and wanted to share a photo I’ve had around for a long time, waiting for the right moment.

My husband, an avid cyclist (the biking kind), has ridden on the I&M Canal trail in Illinois more than once.  In a riff of the Rails-to-Trails theme, the canal is still there, but the towpath is now a hiking/biking trail.

After repeatedly hearing of it beauty and wildlife, I decided I had to see it as well, only on foot.  So one afternoon, we walked a few of its 60+ miles, which took some time, as I was constantly stopping for photos.  It was warm enough that we even spotted a number of turtles sunning themselves on logs in the water. It was amusing to hear them plop into the water if we got too close.

We also spotted a number of birds.  Perhaps because there were so few people out that day or maybe just because they’re somewhat used to humans, there were a number of great photo ops.  Here’s one beauty who appeared to be posing for the shot.  Thankfully, I had my Nikon and not just my phone!