Bonus Arizona whites

I’d planned to take part in the Lens-Artists Challenge today but we just bought access to Le Tour de France, so that’s five hours or so where we’re glued to the screen. Yesterday morning was my Friday grocery shopping and cleaning day for my parents, but in the afternoon my mom fell, so I was there twice more, the second time to help with dinner and then watch most of game 7 of the remaining Stanley Cup semifinal game between Tampa Bay and the NY Islanders, which also meant I didn’t get much done at home. Tomorrow my parents will be here to celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary, so a bit of prep called for there as well. All of which means I have plenty to do or to distract me and the challenge for Lens-Artists isn’t a straightforward one today. So I’m sharing three bonus white photos for Life in Colour: white, all of which come from Arizona.

This photo of a snowy egret amuses me as it appears the bird is being lifted to heaven by and in the ray of light. In case you wondered, it didn’t get that far but flew off elsewhere. 🙂

Not an artistic photo but it is an iconic one for desert dwellers. Humorous, but take it to heart and stay on the path!

This bee is living proof that the poisonous datura isn’t poisonous for bees and also has enormous, beautiful white flowers.

I hope you’re each having an enjoyable, relaxing weekend.

Breakfast 1 and twice the price of gold

I know it’s rude to watch someone while they’re eating, and even worse, take photos, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. I caught this snowy egret mid-gulp and nope, I don’t feel bad about it at all.

Snowy egret or great egret? Egret or heron? If you’re not sure which egret is which, as I wasn’t, the site linked above lets you compare types side-by-side, which is really helpful. The snowy egret has a dark beak with yellow at the top and by the eyes as well as yellow feet, which you can’t see here. The great egret has a yellow-orange bill and is much larger. But I didn’t know that egrets are also herons. Did you?

And did you know snowy egrets were once more precious than gold? The allaboutbirds site says:

During the breeding season, adult Snowy Egrets develop long, wispy feathers on their backs, necks, and heads. In 1886 these plumes were valued at $32 per ounce, which was twice the price of gold at the time. Plume-hunting for the fashion industry killed many Snowy Egrets and other birds until reforms were passed in the early twentieth century. The recovery of shorebird populations through the work of concerned citizens was an early triumph and helped give birth to the conservation movement.

Talk about killer fashion! Makes me even happier to see crowds of these fashion leaders now at the Riparian Preserve!