Egrets have all the fun.

Out at Farmington Bay Friday to see the local Egrets.  They are back!  And beautiful as ever.  Arrived before sunrise to find this guy.  He performed for me for about an hour.  I had to go to black and white in post.  It just felt right.  Shot wide open the closest drops of water are out of focus.  Still like it.  It is one of those images our eyes just don’t catch……and keep like this one.

It’s baseball season!!!

Hardly ever watch baseball.  Live or on TV.  Kinda boring.  But when my grandson plays it’s like a Laker’s vs. Celtics play off every game.  It is a blast!  Doesn’t matter that every kid is out on the field.  Or that the coach is 15 feet from home plate “tossing” in the pitch.  Or that a little batter will run to the pitchers mound after hitting the ball instead of home plate.  It’s better than Keystone Cops.  Real talent run amuck.  Cute as ever.  Here is a look……..

Grandson #2.  Thought after #1 I had all the love I could give.  like Niagra falls it kept coming.  This little munchkin loves his pappa.  (that would be me).  And boy do I love him……..

Then there is the teammates and opposing team mates.

The home run hitter……

Running to third is serious business…….

Ready…..Set………..GO!!!!!!

Can we go home now?

Road side quick click…I saw these swallows and had to stop and watch.  There was hundreds of them.  Fast and beautiful.  Head back in a couple of days to see if they are gathering here for a reason.

We all need water.

Have you ever watched animals drink?   A few years ago I watched a horse drink 5 gallons of water in short order.  Sounded like a huge pump.  Cats..well they lick water.  Never figured out how they do that.  Do fish drink water?  We drink from cups, straws and drinking fountains.  For the first time I saw an Egret drink water.  At first I thought he was fishing.  He dropped down to the water and raised his head quickly and threw his head back.  Thirsty.  We all need water. Even shore birds.

Back home tonight.

Drove from the Monticello, Utah area through Moab.  Not enough time to visit Arches.  BUt stopped and took rock shots!

It was the middle of the day.  Light was not the best.  Everything looked black and white to me.  I did notice little critter prints everywhere.  Here it has been extremely windy and rainy.  The sand was fresh with prints….

I wonder if the critters where out the night before?  Or was it early this morning?  I imagined the tiny things running around……

I passed this building several times while in florida.  Every time I passed it I thought that it needed to be photographed.  But in daylight it just did not work……so night it was.  A little HDR to cover the dynamic range…….

On the road for the first time in quite a while.  The last time I was out it was for vacation.  This week ……work.

As noted in my earlier blogs I loved my time at Gatorland in Florida.  Photographing birds.  The Giant Egrets were amassed there.  I keep going back to the hard drive to look at pic’s.

Only saw one fight.  I am only guessing it was a fight.  Most likely it was a love spat.  When the wings are wide open there is little more beautiful…….

If it wasn’t for the comedy I may spend less time in front of birds.

They really are funny.

This day this Blue Heron was excited about something.  Or an unknown lurking monster was chasing the Blue winged scaredY bird.

I was laughing so hard I could hardly keep my finger on the trigger………

I loved my time with the birds in Florida!

What was thrilling me was the introduction to new birds.  Ones that I won’t find near home.

The Green Heron.

Small but beautiful.  And flies very fast!  The combination of the lighting mix and the speed of this beauty made it difficult to get “that” shot!  This one is my favorite.  As he was flying at me he became shy to the camera instantly and turned.  At elevens frames-a-second my odds went up…………

Gatorland!

Land of the Egrets.  Large and small.  Never had so much fun.  In a three hour stretch took 2700 pic’s.  Birds everywhere.  A rookery.

Died and gone to…..bird heaven?

My wife gave me the goal to get a backlit shot of a Great Egret wing spanned out.  Got real close a couple of times.  Of all the shots this was one of my personal favorites…….

Got lots more including an incredible shot my wife captured!   MTC   jc