High Summer

Well, it's definitely summer now. The temperature has been in the hundreds all week, and we're down 13 inches in rain. We're all looking forward to next week, where we have a 50% chance of rain and the temps are down into the 80s, even. It's been too hot to properly enjoy the outdoors lately, so mostly I've been reading inside. But I have managed to take a few photos lately, even if I did forget the camera when we went to watch fireworks on the 4th. Here are some:

Even the parched grass is pretty at sunset :).

That's all for now, folks! Have a great summer and stay cool!

Butterflies and Sunrises

I know, the title does sound a little sentimental. But I couldn't think of anything else, so I'll just stick with that. Now the main attraction of my post. The photos.

A pearl crescent butterfly. A little early for butterflies, though.

The sunrise sometime last week. I wish the power line wasn't in the way.

A grackle flock during the same sunrise.

Some neat sunrise clouds. :) I used the 'boost' effect in iPhoto to make it look more colorful.

And that's all for now. To see some great photography, go see my friend Scottish Gal's blog, especially during the week of March 25-31. That's the week of her spring challenge. :)

Happy trails, everybody!

Getting into Spring with Photography

Spring is definitely my favorite season for photography. It brings more of my favorite subjects--birds and flowers! I recently got two new photography books: Nature Photography Workshop by Nat Coalson and The Bird-watcher's Guide to Digital Photography  by David Tipling. Both have been helpful to me, except they expect you to have a DSLR, which I, unfortunately, do not own. But, like I said, both have been helpful and I've taken some pretty good photos with my advanced compact camera. Here are some:

 A peach blossom.

A Cedar Waxwing.

Another Cedar Waxwing.

Flowers on the bush outside my window. Does anyone know what it is?

Pear blossoms.

A male robin.

A male house sparrow.


And that's all for now. I'm saving up photos for Scottish Gal's Spring Challenge, which lasts from March 25--31. It should be fun!

Great Backyard Bird Count Day 3

Okay, I've got to go fast. Today it rained in the morning, so I didn't really get much of an early start. I did, however, get a lifer today. A handsome male Pine Warbler, which I am SO glad I got. It was kind of embarrassing sometimes to say I didn't have it yet. I only got about 15 species today. Oh, well, there's always tomorrow. (The last day of the GBBC!) AND (I'm not done yet:) I decided today that I am going to make a new page on my blog for bird jokes. That's right, bird jokes. I found some really good ones today. Be looking out for it! Oh, yeah, I took some photos:

 A nice male robin. He looked almost like he was posing for me. He kept lifting his head like in this photo.

And the robin wasn't the only thrush around. This male E. Bluebird sat around for me to photograph. He actually stuck around for quite a while.

Until he noticed something. And I noticed it too. It wasn't a bug. It was....

A Pine Warbler!! (I know, kind of a lot of drama for one little bird. But I'm a birder. What did you expect?) He didn't let me get too close. He was hanging around with 2 or 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers. Here's a photo of one of them:

I think he's a male. (You can see why some people call them "Butterbutts":) But then I noticed.....

Some grass. :) But I thought the backlighting was pretty. It made it look so green and lush.

On that note, I conclude my post. Oh, yeah, one more thing. I want to work on my portriat photography. Anybody have any tips?

Thanks for reading! How goes the bird counting?

~Katie

Great Backyard Bird Count Day 1

Today was the first day of the GBBC!! It started with me getting outside at 6:30 in the morning, and birding for about an hour. In that hour I got 23 species, including 500 Common Grackle, 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 2 broad-winged hawks (why are they not in central America?!) and 10 Cedar Waxwings. Then I came in for oatmeal and orange juice. :) My favorite. Also, I think we may have nighthawks in our yard, because one of our mockingbirds was imitating one.

Then, after lunch, we all piled into our van and drove to the Lucius E. Burch Natural Area near Shelby Farms Park. The first species I spotted was two mallards swimming in a nearby pond. Then we ventured down the woodland trail that led along the Wolf River. Though my brothers were rather loud, (scratch that; really loud) I was able to count Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, and a lot more. I spotted a little grayish bird that might have been a kinglet, but my brothers scared it away before I could get a good look at it. Oh well. Then we looked over the Ducks Unlimited Wildlife Viewing Area and counted about 15 Mallards, 20 Canada Geese, 6 Gadwall, 12 Killdeer, and 1 Song Sparrow. I wasn't able to get a lot of photos, but here are some of them:

Northern Mockingbird. Taken in our yard.

Eastern Bluebird. Taken in our yard.

Downy Woodpecker. Taken in our yard. What you looking at?

Canada Geese. Taken at the Ducks Unlimited Wildlife Viewing Area.

Red-bellied Woodpecker. Taken at the Lucius E. Burch Natural Area.

And here are some other photos taken along the way:

Today's sunrise in north Mississippi.

Cool clouds over our yard.

A snake (what kind??) on the banks of the Wolf River.

The Wolf River. It isn't very big; it's more like a large creek than a river.

Okay, one more thing. I really want to know why our Broad-winged Hawk pair hasn't migrated south. They've been here all winter. Is it because the winter's been so mild? What do my readers think?

Hope your GBBC going as great as mine!! Good Birding, everybody!!

Duck Watching at Shelby Farms Park

This week I was able to get in some birding at Shelby Farms Park for the first time! The park is huge, but I only birded one of the medium sized lakes. It was convenient because it was right next to the playground so I could bird while my brothers played. Shelby Farms is especially good for duck watching, partly because of its many lakes, and partly because every year the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy floods a nearby cotton field every winter for waterfowl. We stopped by the field, but the parking lot was too far away for me to make out more than some Canada Geese and Common Mergansers. Shelby Farms is also the home of the world headquarters of Ducks Unlimited, a duck conservancy company. Most people think it's a duck hunting company, since a lot of people in Memphis go duck hunting right over the river in Arkansas. And it is--only they're more about duck hunting the humane way. :) I myself (humanely) hunted some ducks. Here are some photos:

 Some Mallards. There were a lot of Mallards.

A female mallard. I was surprised how close she let me get to her.

I like this photo. I think the reflection adds a nice effect. :)

Some American wigeons. They weren't as friendly as the Mallards, and I wasn't able to get a good photo. There were about 12 swimming around and mingling with the Mallards.

There were also some Ring-necked Ducks swimming around in the middle of the lake. At first I thought they were Lesser Scaup until I saw the rings on their bills. I think they should have been named Ring-billed Ducks instead. :)

Now here are some photos of the lake and the trails around it:

There were a lot of pine trees around the lake. That's probably why it's called Pine Lake :).

Shelby Farms is a really fun place to go, with running trails and a natural area and a playground. It's also really big, like 3 or 4 hundred acres, I think. It looks like a good place for warblers, flycatchers, and vireos in the springtime, so I'm looking forward to when it warms up again!


~Katydids and Bluebirds

Fall Challenge Day 7 Surprise!

I am so so so sorry I forgot to post the surprise I had for Saturday!! Instead I guess I'll do it today. We are at our grandparents' house right now and we just arrived this afternoon. Their house is in middle Tennessee. Now for my surprise! *DRUM ROLL* It's a poem that I wrote!!

"Fall"

The leaves are turning,
The frost is coming,
The time for cold weather is here.
The woods are full of the squirrels storing nuts,
And the birds and mice and deer.
The rolling hills are turning gold,
The year is growing old.
You hear a honking
And see geese sailing high
In the blue and never ending sky.
This is the time when Earth recovers.
It's nice and beautiful for us all.
This is Fall.

I hope you liked it!! I got the idea in the shower. I seem to get some pretty good ideas in the shower. I wonder why that is....

This is our barn, by the way. :)

Fall Challenge: Day 6!!!

We're almost done..... I have a surprise for the last day (which is tomorrow)!

This is what our field looks like in fall. Isn't it pretty? Our property used to be a horse farm. With a huge barn!

This is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on a Sweet Gum. Sapsuckers winter here, so these birds mean fall is here!

Fall Challenge Day 5!!!

We are now more than half way done with this challenge. I hope I have enough photos! Here are mine for today:

Fall makes me think of Halloween. This is my older brother's (his nickname on this blog is Gareth) jack o' lantern. It's a cyclops. :)

Yes, I know these are my chickens. But my 8-year-old brother (George by nickname. You know, like Curious George :) told me to. I couldn't resist. I love my chickens! It is sort of a fallish photo, though, because there are leaves on the ground. I should call it: "Chickens in Fall".  :D

Fall Challenge: Day 4!!!

It's Day 4! Time for more photos!!

This is only a Crape Myrtle, but it was really pretty. I loved the way the light shone through the leaves in the late afternoon.

These are some hickory trees in our yard. This is what November looks like to me. These trees are in a part of our yard that is landscaped with azaleas. We call it Azalea Garden. Some of the azaleas are encore azaleas, so they bloom in the fall too. Here is a photo:

Fall Challenge: Photos 1 and 2

Hi! The fall challenge I'm doing started yesterday, but I forgot to post. So today, I'll just post two photos. Here they are:
                                                         Photo #1:

This one is of Sweet Gum leaves in the corner of our yard. Not as pretty as maples, but still nice!

Photo #2:

This is a photo of a really pretty tree in our yard. I wish I knew what it was.....
And that's all for today! I hope I remember to post tomorrow.

Katydids and Bluebirds

P.S: Thanks, friend, for making this challenge up!