lunar

Who is this diving? Can you tell?

Whew, at the end of Blogging from A to Z, happy things all month. I am tired. This weekend I went to see my daughter at college. We went for a walk and saw the above bird. More than one. Have you guessed?

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This is a Common Loon, in breeding plumage, here.

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I love the precise collar of black and white that stops at the back of the neck. They swim much lower in the water than our mallards, and the mallards don’t dive.

Ready to dive:

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Gone!

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Rest from the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Right now we have 248 people who have completed it: here.

Mundane Monday #158: all of the squares

Welcome to Mundane Monday #158, today’s theme is “all of the squares”. That is from an AA Milne poem called Lines and Squares:

Whenever I walk in a London street,
I’m ever so careful to watch my feet;
And I keep in the squares,
And the masses of bears,
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat
The sillies who tread on the lines of the street
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, “Bears,
Just look how I’m walking in all the squares!”

Mundane Monday is an exercise in joy for me: look for a photograph to of something ordinary that also is arresting or brings up something like the above poem. Many thanks again to Trablogger for letting me continue the prompts. Here are his directions and suggestions for better shots: https://trablogger.com/better-your-photography-before-the-mundane-monday/. If you have a photograph on the prompt, link to this and next week I will list yours! Also, tell me if I miss anyone.

Last week’s beautiful shots, for Mundane Monday #157: two for one.

K. L. Allendoerfer here: color matched set.

Colette B. here: fork.

 

y for yes

Blogging from A to Z, happy things. Y for yellow, yearn and yes! w

I yearn to get more exercise. Sort of. I’m not making it enough of a priority. I did walk to work about a week ago and lots of trees were topped with birds. First a yellow shafted Northern Flicker. Am I sure it’s yellow shafted and not red shafted? Well, no. I would need a brighter day to see it’s tail that well.

Next:

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Corvus, the crow. Here. Next a robin:

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And who is this? Very upright and about the size of the crow:

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The branches made it a tricky focus shot and I zoomed all the way in. There! Yes!

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I think this is a juvenile Swainson’s hawk, here. It could be a Cooper’s hawk but doesn’t have a long tail. Correct me, birders, if I am wrong!

Yes, yearn and yellow…. yea for the letter Y.

Y

 

 

water to wash

Happy things from A to Z, the letter W. W for water, wet and wash!

We were very excited about the green turtles in Hawaii. But we photograph birds too:

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Down by the water, checking it out. Then the featured post, bathing in the sea. And a clean wet bird:

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We think this is a yellow billed cardinal, originally introduced from Brazil, here.

W

Blogging from A to Z, the letter W.

Under us

I am thinking about Earth Day today, because on Earth Day I was singing in two concerts.

My theme is happy things: under, us, universe.

Under us
earth
over us
universe

One attendee at the concert said that we added to the joy in the universe.

Happy Earth Day.

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U

Blogging from A to Z.

 

 

 

 

T for turtle

Blogging from A to Z,Β  the letter T! T is for turtle and teenage and travel!

On Hawaii we went to a park and saw green turtles. They are born about 1000 miles away on a different island. They travel in the sea and now come to Hawaii to rest. The ones who rest on the beaches are 20 to 140 pounds. As mature adults, they will be 200 to 400 pounds and live back in the sea.

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We both have zoom lenses. We are not supposed to go closer than 20 feet.

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And here is one just arriving for a rest:

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T