Monday, March 31, 2014

Mountain

















Mountain

It has been snowing outside since 10:00 AM this morning and, according to the forecast, it will snow all night and all day tomorrow. We are supposed to get between 20 cm and 40 cm (8 -16 in). 
As a result of this late winter storm, the third in a week, I decided to share a sequence of photos taken on June 17, 2004 during a hike to one of the mountains behind my house.

The first photo shows cracker berry (also known as bunch berry) plants.  These are very common on the trails I use, especially in shaded areas.

On the mountain I photographed several glacial boulders including the interesting one shown in the second photo.


I saw a type of cotton grass on the bog at the base of the mountain and stopped to photograph it.  You can see the top of the mountain in the background.

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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Crested Caracara Eagle










Crested Caracara Eagle

During my recent trip to Florida I was lucky to get close enough to a caracara eagle to make some photos.  On previous trips I had seen a pair of them around Citrus Park but never close enough to make a decent photo. This eagle, also known as a northern caracara, Mexican eagle, or Audubon's caracara, is a fairly slow-flying bird of prey that often scavenges rather than hunt from the air.

Today's photos were taken during on the same day during my regular morning walk around the park looking for wildlife to photograph.  I first saw the eagle on the ground pecking at something.  I tried getting close, but the large bird moved away.  After downloading the images I realized that it was actually pecking at the shell of a turtle.

I was disappointed that I didn't get the images I was after, but later I saw the eagle pecking at the air conditioner on a nearby house.  I backtracked and went towards the house but by the time I got there, the eagle had gone.  After putting the camera back in my camera bag and resuming my walk, I was surprised to see it sitting atop a tree directly in front of me.  It was being harassed by several crows and finally took off after one of them, but eventually flew away being chased by at least a dozen crows.

Once again I continued walking and spotted another eagle pruning itself on top of a tall tree.  I walked slowly towards it and made several photos along the way.  I walked in someone's driveway and stayed there for around 30 minutes making photos as it cleaned its feathers and kept an eye out for possible dangers.  Because I was quiet and still, it ignored me completely allowing me to get a few good shots. 


I am sharing several photos on my Blog this morning.  The closer views have been cropped from the original images to let you see this beautiful bird up close.


Friday, March 28, 2014

Bonnet House











Bonnet House

Today I am announcing the launch of the newest Gallery on my website - Bonnet House!

Bonnet House is an historic property located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  I decided to visit this local attraction because the history of the property dates back to around 2000 BC. It was purchased by Hugh Taylor Birch, a businessman from Chicago in 1895 and given to his daughter and her artist husband, Frederic Clay Bartlett in 1919.  They started building the present house in 1920 so they could have a winter retreat to work on their art. In 1983 the house was given to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and was declared a Historic Landmark by the City of Fort Lauderdale in 2002.  Being close to the main beach and massive development in the area, Bonnet House is listed as one of the 11 most endangered properties in the USA.  You can find more information about Bonnet House on their web site at: http://www.bonnethouse.org/

Unfortunately, I wasn't permitted to make photos inside any of the rooms in the house, however there was still lots to photograph on the property.  My new site has 4 separate Galleries:

Feel free to share today's photos with family and friends.

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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Conception Bay









Conception Bay

This morning I uploaded 2 photos I took in HIbb's Cove and a few of the yellow building located on the main road in Clarke's Beach.

The yellow house with yellow chairs stands on the edge of a steep cliff overlooking Conception Bay.  I guess it will be a while before people can sit out and enjoy the view.  We had a storm yesterday, but not too much snow in this area.  It changed to rain around midnight so there wasn't a large accumulation of snow.

I photographed the red sheds several times over the years and you can view them in a Blog I uploaded in 2008.  There were three freshly painted sheds there when I made the photo.   http://kbrucelane.blogspot.ca/search?q=hibb%27s+cove.


The yellow building was a store at one time.  Though I passed it often, I think this is the first time I stopped to make photos.  First of all, there are a lot of wires close to the building. Second, the traffic is usually high and getting out to make photos is a little dangerous.  I was lucky that there was no traffic and stood in the middle of the highway to make the last photo.

Feel free to share today's photos with family and friends.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Ship Cove







Ship Cove

Ship Cove is a small town next to Port de Grave.  I took a small road next to a fish plant and drove around a small point of land where I took a photo of the steep cliffs with several small sea stacks.  I liked the large red shed that I photographed at the end on one road.  I stopped to photograph the large, old house that looked like it is being used for storage these days.

During my most recent trip I made photos of several old houses and sheds that looks like they may not be around much longer.  I have been making photos of old buildings for 40 years and many of them no longer exist.  I am sure that people have many memories of the buildings and I would love to hear them.  If you know someone living in the Port de Grave area, feel free to send today's photos to them.  Thanks in advance.


Today I've uploaded SEVEN (7) images to my Photo of the Day Blog.

Feel free to share today's photos with family and friends.

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Tulips

Tulips Tulips are a sign of spring, but my tulip gardens are under a foot or two of snow. It will be a while before we see the beauty of the...