Sky Watch #29

The promise of rain. It never really happened. We got a downpour of hail, a few drops of rain and then it was all over. Periodically a few drops here and there if you were under one of the darks clouds. At least there were clouds to photograph for a change.


Can you see the itty-bitty helicopier in the shot below? :-)



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Flamingos - Pretty in Pink... or Coral

I've done two posts this morning so I hope you don't miss seeing the other one. These are my attempt at focusing in on their beauty..

Little Furry Things

These were some of the cute little guys at the zoo. The first two were in the animal care center and I forgot to get the names of them.


I don't know the actual name of this little guy but we'll call him the moustache monkey.



I do know this is called a meerkat. Sometimes he doesn't come out from behind the rocks in his little domain but today he was in rare form posing for the cameras, taking as much interest in the small crowd as we had in it.

Red Shouldered Hawk; Plush Crested Jay; Cedar Waxwing

My Watery Wednesday shot is below this one.

I had a pretty good bird day even though I wasn't looking for them. Please correct me if I got the names wrong on the hawk and waxwings. Click on any image for a larger view.

CEDAR WAXWING

I was up at the lake watching someone feed the ducks, trying to capture one of the gulls in flight and heard all of these birds chirping. I looked up in the tree and it was absolutely full of birds, like fruit on the tree. I wish one of my shots of all of the birds had come out. This is what the tree was full of:




PLUSH CRESTED JAY

I took this at the arboretum at the zoo. The little blue beauty isn't always visible when I go. It's difficult for me to get a good shot of this one because of it's dark blue colors. These aren't perfect but they're not bad either.




RED SHOULDERED HAWK

This is another one I lucked up on at the zoo. I was looking at the seals when this large bird flew over head. My eyes followed it and I watched in land in a nearby tree. It let me get close enough to take a few shots. It watched me and then when it got bored of me, took off. I absolutely love the eyes on this bird.

Watery Wednesday #20

I don't think I've ever seen a flamingo play in the water the way this one did. He couldn't seem to get enough of dunking itself in the water. I'm glad I was able to get some pretty good shots.







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My World Tuesday - Santa Fe Reservoir

I found a new place!! Actually, I knew about this place but I'd never been there. I got as far as the parking lot one summer day and turned around when I found out I had to pay to park. So, I waited until this time of year when it's free to enter and boy, I'm sure glad I went. It's the Santa Fe Dam also known as the Santa Fe Reservoir and it's beautiful!!


What makes this place so beautiful is the fantastic view of the San Gabriel mountains.




These geese attacked me the minute I got out of my car. I guess they were expecting this couple who came to feed them. I KNOW I don't look like this couple.


And before I left the one patch of dark cloud over the park started to drop some rain, not enough to make me run to my car but enough to make some nice rings in the lake.



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Mellow Yellow Monday

I haven't got a clue what this is but I thought it was far too interesting not to examine closely. Hope you're feeling bright and yellow today!




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Today's Flowers - Classic Red Rose

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Shadow Shot Sunday

I've had my eye on this meme for a while but haven't posted anything under it yet so I'm pretty sure this is my first post for it. I took this one a while back and really liked it. I hope I haven't posted it before on this blog. I thought it was appropriate - there are shadows from tree's leaves, the shadows under the benches and even shadows in the background.



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No Name For This Post

I sat for maybe five minutes trying think of a name for this post. That was the best I could come up with (smile). I like these little pink flowers that grow on a tree. I don't know what kind of tree it is. What I do know is that I used to buy these as a filler when I made flower arrangements for the office and here there were filling a tree... for free. No, I didn't cut any but I did shoot quite a few.

Sky Watch #28

We finally got some clouds in. It looks nice and rainy but it's not doing much - an occasional drop of rain or two. I hear the mountains are getting some snow though. that should make for a nice view when the sky clears.


And then there is the occasional small airplane that flies over the lake from the nearby airport. That's my sky today.


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More from the Arboretum

Just a few more shots that I took at the Los Angeles Arboretum. The arboretum has a pretty decent little hill on the property. They have a watefall where you can take the steps up, walk around the top of the waterfall and it leads to another pond where during the right season it's full of dragon flies and butterflies. Beyond this area there is an area I love. It's the photo below.


To me this area is beautiful and I don't know that this photo really captures it. The beautiful green of the grass, the blue sky peeking through the trees, the patchwork of light on the grass... It's one of those areas you just want to spread out a blanket and lie down with your head in the lap of a loved one listening to the birds and waterfall in the distance.


I've only started revisiting the Arboretum last year. This is the first time I've seen the wood duck there. I wish I had captured the colors better but this was in a shaded area with the light reflecting off the water.



This little guy below played with me for a good little while. It flittered around and landed near me but when I moved slightly it would flitter off but it would flitter all around me coming so close I thought it was trying to land on me then it would return to this wood railing near the water. That happened a few times before another butterfly caught it's interest and they flittered off together.