It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Once again we are on my ride on the Cumbres & Toltec Rwy in late June. This image shows a good example of the types of landscapes the train travels through. It is a combination of scrub vegetation and mountains which provides some lovely views and variety. It's a great ride that I highly recommend.
Today's image is another of the Sunflower field near where I live. I wonder what they are growing these for as they have smaller heads on them than the kind for oils or seeds. Maybe they just make them happy as they do for me. I was able to get a photo from a different angle so I was able to capture more heads facing the camera.
It's Friday TGIF! It's also a double digit day. 😁 I have been able to see and capture some Dragonflies at my pond lately. I love the shimmer on this one. It also had some great bokeh so I had to share for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
When I was in Minnesota in June, I was out for a walk one evening looking for birds actually but I got to see and capture this Muskrat. It was swimming in the pond near where I was walking very closely to me.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog once again! We are already more than halfway through the year. This is actually an image from last year that I never shared of a flower that blooms everywhere in my area. This is Daisy Fleabane. It can be a nuisance as it gets in gardens and lawns and my garden railway. It is a lovely one though so I generally try to leave it for the bees and butterflies. They usually bloom May through September and can grow to 3 feet tall. There is also another type of Fleabane called Annual and the 2 are rather difficult to tell apart. 😊
The Mississippi Kites have been back for a while now. They have been more difficult to get a photo of though it seems. I was able to capture this one flying overhead one day. They have a distinct face with black eye patches and a very distinctive whistling call. Even it you can't see them you can tell what they are when you hear the whistle. You can hear an example HERE They are called Kites due to the way they glide around on the air currents.
Happy Monday and happy new week! I thought I would start off the week with a lovely butterfly I was able to capture on my Coneflowers/Echinacea not long ago. This is a female Black Swallowtail. I have seen a good amount of Swallowtails around this year and Skippers but, unfortunately, not many others. I do see a Monarch every now and then, hope to see more before the summer is over.
