I was sitting outside by my raised layout the other day for a moment. I had my camera with me as I had been taking images of the Monarchs. I kept hearing this weird bird noise, well weird to me anyway. I finally saw that it was these 2 Flickers that were circling a tree. I'm guessing it was some kind of mating noise as they did not seem aggressive towards each other. I was able to catch this image of them together.
Happy Monday and happy new week! My Fuchsia is finally blooming again somewhat. Only has a few blooms but it is better than the zero it had for most of the summer. This is one of them, I love the frilly bottom of them, reminds me of a ladies dress.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is from my ride on the Cumbres & Toltec Railway this past summer. This is just as it was starting to cross Lobato Trestle. This image is particularly steamy because the locomotive was "popping off" at the time, the white plume of steam. Popping off occurs when the boiler pressure goes higher than where the safety valve is set for. It relieves pressure in the boiler and keeps it at a safe operating level. Safety valves are set lower than the actual pressure a boiler can operate at for safety concerns as well.
My roots in photography are in Black & White. I used to develop my own film and everything back in the day. It was fun. Every now and then I get in a B&W mood and look for some good subjects. I found one in the Morning Glory that I think turned out really well with a B&W treatment.
It's Friday, TGIF! I am in a Monarch mood these days, I have been so happy to see several of them in the yard at one time, it's been a long time since that has happened. I captured these enjoying the Stiff Goldenrod last Saturday. I have another video of them HERE. I also chose this image for today because of the lovely subdued bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
Speaking of Monarchs, as they have been traveling through, they have been apparently laying eggs as I saw this guy very recently. As he was about to run out of leaves to eat, I broke off the plant and carried him to another one and leaned it up against it so he could climb over and eat some more. While doing this, I discovered there was another one eating on a Common Milkweed plant there. So glad I have these Milkweed in the yard for them to take advantage of. We had rain the day after I did this so I am not sure of it's fate as neither one of them were on the milkweed any longer. Hopefully they were in the trees nearby cocooning.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! It's also the first day of October already and an interesting digit day as the first 2 numbers are palindromic. I missed pointing these out in May, my bad. 😞 Anyway, the wildflower today is Stiff Goldenrod also known as Rigid Goldenrod. This variety blooms August through October. It can grow to 5 feet tall, mine is about 3 to 4. It can be identified by it's rounded flower clusters or inflorescences. This Goldenrod is VERY popular with Monarch butterflies that are passing through in late September. I have a video of some enjoying it HERE.
