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Showing posts from 2021

Step into Nature # 10

 Welcome back to another post on my blog for this weeks Step into Nature. Let's see what adventures of the post we are going to do for this weeks Step into Nature. This a Tri- Colored Heron, Which I photographed at Pickney Wildlife Refuge while I was on vacation way back in Hilton Head. The Tri- Colored Herons a very cool waterfowl to photograph and they have different color variants compared to the Great Blue Herons found in Central North Carolina, where I live. If you have a chance to find TriColor Herons you should photograph them and they are just like the other waterfowl that can be found in central North Carolina . This is a Jellyfish, which I photographed at Myrtle Beach during sunset conditions. The photograph came out really cool. Jelly Fish are very interesting subjects to photograph at local beaches.  I decided to use the jelly fish as my subject for this photograph  during sunset conditions. This was also taken at Myrtle Beach when i was on vacation in 2019. This is an

Step into Nature #9

 Welcome back to Step into Nature on my blog this week. Let's dive right into the post for this weeks Step into Nature nine. This is more White Tailed Deer I photographed a few years back on a outing with the my photography mentor that day. These whited Tail Deer crossed the river and I was able to capture this in action on my camera and decided to use this in the post. The next animal we are going talk about on this post is a common Painted Turtle, I photographed at Mason land . Painted Turtles are common in this area of central North Carolina. This an American Coot, I photographed at Pickney Wildlife Refuge in Hilton Head when I was on vacation there a few years back. American Coots are very cool waterfowl birds to photograph. Stayed tuned in for next weeks Step into Nature. 

Step into Nature 8

 Welcome back to another adventure in this weeks Step Into Nature on my blog. Let's see what is going on for this post this week on Thursday.  This is a Red Headed Woodpecker, i also photographed at Jordan Lake with the master mind Al D while on a sunrise shot with him. I got several shots of both Female and Male Red Headed woodpeckers on this dead tree along side of the shore of Jordan Lake . We often don't see these  very often in central parts of North Carolina but at the Lakes of Central North Carolina, you can see them and photograph them as well. This is a Carolina Anole, I photographed at the Botanical Gardens with the marvelous walkabout trying to find lots of subjects to photograph there. We photographed many Carolina Anoles, hummingbirds and many other subjects at the Botanical Gardens. Carolina Anolies are very cool to photograph when you find them espicaily at Nc Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill. This is a baby Cropes Grey Tree Frog which I also photographed at NC B

A another new variant of covid

 There is many new variants of covid but the one we are going to talk about on this post is MU variant of covid virus.  The MU variant of covid was found in Columbia , South America in January 2021. This variant has caused some outbreaks in Europe, south A,Erica and the United States. The vaccines of covid and treatments are less effective in this variant.  By far this one is not spreading as quickly as the original covid variant and Delta variant of covid .  But for most the quickest one of the spread of the covid variant is still the Delta variant . The symptoms are the same as the variants of the covid and delta variant.  So please take extra caution around these variants. 

Step into Nature 7

 Welcome back to another step into Nature on my blog. Let's dive right into this weeks Step Into Nature. This is a Great Egret, I photographed during sunrise conditions with my mentor walkabout at Jordan Lake.  I decided to make a silhouette against the colors of the sunrise conditions with the Great Egret in front of the reflection of the sunlight on the water at Jordan Lake. This is a crab spider , I photographed on my butterfly bush, that I planted a few month back in the spring. I have had many photographic opportunities to get many insect and butterflies and hummingbirds as well. This common pond slider was taken at my neighborhood pond at the beginning of September . This turtle was warming its self with the sun on the bank and I got many pictures of that as well.  This is a Garden Spider, I photographed with walkabout at Gold Park in Hillsbrough. Garden Spiders are very cool to photograph in this area of central of North Carolina.  This a Osprey, I also photographed at Jorda

Step into Nature 6

 Welcome back to another weekly post of Step into Nature.Lets see what the deal is for this post for this weeks Step into Nature. These are Mallard Ducks, I photographed at Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina on a photo outing with my impaitent Al D who cant believe I am ahead of my scheduling posts before he does his. This is an Eastern Male Towhee, which I also photographed at Duke Gardens with my photography mentor, AL D. This an Eastern King Snake, Which I photographed at the New Hope Overlook at Jordan lake with my photography  mentor Al D. 

Step into Nature 5

 Welcome back to another post of Step into Nature. Let's continue on with this series. This in Anhinga that I photographed at Pickney Wildlife Refuge in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This is an American Alligator, which I also photographed at the Pickney Wildlife Refuge in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when i was doing a Nature outing there. This is an Eastern Copperhead snake which I photographed at Duke Forest with my mentor, Al D. Copperheads are very dangerous snakes that are venomous and can make you go to the hospital if you get bitten by one. This is a Salamander, that I photographed at the Eno River, while also on a photo outing with my mentor, Al D. 

Step into Nature 4

 Welcome to another Step Into Nature on my blog for this Month.. Lets see what this weeks post is about for this post on my blog. This is a Snowy Egret catching a fish which I photographed at Ormond Beach, Florida many years ago with my big 150-600 mm lens and this egret would pick it up and then drop it and then the fish jumped out of the egrets grip and swam away from it. The next photograph for this blog post is a sunrise that I took at Carolina Beach with a seagull during sunrise conditions and I was up really early those days catching different sunrises that week while on vacation. This a black ant, which I photographed on my columbine flowers in my own backyard during this past spring. The next photograph for this weeks Step into Nature is pair of Kaytidids on a coneflower, which I took at my neighborhood pond. I hope you all are enjoying my newly yearly theme on my blog on Thursdays and have a great rest of your week and stay tuned for next weeks Step Into Nature on my blog. Til

Territorial Dispute

 Welcome back to a Territorial Dispute against the Might Great Blue Heron versus the Great Egret at my neighborhood pond. A neighbor of mine , alerted me to a territorial duspute against a Great Blue Heron versus the Great Egret. This was taken a week ago excatly on August 7,2021.  At first, the Great Blue Heron and Great Egret kept squawking at each other till one and the other kept cashing each other around the pond , which was very interesting to watch. Then Then the Great Blue Heron kept getting very aggressive toward the Great Egret , which was on the other side of the pond. Then Great Blue Heron kept trying to cash off the Great Egret multiple times and i did not successfully work at all. So I got many different pictures of this dispute happening at the neighborhood pond. At this point, The Great Blue Heron, was very upset and was very aggressive and finally gave up the fight for the territorial dispute and minding his own business without defeat against the Great Egret and the G

Step into Nature 3

 Welcome back to another Step Into  Nature for this weeks blog post, hope you all are staying safe due to the Covid Varriant. So lets get into this weeks post of Step into Nature # 3. These are  Adult White Tailed Deer that I photographed at my godmothers yard , many years ago and I still continue to to photograph the deer there. These are Wild California Seals, that I took at the famous area where seals could be found in California  and i have my picture where I was next to these seals in the wild and they did not bite me or get vicious with me being around them which is very rare to have that happen. This is me with California  Seals where they can be found In California  This picture is of the Hummingbird Moth, I got way back a few years ago on a butterfly bush at my neighborhood pond. I have planted two butterfly bushes in my pollinator garden in front of my master bedroom so i can enjoy all the pollinators that come there to my butterfly bushes.  This is a Ruby Throated Hummingbir

Step into Nature # 2

 Welcome back to Step into Nature on my blog this week. Lets see what this weeks post of Step into Nature is for this week. This a five lined Skink, I photographed at the Duke Forest on an outing with my photography mentor.  This is Crab Spider, I photographed at the NC Botanical Gardens on outing a few years back with my mentor AL D. This was also from that outing at the NC Botanical Gardens, that I also photographed at NC Botanical Gardens. This is a Swallowtail butterfly which are very common in this area of Central North Carolina.  I have been seeing lots of more insects this year compared to many years in the past and still photographing alot . Till next weeks Step into Nature , Have fun and stay safe!

Step into Nature # 1

 Welcome back to a new theme that I just thought of for the blog this year so i can beat AL D to to the new theme on his blog.  This is a Great Blue Heron catching a channel catfish at Duke Forest trying to attempt to get it down. This was very interesting to watch this happen and this Great Blue Heron kept picking this channel Catfish trying to attempt multiple times to gulp it down and dropped it multiple times and stabbed it a lot trying to figure it out. This photograph is a pair of salamanders, I photographed at the ENO River with my photography mentor who is thinking what is the other AL up to for his next theme on his blog. This is a Queen water snake, i photographed on the same outing at Duke Forest which was the first picture I mentioned with the Great Blue Heron catching the channel Catfish. Stay tuned in for many more Step into Natures on Thursdays for my blog.   

A new variant of COVID 19 on the loose

 Hey Hey welcome me back to the blog of my posting since  2 months ago.  Today we are going to talk about the contagious variant of COVID called the Delta Variant. This new variant can spread quickly to un vaccinated  folks that have not received their COVID  shots and hitting them harder than vaccinated folks.  In North Carolina, our numbers of COVID Cases have gone up again due to the DELTA varriant. The symptoms of this varriant are pretty similar  to the COVID 19. Cough and lost of smell are less common for this variant. But the same is true for following just like the COVID symptoms, a persistant cough, headache and fever. The most common to this new variant of the COVID mess are Headaches, sore throats, runny noise and  fever are more common. If you have not recieved your COVID SHOT, get it NOW and you will save lives in NOrth Carolina. Dont wait any longer to get it. Its free and easy to do. 

This Day in History # 21

 1607: The English Colonists land near the James River in Virginia. 1846: The United States declares war on Mexico. 1913: Igor Sikovsky, flies the very first four engine aircraft ever. 1968: Peace talks begin between the United States and North Vitenam begins in Paris, France. 

Monday Color # 33

Todays color post is Green ! So enjoy this Green day!!

Happy Bird Migration Day!

Today is Birding Migration Day which means it's time for birds to return to south or North for Birders or photographers to photograph the birds for the spring or summer. This is a Canadian Geese which I photographed the taking off from Neighborhood pond during sunset conditions.  This is a Great Egret which was also taken at my neighborhood pond when it came to visit my neighborhood before a Hurricane hit that year.  This is a common Sharp shinned Hawk which I also photographed at my neighborhood pond along time ago. This is a common song bird found around here in central North Carolina called the Grey Catbird. This is a white Ibis that I photographed at Pea Island Wildlife Refuge in the Outer banks of North Carolina during the Fall of 2015.

This Day in History # 20

 1861: The state, Arkansas, becomes the ninth state to seceed from the Union. 1937: The Hot Air balloon, The Hindenburg, explodes into flames at Lake Hurst, New Jersey. 1960: President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960. 1994: The Channel Tunnel linking England to France is finally opened.

500th post

 Hey everyone it’s Al with the very special edition the 500th post on my blog. This is a milestone that I have been trying to reach on my blog.  I am going to talk about the 500h post on my blog.let’s go back to 1999 on this day for the 500th post that happened in Oklahoma in Moore in 1999 with a devastating tornado.    On May 3,1999 , which has now been over 22 years ago.   aA massive E-F5 tornado with wind speeds over 300 mph hit Moore and Bridge Creek Oklahoma and this tornado touched down at 6:23 pm and this tornado stayed on the ground for 38 miles with tons of destruction and killing many people to be exact 38 people . When this tornado touched down on the ground another tornado started forming in the same storm system that had produced this massive tornado of E-F5 status but this tornado that touched down right after the first was rated as an E-F 0 tornado, that did minor damage compared to the massive one that stayed on the ground for 38 miles.   When this tornado first touched

Monday color # 32

 Happy Monday Color # 32 on my blog this week. Lets see if anyone can guess what this Monday color post is shall we see if anyone can guess it for today? Oh yeah, Its a a bettle that I took in flower from last year that was not shown on the blog at all last year but now its being shown on a Monday Color this year on my blog. The color of the day is multi color again for this weeks color post. Have a great Monday everyone!

Its time Goodbye April

 Happy End of April everyone!! It is time to give away April with pollen to a successful May the next day. Happy last day of April Everyone and remember to keep having fun this spring!

This Day in History # 19

 1813: Rubber is patented 1852: The very first Edition of Peters Rogets Thesaurus is published. 1927: The Spirit of St. Louis Arch of the construction is almost complete. 1983: Harlod Washington, is sworn in as Chicagos First Black Mayor.

A day out a Driftwood Beach

Welcome back to another post on my blog about my recent trip to Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island located in Georgia. This has been on my bucket list for photography for many years and now I have done it and I loved everything about the nature of Driftwood Beach. This is a Driftwood Tree, I photographed during sunrise conditions while i was out doing a sunrise shot at Driftwood Beach at Jekyll Island and the hotel we were staying at was literally 5 minutes from this beach so I plenty of opportunities to take many different types of wildlife including many crabs, tons of shore birds and Bald Eagles which AL D did not get on his previous trips over to Driftwood Beach when he went there. This is an Adult Bald Eagle which I also photographed at Driftwood Beach. This was the first time I had ever seen an Adult Bald Eagle at beach before . This was my first time that I was able to catch it at Driftwood Beach. This was a very cool day to see 2 Bald Eagles in one day. Theres More to come on my po