Just sing

The photo is a little dark, but I love it. I lightinged and cleaned it up as much as possible. It’s still not perfect, but I am enjoying capturing photos of birds singing.

I used Snapseed to edit this photo. Give it a try if you do a lot of photo editing on your iPhone or iPad. 

I took this on an adult nature walk at the Lost Creek Reserve. With over 450 acres, this is a large Reserve. They have this very cool learning / play area for kids, and many programs. I’ll include a couple of photos of the kids learning / play area.  

It would be a great place to take a hike, a run, or just hang out with nature. I know I had a good time, and will visit again.  

~ Rick

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Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. They are stunning and you can purchase them for a wall at home. Click the link or the ‘prints and such’ tab.

©2018 Rick Cartwright

Rubber-necking

I saw this Green Heron again. This time she was perched in this tree. The reason I wanted to share this photo was actually so I could share this second photo, and share this little body trick .. check out photo 2:  

I guess she couldn’t see without some rubber-necking:). 

~ Rick

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Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. They are stunning and you can purchase them for a wall at home. Click the link or the ‘prints and such’ tab.

©2018 Rick Cartwright

Faking it ...

This is a Killdeer. They walk fast, and have very long legs. They also have beautiful colors. They reminded me of a Stilt I saw in Salt Lake on the Lake. 

So, back to this killdeer .. we were driving into the parking area at a local nature sanctuary when I noticed her waking in front of my Mini.  I wanted to share a couple interesting facts about the Killdeer. Most notably, they are ground-nesting birds that ‘hide’ their nest in the open. They use no nesting materials .. which seems crazy. 

The coolest thing about this species is how they protect their young. When they sense a threat, they display this ‘broken wing’ act to lead predators away from the next.  

Shortly after seeing this killbird, I rolled forward in my Mini slowly, hoping she would fly away. That was not what happened. She walked quickly, moving away from the grass, and then ‘faked’ the injury. Here she is faking the injury

I never saw the babies. I wanted to respect her space. She did fly away, and I move on quickly as to keep her stress levels low. While it’s cool, I didn’t enjoy knowing she was in a stressed situation.  

~ Rick  

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Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. They are stunning and you can purchase them for a wall at home. Click the link or the ‘prints and such’ tab.

©2018 Rick Cartwright

Natures choir

 

It’s a small pond, but it sure makes for a great photo. I find myself spending more time in the mornings walking or driving around nature reserves or just trying to get the birds to let me take their photo.

This is the pond at Garbry Big Woods Reserve. It is normally very quiet in the morning, other than that sounds of nature. Tree Frogs, Birds, an occasional goose or duck .. they break up the silence like a choir in a large auditorium. It is really very beautiful. 

~ Rick

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Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. They are stunning and you can purchase them for a wall at home. Click the link or the ‘prints and such’ tab.

©2018 Rick Cartwright

Goldfinch, Deep greens, and ..

I had to share this photo .. I took it earlier today at Garbry Big Woods Reserve. The colors just blew me away. 

I have received some questions about what lens I used for this shot. I used this Sigma 150 - 600mm lens.  It’s heavy, but it works really great. I shot most of my bird photos with this lens. 

~ Rick

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 Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. They are stunning and you can purchase them for a wall at home. Click the link or the ‘prints and such’ tab.

©2018 Rick Cartwright