Downtown Mantis

We stayed over night in downtown Des Monies, Iowa recently. What does a couple in love and with a passion for hiking in nature do when they find they have extra time, good weather and a new place to explore? Of course, we took a nice walk.

The brick and mortar of the city is nothing like where we normally hike, but that did not stop use from photographing a little bit of nature. We saw this Chinese Mantis (Praying Mantis) several times. I mean, we waked by this intersection at least 4 times, and he moved around, but not far. Finally, he climbed the walls of the building.

This is an adult chinese mantis. I read a second site with some interesting information. I wanted to confirm some details, including how to identify one. The "adult Chinese mantis is brown in color with brown wings with a green edge" See also this info

Get out and take a walk .. you may be surprised at the variety nature can reveal regardless of where you are.

~ Rick

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©2019 ©2020 Rick Cartwright

Magpie

We were in Utah this past weekend. Our grandson was in the hospital with a nasty bug. He has Cystic fibrosis (we have three grandchildren with CF). While we were visiting, we had a visitor. What a beautiful Black-billed Magpie. I shot the 1st photo and Teresa captured the second.

The other photos .. well, grandma and grandpa loving on one of the grandchildren. I forgot to remove the mask. They allowed us to visit in the garden which is outdoors. I will not get into a discussion on the C word in this blog.

~ Rick

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Rick’s latest technology muse:

Check out our vlog, which includes more pictures and video on YouTube at tales.photos. Remember to subscribe!

Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. Contact Rick for more information.

©2019 ©2020 ©2021 Rick Cartwright

Pronghorn Drive By

We took a little drive through Wyoming this week. I need to explain this more. I'll do that in a few days but for now I will just say we made an unexpected trip west this week.

As we drove along I80, we were surprisaed to see so many Pronghorns. I did not try to count them, but I am sure it was several dozen.

Both of these photos were taken from the car as we drove along at 80 miles per hour. I had to make some adjustmeents to my camera settings to capture a good photo at those speeds. The 2nd photo was teken before I made changes. As you can see, it was a little blurry.

~ Rick

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Rick’s latest technology muse:

Check out our vlog, which includes more pictures and video on YouTube at tales.photos. Remember to subscribe!

Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. Contact Rick for more information.

©2019 ©2020 Rick Cartwright

Bald-faced?

Welcome to the home of the Bald-Faced Hornet. This hornet is a relative of the yellowjacket. They can be very agressive so I recommend not provoking them.

A few facts from Wikipedia:

Bald-faced hornets are omnivorous, and considered to be beneficial due to their predation of flies, caterpillars, and spiders. Their aggressive defensive nature, though, makes them a threat to humans who wander too close to a nest or when a nest is constructed too close to human habitation. They vigorously defend the nest, with workers stinging repeatedly, as is common among social bees and wasps. The bald-faced hornet has a unique defense in that it can squirt or spray venom from the stinger into the eyes of vertebrate nest intruders. The venom causes immediate watering of the eyes and temporary blindness. wikipedia.

And a bonus: I think this is a Persimmon tree.

~ Rick

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Rick’s latest technology muse:

Check out our vlog, which includes more pictures and video on YouTube at tales.photos. Remember to subscribe!

Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. Contact Rick for more information.

©2019 ©2020 Rick Cartwright

Sunrise With A Brewer’s Blackbird

As we were driving in Wyoming this past Friday, We stopped to photograph a beautiful sunrise (Second photo). Its a bit over saturated, but it was so beautiful. Let me start over ...

We woke up early so we could get into Utah at a good time. We departed from this cool AirB&B in Cheyenne early in the morning. It was foggy and the tempearture was in the low 40s. Yes, it was cold. As we made our way across I-80, I noticed the pending sunrise on the horizon. We needed to stop for a bio break so pulled off at one of the few rest stops along 80. It was must meant to be: the sunrise as about to show up in a spectualar way. As we started to snap photos, I noticed this female Brewer's Blackbird in a tree near me. She flew away, so we continued to photography the sunrise. Minutes later, she returned, so I changed lens and photographed her as she appeared to be watching the sunrise with us.

~ Rick

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Rick’s latest technology muse:

Check out our vlog, which includes more pictures and video on YouTube at tales.photos. Remember to subscribe!

Prints are available for many of the photos on this site on canvas, metal or glass. Contact Rick for more information.

©2019 ©2020 Rick Cartwright