Dust Devil Deluxe!

This thing went way up and it was doing a great job of being a brown tornado for the time I watched it.

Footprints

Dino tracks! Clayton Lake State Park, New Mexico.  A long way off the interstate, but a very cool place.

Sunrise and Fog

When I left Lompoc yesterday morning, it was cold and damp.  Fog was curling down the hills and filling the valleys in places.  I was heading down toward the coast when I saw this and just had to stop and take the shot.

I was told by a guy in Banning, east of LA, that they got 6 inches of snow overnight.  By the time I got there it was just a light cover, and only in places.  As you can see, I shot this from the highway.  Snow in Southern California in April - not exactly the image that you expect!

California Coast

The hills above Highway 1 northwest of Santa Barbara are covered with yellow flowers.

Water Ranch

I took a short walk this afternoon at the Water Ranch in Gilbert.  There were just tons of ducks on the ponds, along with a smattering of other birds.  In this shot there are Mallards, Northern Pintails and one Green-winged Teal.

Along with the ducks, there were a lot of egrets and herons, including this one:

I also saw coots, Black-crowned Night Herons, Black-necked Stilts, Kildeer, hummingbirds, sparrows, a Black Phoebe, a flock of blackbirds (I couldn't get close enough to see if they were red-winged), and several others.  It's been a pretty good time for birds recently, with very cool encounters with a Barn Owl and two Great Horned Owls, plus a hawk, all near my house.

Macro Pictures Squidoo Lens

I've created a new lens on Squidoo that talks about macro mode.  It includes a couple of my pictures.  The flower and the bee, specifically.

Shooting Macro Pictures links to it.

Fou Corners Power Plant

My destination for my trip last week.

Canyon de Chelly

This was taken out the window of the Durango to Phoenix flight. We flew in a Bombardier DH-8 (assuming I remembered the type correctly).

Bee-yootiful!

A flower from a field of them. Taken near Farmington, NM.

Red Pyramid

I just finished reading Rick Riordan's "The Red Pyramid" and thought that I'd share these pictures.

The first is of Camelback Mountain, taken from the north side of Mesa, AZ. I think it looks a lot like a pyramid from this view...

The second is of Red Mountain, which is on the north side of Mesa. I think it looks kind of like a step pyramid that has been scrunched to the side...

If you haven't read the book and if you like Percy Jackson or Harry Potter, you should give it a try!

Mustangs in January

 

Quoth the Raven...

"Damned rain!" The disgruntled bird was perched on the rim of the Grand Canyon...

What a lovely beastie!

Believe it or not, this is the smaller of two of these we've seen this summer...

And they fly, too!

Lovebirds

 

I found these near our house. Fortunately, I had my point-and-shoot Sony handy!

Brighton Wading