Blue Jay and Hummingbird

A Blue Jay visited my birdbath. I was pleased that the automatic camera caught images of it.

The Birdfy camera takes wide angle videos, plus it saves a preview shot from the beginning. I sometimes take screenshots from the video. For this post, I cropped all the pictures to 4x3 format.

Hummingbirds are still visiting to store up energy from sugar water before they fly south.

Blog Post #9600

Old Self Portrait

 

I was going to post something else when I remembered that my blog has reached 9600 posts, so I should celebrate that. It’s an old blog now, and I’m an old person, and this is an old photo! 

I was taking a photography class when I set up this shot. I used a timer because we didn’t have a selfie feature in cameras back then. We didn’t have digital photography either. This was taken on film with a 35 mm camera. I used window light.

I decided to resurrect this old picture because I needed a profile picture for Facebook. I had been using a cartoon-type picture, and Lynn complained that it was ugly, which it was, and it wasn’t amusing me anymore. I found this shot, but I wanted it to look antique to suggest that it’s not a current photo. After all, it’s from the last century!

So I tried to make it look sepia-toned but it came out too dark. I used AI to add a Victorian frame. Then I brought it back into the Photos app and lightened it. I also made another version that’s even lighter, but I prefer the richness of this one, so I’m using it for now. 

Crowding an Ordinary Day

Blog Post 9599.

Here we see today’s evening sky. It was turning pink, but was not a spectacular sunset because the only clouds were low near the horizon. I looked around for something to make it interesting, and noticed the shiny decoration hanging from the porch rail. Since the rail was basically in the way, I couldn’t really frame the shot properly so I just held the phone down between the rail and the decoration. Later I straightened the photo a little and cropped it. 

Today was a tiring day because I had an appointment in Harrisonburg. That is not so far that the drive is exhausting, but I usually crowd other things into the trip to take advantage of being in a larger town and not having Charlie with me. (I left him in day boarding, and did not need to pick him up until 5 PM.) I went to two grocery stores, because I can never find everything I need at one store. Even so, I couldn’t check everything off my shopping list because some items are out of stock, as usual. I also had lunch, bought gas because it’s cheaper there and went looking for a mural. I found the building, but there was no place to park and I realized that I was running short of time so I didn’t get that picture.

There was a sudden rain storm while I was at physical therapy. It was still raining lightly when I got back in my car. 

Long Gliding Wings and Small Busy Wings

Vultures are not glamorous birds, but they glide gracefully, sailing on air currents high in the air. 

Tiny hummingbirds are admired for their beauty, but their wings beat so fast that I’m lucky when they don’t look completely blurry in a photo. 

That shot was taken by a motion-activated camera mounted in a birdfeeder. The model I have was designed for birdseed, but I set it up for hummingbirds in the summer. 

I have a hanging feeder for them too. Recently they’ve been visiting many times a day, gathering energy for a long migration southward. 

I took this picture yesterday while relaxing on the deck. 

Another visitor to the deck was this butterfly. The “Siri Knowledge” app says this is a hackberry emperor. 

Phone Photos of Hummingbird

Ruby-Throated Male

These are pictures I took with my iPhone while sitting on the deck with my dog. I eat lunch out there almost every day, and several weeks passed before the hummingbird was bold enough to feed in our presence. I was pleased that Charlie did not jump up and scare him.

I used a moderate zoom to take the pictures. I have found that if I use the maximum zoom setting, the images come out blurry. I have better results with zooming at 2X or 3X and then cropping later.

I planned on this being a longer post, but I’m having trouble uploading pictures right now. I don’t know what’s going on with Blogger. I hope they're not going to bring AI into it.

Harrisonburg Rectangles

Lines, rectangles, and right angles catch my eye. Not as much as triangles, but still… Shapes are interesting.

The first photo shows a reflection of a sign that happens to be suspended from an overhang. The second picture shows the entrance to a parking garage.

Birds and Alternate Versions

When I was leaving the place that I showed in yesterday’s post, I noticed this tall tree with crows perched on the upper branches. I snapped a few pictures, so below is an alternate shot, which I cropped for a closer look.

Next we see a bird that I noticed when I was walking Charlie. It was singing, and was shaped like a robin, but I wasn’t positive until I cropped and lightened an alternate picture. I usually try to take two pictures of a subject in case one of them is blurred. This also gives me an extra shot for experimenting.

Red Cardinal Plus a Butterfly

My bird camera doesn’t capture many birds in the summer because I don’t feed them. I do furnish water though, and sometimes they visit the birdbath for it.

This is a male northern cardinal. It was captured on video, but I prefer to publish still shots. I tried a couple of apps that are supposed to grab stills from video, but found them complicated. I went back to pausing the action to capture screenshots on my iPad. Then I cropped them in the Photos app. 

 

The cardinal happened to visit in the rain, which makes the images even less sharp than video images usually are. To make up for this, I’m republishing a favorite picture of a cardinal from several years ago. This was taken in early spring after a late snowfall.

This butterfly visited my garden on Friday. I think it is a silvery checkerspot. It is considered rare in the northeastern states, but not uncommon in Virginia. 

More Camp Roosevelt Pics

Camp Roosevelt was the first Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the nation. It opened in April 1933, providing housing and work for young men as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s program to ease the Great Depression. 

Yesterday I took Charlie for a short walk there, and remembered that I needed some close-up shots for a photography project. My iPhone did pretty well considering its size.

Made into a collage for Mosaic Monday.

We followed a short path and paused at the marker where the CCC wash house was located.

A funny thing is it that as I was planning this post, I thought maybe I shared a picture of this feature before. It turns out that exactly three years ago on this very same day, I posted this sign and a similar picture!

Is that a coincidence or am I drawn to the same places at a particular time of year? This sort of thing has happened before, but Camp Roosevelt is in the forest away from my regular routes, although it is only about a half hour from home.

Sadly, this camp and many other historic sites in the National Forests are not well maintained, although someone cleans up trash and fallen trees. I wonder if this will get fixed up before the hundred-year anniversary of the CCC, which is only six years away. I should probably call my congressman. Our Forest Service is not very well funded right now.

I have a photo to share just to answer the question, “Why do so many photographers wear black?” I took a picture of a plaque on a bench and immediately wished that I had worn a black shirt instead of a red one.

Robins and Excuses

Today I'm sharing pictures of American robins, and I apologize for the quality. My excuse is that I was excited that my experiment with the Birdfy cam was successful in getting pictures of birds at the birdbath.

The Birdfy device had to be moved when the painters re-stained the deck, and I decided to place it on the patio table facing the birdbath. So far, the only birds that it has captured are robins.

This evening, I took a cell phone picture of a bird on a streetlight. Again, I’m offering an excuse, and that is that the light was quite dim at 8:45 PM, so don’t look too closely. I’m pretty certain that this is a robin as well. I see them often, and they don’t seem to be as shy of people as many birds are.

For a closer look, here’s a robin that I photographed last year.

Running on Empty

Lately I've been so tired that I haven't done much exploring. Consequently, I couldn’t come up with a satisfying photo for Black and White Weekend. I wound up with this shadow shot, turning it and cropping so there’s a diagonal to add a sense of movement.

This was just a snapshot I took to illustrate my complaint that the deck was too hot for bare feet. The planks are newly painted, and the sun was very bright that day. 

Doctors haven’t been too helpful in explaining my fatigue, but tests continue to show that my protein and sodium levels are low. I’m supposed to take sodium pills, but they upset my stomach, So I’ve tried to increase my dietary salt, plus sodium bicarbonate in place of Tums. 

I still go to physical therapy to try to improve steadiness and strength, but it leaves me exhausted for a day or two. I keep trying because I really want to be able to walk farther. 

Theme Day: The Subject is Sky

When I first learned that the City Daily Photo theme for June 1st is “Sky,” I thought, “Oh that’s easy!” But then I realized that I have already used my dramatic sky shots for the weekly Skywatch linkup. I made an effort to get some more sky pictures today, but they weren’t very interesting. 

I decided to post this picture from Saturday, taken at Dickey Ridge in Shenandoah National Park. Shooting into the sun is generally considered a no-no in photography, but I do it all the time. Shade the lens to protect your eyes and electronics. I usually just stand in the shade.

These folks were members of a family, apparently from the Middle East. Others were doing prayers behind me on prayer rugs, but I did not intrude by taking pictures of them. A mountain top is an inspiring place to say prayers.

Later, one of the young men asked what breed of dog was Charlie. I told him beagle, and he smiled and said “Nice!”

Last Night’s Moon

On our final dog walk yesterday, I watched the moon come out from behind the clouds. I took two pictures with my cell phone, steadying it on a mailbox while holding Charlie's leash in the other hand. Realizing it was too dark, I tried to change the mode, but Charlie was out of patience and pulled me along. I'm afraid I left a footprint in the mud next to the curb.

Both pictures came out pixelated. Still, I like the mysterious look of the sky.

I made an attempt at improving the second shot using a filter, but it wasn’t a success. Then I noticed that my app was trying to identify a “bird.” Oh, good grief! That’s the moon, Siri, not a snowy owl!

Double Mural, Purple Barn

White Oak Lavender Farm, Part Two 

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I went to the Lavender Farm to see the new mural. It covers the back of a barn plus an extension. I found it impossible to get the entire thing in one photo. I tried a panorama shot, and then flattened it using AI. Even then, there was a portion on the adjacent wall that I could not get in the frame because there was a butterfly house that I had to step around. Also, there were buttresses painted with lavender plants.

Monday Murals

The artwork is by Real Creative Studio in Harrisonburg. Speaking of artists, I saw some at work painting “en plein air.”

Another structure had flowers painted on the wall. 

There was even more to see and photograph, but it will have to wait until another day. Stay tuned!

Charlie and Rhododendrons

Yesterday afternoon I took Charlie to the park in Edinburg. After a short walk, I wanted to take pictures of the rhododendrons near the pool.  Charlie became focused on something under the branches and as soon as I got a picture composed, he pulled on the leash.

After a few failed attempts, I was able to get decent pictures of the pink blossoms. 

Then a butterfly showed up! Again I struggled to get a clear photo, but between the dog pulling on his leash and the screen on the iPhone being overly sensitive, I failed and the butterfly flew off.  (It seems like the phone switches modes if I so much as breathe!)

Then the tiger swallowtail returned. I pointed the phone at it and accidentally switched on “portrait” mode. That’s why the picture has a black background. I could’ve modified it in editing, but I decided to keep it.

By the time I corrected the setting on my phone, but butterfly disappeared again.

As you can see, some of the leaves look stressed. This could be from the prolonged drought or from the sudden frost, or both. 

When I reviewed the pictures, I saw a blue abstract that I did not recognize. It must have been taken as I pulled the phone out out of my pocket. My pants have a knit pattern in these colors. They’re some of my favorite colors so I didn’t delete the picture.