201/365

Two Pelicans

These two birds were just sitting on the rocks looking around.  They didn't move from the rocks for the longest time so I was able to get a lot of different images of them.  I liked this one the best.

163/365

Indian and War Hawk

This sculpture, Sacred Wind, of an Indian and a War Hawk is located on the campus of McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.  In 2011 the War Hawk became the new mascot of the school.

The hawk resting on the Indian's shoulder shows the cooperative relationship between the plains Indians and the hawk that represents the wind.

075/365

Lesser Flamingo

Just inside the zoo entrance there's an enclosure with Lesser Flamingos.  They're called Lesser Flamingos because they're the smaller of the flamingo birds and they skim the water with their beaks to find food instead of inserting their faces into the water.  They also seem to be a lighter pink.

They're just as beautiful as the larger variety of flamingos though.

278/366

Blue Heron????

The other day when the weather was so wonderful I forced myself to go to the local park to see if there were any photo ops.  For the first time ever I saw this bird...I'm not a "birder" so even though I tried to search the internet for the name, the only thing I could come up with is "Great Blue Heron".

I'm not sure that's what this bird is, but it fit the description pretty well.

I tried to get a photo of it in flight, but the images didn't come out as well as I wanted.

245/366

Pink Flamingos

The weather was incredibly beautiful again today and I wanted to spend some time outdoors without having to travel 2 hours to make some images.  I decided to go to the local zoo even though I've been there sooooo many times.  

Right at the beginning of the walking trail there's this enclosure with  these gorgeous pink flamingos.  I usually find it really difficult to get a good image of them, but I kind of like this one.

It was a beautiful day to be outside.

The Front and Back of It

Today Jackie and I went to Waiemea Falls. It's about a 3/4 mile walk back through some really beautiful botanical garden type environments.

On the way in we stopped regularly to take photos, but on the way out we were tired and hot, so we pretty much just walked along--with me, hoping against hope, that we'd see the parking lot in each next instant.

Instead, when we got just about to the exit, we saw this...

Oh My Gosh!!! We dropped our tripods and got over there as quickly as possible. There were two males courting a female. I've never had the opportunity to photograph a peacock with its feathers open like this. Just beautiful.

They kept turning around and around, and then I realized how beautiful the back side of the bird is.

So there you have it, the front and back of it.

Posted at 8 pm on Monday, March 16, 2009