The pTerodactyl posed perfectly in the Tangle Heart Tree for Valentine’s Day.
Miss Stripy Sparrow
Mama Owl
Sparky Sparrow
Daddy Owl snoozing at sunrise.
A congregation of cranes at dawn.
Tommee Towhee
Cranes celebrating the frosty sunrise.
The other side of Miss Stripy Sparrow.
A pTerodactyl takeoff.
A silly duck on takeoff.
“¡Hasta la huego you silly goose!”
As a thunderstorm blew in this evening lots of crows were flying all around us.
Yesterday we had clouds running amok through the skies with our painter scrambling to keep her colors from blowing away with the winds. Today ¡Nada! Not a cloud in the sky. However, our ever clever painter brushed the Sandias with pink, then she threw a spray of ocher that turned into lavender, purples, and blues as it spread from the horizon into the sky.
Our painter picks her colors from sunbursts.
Mama Owl watches as our painter makes her magic.
Looking west @ 5:31 pm February 10, 2021
Mama Owl @ 4:23 pm February 10, 2021
Looking south @ 5:42 pm February 10, 2021
Cranes @ 5:44 pm February 10, 2021
Looking east @ 5:45 pm February 10, 2021
pTerodactyl with ducks doing vespers prayers. 5:53 pm February 10, 2021
Looking west @ 6:01 pm February 10, 2021
The 11th is the new moon, but this is the last moonrise of the first moon of 2021 that I will see.
5% waning crescent moon 6:15 am February 9, 2021.
Pensive owl
The second to the last moon before the new moon.
18% waning crescent moon 6:25 am February 8, 2021.
X marks the spot
View from South Bend at 5:20 pm tonight.
Owls with their ear tufts blowing in the wind this afternoon.
“Suffering succotash! Do I see birds?”
18% waning crescent moon February 7, 2021
“What’s that title? Alliteration on steroids?”
“Hey! Paparazzo! Incoming!”
“There’s the Tangle Heart Tree.”
“Here goes. Geronimo!”
Tree got in the way.
Nice landing. “Thanks!”
pTerodactyl on the Tangle Heart Tree.
Is that a branch or are you happy to see me?
“It’s a branch, Paparazzo. Get your mind out of the drainage ditch!”
“Oops! Don’t mind me. Just flying by.”
Tommee Towhee was hopping from branch to branch having Russian olives for breakfast.
A quarter moon with Swiss crater-style cheese, please. 25.4% waning crescent February 6, 2021.
The clouds over the Sandias this morning made beautiful cloudscapes, some with rainbow colors made by the rising sun reflecting off ice crystals in the thin clouds. Other clouds cast shadows as the sun rose above them.
Sasha
Silver
Loki
Spunk
Gwendolyn
Intermission
Marble
Ice crystals reflecting colors in the clouds.
Glenda
Moon in the western sky before sunrise.
Moon behind Mama Owl before sunrise
Mama Owl at sundown
Daddy Owl watching the birds flit around below him at sunset.
Mama Owl hopped over to another branch so I could get a shot of her from the levee after sunset.
The clouds were still hanging low behind the Sandias when the first full moon of 2021 rose cost to 6:00 pm tonight. Between the brightness of the full moon and the clouds, my lenses had trouble finding a sharp edge to get a sharp focus. I miss the old days when I could dial a lens to infinity and the moon would be in focus. I didn’t have to deal with finding edges in bright objects to focus on.
Mama Owl sunny side up
Uncropped photo taken from the irrigation ditch bank right under the owls just before sunset.
Cropped photo of Owls taken after sunset from the levee near the Tangle Heart tree.
We got about an inch of snow last night. The sun came out and melted most of the snow even though the high temp was only around 35ºF. The clouds broke up for a very short time this evening, allowing me to get a shot of the moon through the lavender mist†.
†Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) is a masterpiece by Jackson Pollock: https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/pollock-number-1-1950-lavender-mist.html
