Day 292

While we were at the post office, we encountered several geese.

Day 223

Today, we went to the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk, Va. We love this zoo! A few months ago, they finished building the Trail of the Tiger enclosures structure. We have been trying to go for months, so this was a special treat. I will include a few zoo resident photos, but plants first, since some of the zoo animals aren't natural to this area.

Sunflower

Sunflower

Lily

Rose

Hibiscus

Bengal Tiger cooling off in a creek made for them.

Swinging Primate. I didn't photograph the description, so I don't know what kind it is.

This ostrich was mad that a giraffe came near his woman. The giraffe just stuck it's tongue out at the ostrich. Eventually the ostrich just walked away...no longer protecting his woman. The giraffe went back to eating the roof.

I have no  clue why both giraffes were licking the posts and eating the grass roof. This is the baby giraffe.

Turtle

Meerkat

There were 2 adults and 6 baby geese. Two of the babies were too far to the left to easily get in the frame. The babies kept on walking for a bit then laying down.

The baby Prairie Dogs were wrestling. They were squeaking and having fun. One of the adults came over to regulate, but the babies continued to wrestle beside the adult.

Adult Prairie Dog sitting on a dome. This area has three domes that you can look through. Sometimes, you get wacky views like the butt of a Prairie Dog.

Day 103

Today, the air was very cold and snow was falling lightly. There wasn't enough snow to stick to the ground, but definitely enough to make me cold while photographing. John and I needed to go grocery shopping and wanted lunch. While our lunch was being made, I went outside to take photos.

There were many birds in the area. I was able to easily take photos of the geese in the pond.

This is a goose behind a Weeping Willow. 

I loved how clear the reflections of the geese were. This clarity was due to the still water and overcast sky.

The water rippled in circles as these geese slowly moved.

These are some trees along one entrance of this shopping center.

This is a Weeping Willow that was by the pond. I love how the delicate branches show well against the overcast sky.

There were crows flying high around the trees. There are three in this photo. Can you find them all?

Day 80

Today, I went to Pony Pasture with Alex, Amanda Erickson and her friend Alan. We spent abou 2 hours exploring the river and the park. I took a lot of photos. Though I narrowed the 200+ photos to these, there are still a lot, so phone users beware...

Pony Pasture is on the James River, so lets start with a photo of the James River from Pony Pasture. As you can see, there are a lot of rocks. Being able to see them indicates that the water level is low. In the summer, this is good for lounging in the water, but not for tubing or rowing down the river.

Another shot of the river.

While we were exploring by the river, there were tree Mallard Ducks...two males and one female. One of the males came close to us. The water here is clear enough, that his feet are visible.

This is one of the male ducks hunting for food. Don't you love that duck butt!

There are two geese. On the rocks behind them (not in the photo) are lots of seagulls. The gulls were too far away for my camera to properly photograph them.

I was poking around the rocks and noticed this fern growing from one.

I liked these tree roots. They change color (probably from wear on the bark, due to people stepping on them) as they go into the water.

I love seeing moss grow in dead trees. It shows that life still goes on even in death.

This is the lovely Amanda taking a photo, as I photograph her. This is in the park area. There are lots of trees and trails. The way we came into this area looked overgrown and dead like some freaky horror movie...but still we entered. It was worth it.

See overgrown and creepy.

While taking a photo of this weird seed ball, I got caught on the surrounding briers. The briers weren't part of this seed plant, a small branch of the plant had landed on the brier bush. I was told not to lag behind or I'll get caught in the briers again...hehe.

We came to an area of a trail that had drainage issues. This made for mud and pretty photos. I liked that there was a reflection of trees and the depth of the leaves in the water was visible. I now love seeing wet leaves, because the undertones of the browns are very clear and beautiful.

This is sort of a double reflection, due to the break in the flow of water. I like that the height of the tree is reflected and connects to the trees each reflection comes from.

In the parking lot, there was a section with a large puddle of water. I thought this reflection showed the beauty in what is not normally seen as beautiful.

Day 48

Today, while we were driving to Jason's Deli for lunch, I noticed the lake near by was partially frozen and had geese around it/in it. After lunch, I went over to take photos while Alex finished up her ice cream with John. I took photos of the ice, but I should have looked closer before taking photos. If you haven't been around geese before, well there is a lot of poo. So much poo, that there was poo on the ice. The below photos don't include those poo filled ruined photos. Though this blog is about photographing nature and poo is natural, it's not pretty and you don't need to see that in a photo. No amount of blurring in photoshop could have removed it and left recognizable ice. Gross. Ok, on to photos not about poo...

This is Fountain Grass an edge of the lake. In the background you can see the ice and water. The unfrozen part is due to the fountain which you can sort of see on the right middle area. Geese are opposite. This water has to be really cold. Apparently geese don't mind.

Here are some of the smarter geese that aren't swimming in the freezing water.

This is a seagull on the ice. Since we don't live near the sea/ocean (it's about 1.5 hrs away driving), we call them trashgulls as they tend to hang out in parking lots and land fills. The footprints in the snow are from the geese...I think. They were smaller than human feet.

Brown plant. I'm not sure what type.

Back at the house, I decided that the rock salt was photo worthy. It's natural, though not naturally occurring here. It's all over the paths and stair due to the last recent snow. It's tinted the path and snow a pink color. I tried to take photos of the tinted snow, but they didn't come out clear. I will try again another day, before the snow all melts.