Environment:
Start Time: 6:45 AM Temperature: 61 degrees Sky: Wildfire haze and cloud muted sunshine. No breeze.
Wildfire haze and humidity were joined by a layer of clouds to help dampen the light this morning. Still pleasant walking and, with the reduced radiant heat from the Sun, at times a little cool. Today’s featured image is a female Red-winged Blackbird who I found among a swarm of blackbirds attacking the wild sunflowers along the Arkansas River. I took quite a few shots some of which will make their way to Twitter and Instagram. I added a new bird as well. Posted is a Yellow-headed Blackbird who was perched really high in a tree overlooking the swarming Blackbirds down below. I also tried a long shot of an Osprey nest that sits way off-trail in the Police shooting range. This was shot with my longest lens and then heavily cropped but you can see (sort of) the two new arrivals. Topping things off (at the bottom of this post) is a pair of butterflies who were just hanging on some leaves. That kind of day.
Sightings:
Birds: Mallards, Starlings, Osprey, Barn Swallows, Cormorants, Western Kingbirds, Eastern Kingbird, American Robins, Canada Geese, American Kestrel, Common Grackle, Mississippi Kite, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow-headed Blackbird, House Wren
Critters: Cabbage Butterfly, Prairie Dogs, Mule Deer, Butterfly
Gear: Lumix GH4, 100-300 mm
