Picture-A-Week 2020 - Week 27

[pierces]

Pictures taken between Monday, June 29 and Sunday, July 5.

 

Week 27. Second half of the year. Blink and it will be Hallowe'en.

 

Rules: See above

That's it. This isn't a contest.

All photos taken this week are welcome (not just cruising).

Prizes will not be awarded. Discovering the joy of photography is the prize.

The idea is to get folks out using their cameras for more than vacations and toddler birthdays.

Post one. Post many. Up to you.

Have fun with your camera and share your fun with others!

[ski ww]

No public celebrations this year so we did our own with a DQ ice cream cake, Happy 153 birthday Canada.

 

[pierces]

Every few years, one of these bee + cactus flower shots makes it into the Picture-A-Week portfolio. This week, our cactus went a little crazy with a couple dozen spectacular blooms. It is called a Night Blooming Cereus and each set of three or four 7” - 8” blooms only opens for a single night, closing and withering the next day when the sun comes up. This shot was taken just as the sun was starting to shine and the flowers were already ending their short window of availability and closing up shop. Our little bee friends were still buzzing around, landing on them and crawling into the flowers, sometimes having to shove the petals and each other aside to get to the treasure trove of pollen still uncollected. Sort of like when toilet paper is available at Costco.

 

Last Call

 

 

 

Dave

[Docker123]

Sunday afternoon in Melbourne was grey, glarey, drizzly, cold. Nasty light conditions. At least i am not in one of the areas that has gone back into lock down.

 

No cruise ships, of course, so some little remote control things buzzing around

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by Docker123

[zackiedawg]

I was once again able to head up to the one wetland area open in my county - though I can't understand why they can't just open them all...I was there for 3 hours and saw not one single other person.  Last week only one other person was there.  The simple fact is, virus or not, very few hardy souls would even consider walking around in a swamp in the middle of the afternoon in 96 degrees and humidity exceeding 85%...social distancing is about as effortless as can be!

 

Black-bellied whistling duck:

 

Black-necked stilt, stretching his neck up:

 

Green heron walking along the shore:

 

Dragonfly doing a handstand:

 

And as usual, after a very hot sweaty day walking the swamps, I headed back to my pool to jump in and (relatively) cool off (given the water temp in my pool is 95!)...I always bring the camera at poolside to photograph the backyard critters, like this juvenile blue jay looking for seeds:

[mskaufman]

Ellicott City, MD

[mnbruce]

It has been a number of years since I have posted here because it has been that long since we have cruise, but since nobody is cruising I figure why not. Took these yesterday

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2020 by mnbruce

[tommui987]

19 hours ago, mnbruce said:

It has been a number of years since I have posted here because it has been that long since we have cruise, but since nobody is cruising I figure why not. Took these yesterday

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is that the world-famous Minnesota mosquito or is it a bumblebee humming bird?

[mnbruce]

5 hours ago, tommui987 said:

 

Is that the world-famous Minnesota mosquito or is it a bumblebee humming bird?

😀  Closer to the second one. They are called Bombyliidae , or bee flies.

[cruises42]

Parent Tree Swallow bringing in food for the baby.

[kenevenpar]

On 7/6/2020 at 2:20 PM, zackiedawg said:

I was once again able to head up to the one wetland area open in my county - though I can't understand why they can't just open them all...I was there for 3 hours and saw not one single other person.  Last week only one other person was there.  The simple fact is, virus or not, very few hardy souls would even consider walking around in a swamp in the middle of the afternoon in 96 degrees and humidity exceeding 85%...social distancing is about as effortless as can be!

 

 

 

 

Dragonfly doing a handstand:

 

 

 

I just read that they are cooling themselves by catching what little breeze there may be.