Picture-A-Week 2021 - Week 15

[pierces]

Pictures taken between Monday, April 5 and Sunday, April 11.

 

Things are starting to open up! Get out there and take pictures!

 

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!

[Docker123]

Taking the scenic drive home along Battery Road (1 side Port Phillip Bay, the other Point Gellibrand Historic Park). Found this creature sitting in the park. I think I startled it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

Out in the garden yesterday ....

 

A7III with 135mm in crop mode (202mm), 1/2000, F/4.5, ISO-2500, +2/3 EC.

[pierces]

Two years ago, our Blood Orange tree surprised us with a huge growth spurt and the even bigger surprise of nearly a hundred oranges. Last year was almost as big a surprise with almost no blossoms and only about four oranges. Also missing were the bees with only a couple showing up when our cactus blossomed instead of the usual dozens. It was also a bad year for our avocados despite the tree blossoming heavily. Whether the lack of bees was the common denominator or not is unknown but this year looks to be a return to productivity with all the trees blossoming and the air filled with our little buzzing friends doing their part to make sure pollen is spread as nature intended. And, yes, we realize that spreading pollen is actually the bees helping trees have sex.

 

Let There Bee Oranges!

 

 

 

Dave

[zackiedawg]

Finally got around to sorting Saturday's batch from the local wetlands.  As usual, lots of birds and a few new chicks in this week's bunch - because it's that time of year at the wetlands which are major rookery spots for so many species.

 

Closeup with the beautiful eye of the double-crested cormorant:

 

Something bothered this green heron, as he was walking quickly away with his head plume raised and clucking with a mix of alarm and annoyance:

 

Momma red-winged blackbird feeding her newly hatched chicks:

 

Green heron chicks, well hidden deep in the trees and reeds, but I found a narrow little path to thread my lens through the clutter and get a peek at them:

 

Circle of life and all...nature can be cruel too, as this raccoon demonstrates by digging up a turtle nest and feasting on many eggs, that would have become baby turtles:

 

I know, another wrinkled sack of skin that looks like all the other baby birds...but this is my very first time getting to shoot a boat-tailed grackle chick.  They tend to nest very privately, and very deep in the reeds...I happened to see a mother grackle with a mouthful of food disappear into a floating island that was close enough to me, so I really searched my lens around through every gap and hole between the leaves (no contact, never approaching the actual island) until I caught a glimpse of the little head waiting for more food:

 

When there are nests and chicks around, it means birds are also scrambling to gather food - this anhinga had speared a very nice fish, but was trying to figure out how to remove it from his bill:

 

This male least bittern was also out gathering food - its nest hasn't hatched yet, but the spouse is dutifully sitting with the eggs, so he heads out on food runs for himself as well as to bring back for her:

 

The much larger cousin, the American bittern, was busy searching the trees for lizards or dragonflies to eat:

[olemissreb]

My sister was in town last week, so one day we took a walk around the Ole Miss campus and enjoyed the GORGEOUS weather and some really good catfish from the Taylor Grocery food truck.

 

From the 2nd floor of the Lyceum looking at The Circle

 

Ventress Hall

 

Catalpa tree that is believed to be at least 100 years old

 

Barnard Observatory - they would have had the worlds largest telescope in 1860 something if the Civil War hadn't broken out.  The telescope ended up at Northwestern in Evanston, IL instead.

 

The Walk of Champions Arch - the football team walks down this before every home football game. The fans jam the walkway to be able to get a high five from every player and coach.

 

The Grove - per Sports Illustrated, the #1 tailgating experience.  It sure was nice seeing The Grove with some activity after all the shutdowns.

 

Ole Miss has these robots that will deliver food anywhere on campus.  They are pretty cool.

[zackiedawg]

Neat to see that campus...it's been a long time since I've walked around there.  When I was at Tulane, I had a freshman-year friend who transferred in the 3rd year to Ole Miss...so I drove up a few times on weekends to hang out and see the school.  More often he came my way to visit on weekends - not just for the New Orleans action, but he was Cajun and his family lived in southwest Louisiana.  That was late 80s...but the nice thing about old school campuses is that they don't change their look much!

Edited April 15, 2021 by zackiedawg

[olemissreb]

1 hour ago, zackiedawg said:

Neat to see that campus...it's been a long time since I've walked around there.  When I was at Tulane, I had a freshman-year friend who transferred in the 3rd year to Ole Miss...so I drove up a few times on weekends to hang out and see the school.  More often he came my way to visit on weekends - not just for the New Orleans action, but he was Cajun and his family lived in southwest Louisiana.  That was late 80s...but the nice thing about old school campuses is that they don't change their look much!

As you can probably tell from my screenname, I am an Ole Miss alum.  When I became an empty nester, I decided it was time for me to "go home".  I love living in Oxford!  The core of campus hasn't changed a whole lot, but boy oh boy are there plenty more activities going on throughout town and on campus.

[zackiedawg]

I'm sure it's changed a ton since I was going up there.  I think pretty much every time I visited, we'd head to a bar called 'The Gin'...there really weren't that many spots back then for entertainment...this place had good bands and always seemed to be hopping.  There was a funky little hippie theater building close by where you could watch movies, bring your own drinks, and they served little snacks and bites.  And there was a pizza joint which I think was there a while that had good sandwiches...can't recall the name!

[olemissreb]

48 minutes ago, zackiedawg said:

I'm sure it's changed a ton since I was going up there.  I think pretty much every time I visited, we'd head to a bar called 'The Gin'...there really weren't that many spots back then for entertainment...this place had good bands and always seemed to be hopping.  There was a funky little hippie theater building close by where you could watch movies, bring your own drinks, and they served little snacks and bites.  And there was a pizza joint which I think was there a while that had good sandwiches...can't recall the name!

The Gin no longer exists.  It burned down back in the 90s I believe.  The hippie theater was called The Hoka and sadly it too is gone.  I never did get over there, but their cheesecake was supposedly to die for.  The pizza joint may have been Pizza Den?  It does still exist only in a different location than from the 80s.  Today, The Square is hopping just about every weekend with high end boutique shopping and a good mix of really good restaurants.

[zackiedawg]

39 minutes ago, olemissreb said:

The Gin no longer exists.  It burned down back in the 90s I believe.  The hippie theater was called The Hoka and sadly it too is gone.  I never did get over there, but their cheesecake was supposedly to die for.  The pizza joint may have been Pizza Den?  It does still exist only in a different location than from the 80s.  Today, The Square is hopping just about every weekend with high end boutique shopping and a good mix of really good restaurants.

Wow - both gone!  That was it - Hoka.  Sad to hear the Gin burned down...that was a fun place - though probably not 'up to code' by any modern standards...back then, those kind of things weren't as stringently enforced.

 

Pizza Den was the place.  I checked their Facebook page and see photos of the old location which is the one I was familiar with.  Also sad to see while digging around that Pizza Bob was murdered!  He was the guy who owned and ran the place and was always there when I visited.

 

Pretty much all the spots I remembered were within a block of each other, just a block or so off the Square.  My buddy was splitting rent on a house right in town - you could see the back of City Hall from the front of the house.  It was maybe 1/2 mile to the campus, but a stone's throw to the Square.  There was definitely nothing you could call 'boutique' back then - but I don't think there really was such a thing in the late 80s, anywhere!  Different times for sure.

[boeckli]

A variety of autumn blossoms