Terri’s color challenge: “November’s color theme includes shades of brown and shades of auburn (a rich, brownish red). You are welcome to include images of both colors or pick one to highlight.”
When I first read Terri’s challenge I had no idea what kind of brown things to include. When I realizied that I’ve seen plenty of brown wildlife during our travels I knew what to do.
Wildlife photography is my favorite type of photography. Seeing wild creatures in their natural habitat is always a thrill. For this challenge I’m including some of my favorite brown animals and birds.
The first gallery features Brown Bears in Alaska and British Columbia, White Tailed deer in Virginia, Bison in South Dakota, and Elk in Canada.
I chose some of my favorite birds the bird gallery: an Osprey, an American Bald Eagle, Brown Pelicans, a hawk and a juvenile White Ibis. The Osprey is in Georgia, the Eagle in Alaska, and the rest of the birds are in Florida.
It’s not always easy to capture photos of wild animals when I spot them but it sure is fun to try. Sometimes it’s just pure luck to be in the right place at the right time with the right camera lens.
Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge is On the Wing. I enjoy bird photography and have thousands of bird photos in my archives. I browsed through some of them and included a few favorites for this challenge.
Whooping Crane spreading his wingsBrown Pelican at SunsetRoseate Spoonbill
Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird
I am the daughter of a United States Air Force pilot and I can’t do a post about wings without including wings of the USAF Thunderbirds.
U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds
Thanks to Terri for her Sunday Stills monthly challenge – On the Wing
Tina’s challenge is to examine the habitats of both humans/and or animals.
A quote from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources tells us that “Georgia’s coastal marshlands encompass approximately 368,000 acres in a four to six mile band behind the barrier islands. Thriving in the waters of the estuaries, these marshes have been identified as one of the most extensive and productive marshland systems in the United States. There are nearly 400,000 acres of coastal marshlands in Georgia which represent a considerable portion of all remaining marshlands along the entire eastern coast of the United States.”
I chose to feature images of some of the birds that feed on the fish, shrimp, snails, and other small creatures that live in the salt marsh. Sometimes I see the birds perched in a tree or on a dock above the marsh as they search for food. It’s fun to watch them wade through the marsh or a creek as they feed.
Great egret wades through the salt marsh searching for foodIbis feeding in the salt marshWood StorkRoseate Spoonbills and Great Egrets share a tree Roseate Spoonbill fishing in a tidal creekGreat Blue Heron perched on a rail above the marshOsprey searching for fish
Our year was filled with some wandering, some quality time at home, and good times with family and friends.
January
A week long getaway to the Florida Gulf Coast was just what we needed to start the year. The week was filled with beautiful sunrises, bird watching, swimming with manatees, and a Mermaid show at Weeki Watchee Springs State Park.
February
February was a quiet month at home with porch sitting when the weather was nice, a trip to the Ships of the Sea Museum in Savannah with friends, attending the Livestrong program two days a week, and watching the camellias bloom.
March
We stayed home for the month. The azaleas were blooming and the days were filled with St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations with the Junkanoo band from the Bahamas.
April
We took a road trip to do some wandering in middle Georgia, enjoyed the spring flowers in our garden, and watched a few backyard birds.
We celebrated my birthday with a road trip to Orlando where we had a delicious birthday lunch at Sanaa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and spent a day at the Animal Kingdom theme park.
July
July brought a gorgeous full moon, a double rainbow and a trip to the Georgia mountains to celebrate our anniversary.
August
The weather was hot but the flowers in the garden were blooming at home. We made another trip to middle Georgia where we wandered around Butterflies and Blooms in the Briar Patch.
September
There were walks on the beach and gorgeous sunrises.
We flew to Ft. Lauderdale to begin our long awaited Panama Canal and Central America Cruise. Watch for another post about this adventure coming soon.
December
We celebrated the holidays with friends and family at home. Some mornings I woke up to a brilliant orange sky at sunrise.
Coastal Georgia Sunrise
There were also many events with no photos to share. In March I completed a three month Livestrong program for cancer survivors at our local YMCA and I still continue to stay fit with water aerobics and other classes at the gym. We had some long delayed home home improvements taken care of. We cheered on our 13 year old granddaughter at a few middle school volleyball and basketball games. We were safe and dry in our home as we watched and heard the rain and wind from hurricane Idelia passed by in August.
Wandering Dawgs celebrated 10 years of blogging in March. I appreciate all of you who read and follow my posts. I’m looking forward to keep this up for a while.
Wishing you good health, happiness and much joy in 2024!
Wandering Dawgs 