Great Egret Breeding Plumage

Our host Tina has asked us to choose up to 10 of our favorite photos and to explain why they are favorites. If we choose one for sentimental value they should still be strong from a technical perspective.

All of my photos have sentimental value. They bring back fond memories of a good experience. All have been featured on my blog before. The hardest part of this challenge was limiting it to 10 favorites!

My header image is my favorite sunset photo. I pass by this tree to get to my house and I’ve watched many beautiful sunsets there. This is my favorite sunset image because of the dramatic orange sky, the bird on one tree, and the sun framed between two trees just before sinking below the horizon.

This next image of a pair of Orcas in Alaska is one of my all time favorite wildlife photos. We saw plenty of wildlife on our RV trip to Alaska ten years ago but when we reached Valdez, our last coastal town before starting for home, we still had not seen any Orcas. We took a wildlife and glacier cruise on a fairly small vessel and witnessed many whales, seals, puffins and other wildlife before a pod of Orcas surfaced near the boat. I was able to stand by the railing of the boat with my telephoto lens and take a few shots. This is one of my favorites because I captured a moment I will never forget.

Another favorite wildlife photo is this one of a Green Sea Turtle on Oahu’s North Shore in Hawaii. We were surprised when we spotted the turtle as we were taking a walk along the beach after doing some snorkeling.

*Green sea turtle on the beach at Turtle Cove, Oahu*

I love taking bird pictures and I have many photos of Great Egrets. This is one of my favorites because he is showing off his breeding plumage and it shows the green color around his eyes.

*Great Egret in breeding plumage, St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Florida*

This is my favorite hummingbird image. I was looking down on the garden when I captured this hummingbird drinking from a Mexican Sunflowers. I like the way the background is blurred and that the wings are in motion.

The next image just makes me happy. We were walking along Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island on a beautiful July day when I spotted the beach chairs set up underneath the colorful umbrellas in the middle of the driftwood.

*Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia*

One of the most memorable experiences of my life was taking a flight seeing trip to see Mt. Denali in Denali National Park from the air. This is one of my favorites from that exciting flight.

*Mount Denali in Denali National Park, Alaska*

The next image is one of my favorite landscape images. On my morning walk in a campground in Colorado I spotted this fisherman beside the lake with storm clouds over the mountains.

*Storm over Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado*

I chose my final two favorites for the reflections and fog. Both of these were featured in past challenges and based on the number of comments I received they were favorites of readers of my blog.

*Foggy morning on West Point Lake, Georgia*

Many thanks to our guest host Tina for the challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #268 – Tell Me Why

The next stop on our winter RV journey was Saint Augustine, Florida. We had a beautiful campsite in Anastasia State Park to call home for a few days. The weather was lousy most of the time but we picked a perfect sunny day to do some sightseeing.

At the top of my to do list was visit the Saint Augustine Alligator Farm Wading Bird Rookery. During nesting season wading birds come to nest in the trees in the Native Swamp at the Alligator Farm. The birds who nest here are wild and can come and go as they please. Although it was a little early in the nesting season there were a lot of great egrets and roseate spoonbills wearing their breeding plumage and some pairs were starting to build their nests.

The trees surround a swamp area filled with alligators. A boardwalk winds around the swamp giving visitors close up views of the alligators in the water and the birds in the trees.