ruby throated hummingbird – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #364 – Quiet Moment

September 8, 2025Posted in Birds, Butterflies, PhotographyTagged butterfly, Full Moon, Gulf Fritillary, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, quiet moment, ruby throated hummingbird55 Comments

For this challenge Ritva asks us “Where is your serene sanctuary?” She challenges us to explore and connect with our own personal feelings.

After recent arthroscopic knee surgery I haven’t been able to go out to take many photos. Instead, I’ve had plenty of quiet moments in my own backyard. Watching the full moon rise from our back deck is a peaceful way to end the day. The featured image is of the August full moon.

I find peace sitting on our deck looking for hummingbirds at the feeder and butterflies in the garden. The hummingbirds will stay at the feeder for a while if I am very still and quiet.

Gulf Fritillary butterflies are frequent visitors to my garden this time of year. I love to watch them fly from flower to flower. Taking photos of them requires quiet and patience.

Last week Anne took us on a virtual scavenger hunt and the responses were very creative and fun. Be sure to check back on Saturday, September 13 at noon Eastern Time when Egidio will be hosting our next challenge.

Thanks Ritva for this beautiful challenge. I hope you will join in for this week’s challenge. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to Ritva’s Lens-Artists #364 – Quiet Moment

For information on how to join the Len-Artists challenge please click here.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #304 – Behind

June 22, 2024Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Flowers, PhotographyTagged Behind, Lens-Artists, Painted Bunting, Photo Challenge, ruby throated hummingbird, Swallotail Butterfly28 Comments

Ritva’s challenge is to pay attention to the background behind our subject.

I chose a few images from nature for this challenge. I used depth of field to blur the background to keep the focus on the main subject.

Many thanks to our host Ritva for this challenge Lens-Artists #304 – Behind

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 210 – Picking Favorites

August 3, 2022Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged coneflowers, garden, Lens-Artists, Orcas, Photo Challenge, Picking Favorites, ruby throated hummingbird24 Comments

In this challenge guest host Sarah asks us to pick three favorite photos and describe why they are favorites. I had a difficult time coming up with just three images but here they are.

My first image is one one I took earlier this summer while I was sitting in my back yard. I was hoping to capture birds at the feeder or butterflies on the flowers. The birds and butterflies didn’t cooperate so instead I took a few shots of the coneflowers using my telephoto lens. I’m happy with the effect and like the purplecone flower in the background.

I couldn’t pick three favorites without including a bird image. This next image is my favorite hummingbird image. I captured him from above as I was sitting on my deck above the flowers.

My final image is of two Orcas I captured on a wildlife cruise from Valdez, Alaska. Valdez was near the end of our nearly two months of traveling by RV through Alaska. We saw plenty of humpback whales on two other wildlife cruises but we had not yet seen any Orcas. This wildlife cruise would be our last chance to see them before we headed south for home. I was thrilled when a pod surfaced close to our boat and I was finally able to capture a few shots. This one is one of my favorite photos from the trip.

A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

Many thanks to guest host Sarah for this Lens-Artists Challenge #210 – Picking Favorites

Feeding the Backyard Birds

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged Are you a bird feeder, backyard birds, Carolina Chickadee, Change, Georgia birding, Lens-Artists, Painted Bunting, Photo Challenge, ruby throated hummingbird, Sunday Stills, Tufted Titmouse32 Comments

I enjoy feeding my back yard birds and keep a feeder filled with seeds close to my butterfly garden. It’s fun to see how the birds in the yard change with the seasons. During the warm months I keep three hummingbird feeders filled with nectar and grow flowers that attract them. I enjoy sitting and watching the birds and trying to capture them with my camera.

In Fall and Winter birds like Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, House Finches, and Northern Cardinals show up frequently. All of these birds can also be seen at various times during the rest of the year. The pair of Northern Cardinals in the header photo were perched in a tree near the bird feeder this week. They like to hang around waiting for seeds to fall to the ground for an easy meal.

I start seeing a change in the birds in the spring when the weather starts warming up. The hummingbird feeders go up and I anxiously await the first Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Spring also brings the Painted Buntings to the yard. Both the hummers and the buntings come around frequently all spring and summer.

This post was inspired by John Steiner’s Lens-Artists challenge Change

and by Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge Are you a Bird Feeder? Her post reminds us that February is National Bird Feeding Month.

Bird Weekly Challenge – Birds I’ve seen this week

April 15, 2021Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged birdweekly, House Finch, ruby throated hummingbird, Seen in past week, Tufted Titmouse27 Comments

Lisa has challenged us to show birds we’ve seen in the past two weeks. All of the ones here are from this week.

I’ve been enjoying the variety of birds that have been coming to the feeder in my back yard this week. They are eating the seeds as fast as I can fill the feeder. Some days I just sit and enjoy seeing them without running to get my camera. In addition to the birds featured here there were also Carolina Chickadees, Cardinals, Doves, and a male Painted Bunting in my yard. One day I spotted a Great Egret pruning in the marsh.