2017 Year In Review

As I look back at 2017, I found a harsh political climate, not to mention a climate that left us with hurricanes in the South and wildfires in the West. We saw more terrorism in many states, even in my own. Demonstrations plagued our cities, big and small. We are a divided nation it seems. Then came a giant leap in the women's, and even human rights movement. With the unearthing of sexual harassment, this brought to bear one's credibility. With it came destroyed careers, shattered lives and broken families. And we are left in shock and disbelief in this the supposed greatest nation in the world.

In my world, however small, I awoke each day with new hope of capturing Mother Nature in all her splendor and beauty. As best my mind's eye could focus through the lens in my Nikon, I snapped image after image at every twist and turn on the road I traveled. I long for more, but this year ends on this day and I am left wanting.

The year 2018 will bring more opportunities and more images, with different settings and beautiful scenery. I hope to bring you, my friends and followers, who so graciously compliment me as I post, more of what is beautiful in this world. Thank you for all of your well wishes. I will cherish them always. I leave you with my very best images I brought up from the depths of my archives of this year 2017. 

I pray all that is wrong in this world will be overshadowed by all that is right in this New Year. Whatever climate we find ourselves in, be it political, weather or controversial, I hope you will look to Mother Nature for the beauty and splendor in our world. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Linking to Foodie Friday and Everything Else and Metamorphosis Monday

'Nesting' Black Crowned Night Herons

A visit to the Heron Rookery on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville Sunday afforded me a plethora of species of birds. Since I rarely get more than a glimpse of a Black Crowned Night Heron, I thought I would post images of them first. They were very busy flying in and out of the rookery. In this image, you can see the late afternoon sun casting its golden glow.

This Heron Rookery never ceases to amaze me with the different species that nest together in one large tree along the shoreline. I wonder have you ever tried to capture a Black Crowned Night Heron in flight? It's not like photographing a Great Blue Heron. They move much much slower than Night Herons. Night Herons fly much faster as they are not nearly as large a bird as their Great Blue Heron cousins. One never knows when you snap an image of one in flight, if it's even viable, but on this day I got very lucky.

I had trouble differentiating the leaves and tree branches from the Black Crowned Night Herons. The Great Blues stick out more as they are bigger, but the Night Herons being so small blend in. I snapped an image of a Great Blue Heron standing on a nest only to realize later that this Black Crowned Night Heron was sitting on its nest right below it.

Today there were Great Blue Herons, Black Crowned Night Herons, Cormorants and Great White Egrets flying all about the Heron Rookery, not to mention Barn Swallows and Canadian Geese. What a plethora and a pleasure to be in the company of such great species and able to photograph them. I will share Great Blue Heron images in a post soon. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We finally, as you can see from these images, had a beautiful day Sunday with blue skies and low temperatures in the 70's. It was wonderful. ENJOY!

Late May at the Rookery

As the sun began to fall low in the sky, the Herons in the Rookery on Old Hickory Lake, continued to fly in and out of the trees. As I peered up into the Rookery, although the leaves were fully out on the tree, I could make out countless Herons in all shapes and sizes. Keeping their privacy in mind, I stayed away from the Rookery itself, but decided to walk under a smaller tree nearby which stood away from the rookery. Not realizing I scared up several Black Crowned Night Herons in the tree. One flew up into the Rookery, while the other flew up on top of a shorter tree near the Rookery. I moved just close enough not to make the Heron fly away and snapped these images.

In spite of the wind picking up, the Heron kept a firm grip on the branch and stayed put. There must have been twenty birds in the Rookery, not to mention several Herons flying in and out, with one flying in carrying a huge twig. More nest building going on. Amazing! I am not certain how long into the year the courtships and nest building goes on, but my best guess would be that it will come to a close soon as the hot days of Summer are fast approaching. I did take note that the juveniles I could make out in the nests had grown to a good foot or more. It bears mentioning here that I did not adjust the color on these images. The blue hour was upon me and very evident in the images I captured. It bears mentioning I broke out the Summer header today. With the exception of this week, the weather here in Tennessee has felt more like August. This week the temps dropped like a rock, but they are bouncing back and fast. So incredibly happy it is the weekend. A major deadline is nearly behind me and I am so relieved. Everyone have a wonderful weekend. ENJOY!

Black Crowned Night Heron

There is a creek call Drakes Creek right off Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville. It meanders north through the heart of Hendersonville. As it does there are areas where trees have partially blown down and branches are sticking up out of the water. Great Blue Herons, Great White Egrets, Green Herons and Black Crowned Night Herons are just a few of the common resident bird species that make this creek their home.

As I come and go throughout the week I take the short cut passing by Drakes Creek always checking to see if the resident Black Crowned Night Heron is perched on a particularly large dead tree branch that sticks out into the creek near the road. On this day, he was perched on the perfect branch just low enough and near enough to the edge of the creek for me to get a decent photo. This is the image I had tried to capture at a distance in early March, but that image was really not good even though I did post it. This bird species is one of the shorter, stumpier species of Herons obviously. But he is just as determined a fisher as any Great Blue Heron or Great White Egret is. Hope you enjoy this much better image of such a beautiful bird. ENJOY!

Now on a personal note, I have been grounded for a week with a stomach bug which kept me from a major conference for work this coming week. Needless to say, this didn't make me happy, but one has to do what one has to do. It has been a trying few months what with bronchitis, then major dental work and now this bug. But I will bounce back. You can count on that. Twenty years ago today I was involved in a serious accident which left me with many injuries which took weeks and weeks to recover from. But I did recover albeit I was much younger then which probably helped. Now this week, my oldest sister, Linda, experienced a serious trauma while on vacation in Florida. She is currently out of ICU, but has a very long and grueling recovery ahead. I mention this for one reason. I hope you will keep her in your prayers. God Bless.

Nest Building 101, Heron Rookery

It's nest building time at one of the Heron Rookeries I discovered situated along Old Hickory Lake today just as the light was beginning to wane and clouds were moving in.

This particular rookery is situated on one side of an inlet in a residential neighborhood about a mile from my home. A large tree sits right at the tip of the inlet jutting out into the lake. The area is a public area with a drive that goes back a short distance. Staying an appropriate amount of distance away from the rookery, I snapped images using my 300 mm lens. Counting a good twenty nests in the large tree, there were at least eight or ten of those that looked as though they could have current residents.

This is the first rookery I could walk up to and while I wanted to get closer, I did not want to stress out any of the nesting birds. The Herons flew in and out of the nests as I stood for about twenty minutes watching them. Only this particular Heron seemed serious about his nest building duties.

I noticed a nest on the adjacent tip of the inlet in a large tree there also. It was the only nest in the tree. Soon the leaves will be sprouting and views of the Rookery will be obscured. I love watching the Herons flying in and out. Such majestic birds and the first image is my favorite. Just look at the detail.

After a stressful week, this was a wonderful way to end it. I also stopped at Drakes Creek to capture a few images of a Black Crowned Night Heron that I have been watching as it habitually perches in one particular tree along the creek. I just happen to catch him there late today and stopped for five minutes to snap his portrait. I'll post those images next week. Finally, decent weather for photography! Yippee. Thank you Mother Nature. ENJOY!

Black Crowned Night Heron

Off of Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville sits a tributary called Drakes Creek which runs north toward Kentucky. This particular creek is very wide. It follows a road I sometimes frequent when running errands as was the task today. I stopped along the creek road to check out the wildlife only to discover on the opposite bank of the creek a Black Crowned Night Heron. This is a Life List Bird for me. I have seen countless images of this bird but had never seen one before. Turns out there were three Black Crowned Night Herons about three feet apart from each other standing on the side of the opposite bank and they appeared very busy fishing.

This is the best image I have of the few I captured. This particular species appears so similar to the Great Blue Heron. The Audubon website described the Black Crowned Night Heron as 'these chunky herons which seem dull and lethargic, usually in groups sitting hunched and motionless in trees near water.' As I sat in my car snapping a few images, I saw a flash of blue fly by. I followed the bird to a branch far off and after a look through the binoculars, a Belted Kingfisher. I was so excited, but before I could think to grab my camera he flew off back the other direction far away. I would love to get a closer look at this particular species. I think when it's warmer I will take a walk along Drakes Creek. It's official, I think I'm actually feeling back to normal after nearly a week of being under the weather. I hope your first week was a good one. Winter has finally made its way to Tennessee. This morning was 16 degrees. I hate to say it, but I enjoyed the warm December we had. ENJOY!

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

As I was about to end my walk around Murfree Spring Wetlands Sunday, I turned the corner toward the entrance and saw this beautiful creature standing in the middle of the large swamp. This is a Yellow Crowned Night Heron and a Life List bird for me. Isn't he gorgeous. I had never laid eyes on one before. Quite honestly, I didn't even know there was such a thing. The only thing I knew for certain was this was not a Black Crowned Night Heron.

It didn't take long for me to identify this bird as I knew it was some sort of crowned Heron. Yellow Crowned Night Herons are nocturnal birds that reside mainly in southern swamps and along southern coastlines. The yellow crown is their distinctive feature which is what they are named for although they do have yellow legs as well. These Herons are stockier than the Great Blue Heron, the Little Blue Heron or the Tri-Colored Heron.

A juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron has a longer neck and sports a grayer toned body. Actually, the juvenile doesn't really resemble the adult all that much when I looked them up online. I thought perhaps I would see a Black Crowned Night Heron at the wetlands as I had seen photos online that mentioned sightings, but no dice.

The entire time I photographed this Heron he was very intent stalking about in search of a snack. Finally, a lady with two young boys approached and off he flew. I knew he wouldn't stay long with young children chatting away. It has rained off and on since yesterday, but hopefully we won't have the drenching rain that Texas and Oklahoma are getting. Such tragedy in Texas from the floodwaters and on Memorial Day no less. My heart goes out to everyone there. Back soon with more images from my walk on the wild side. ENJOY!