Here we have the last of the owls that were there for us to learn about and photograph from the Ohio Nature Education people at the Grange Audubon Center.
A fluffy not too amused with the cameras Great Horned Owl. He looks so soft but trying to touch him would result in carnage… for the one trying to touch.
And a little Screech Owl who gave me the stink eye! He was not amused.
But no holler. The first hoot is the Barred owl from the previous post and the second hoot is an owl that I feel is one of the most beautiful of the species, a barn owl. I think it’s that face with the heart shape around it that does the trick. Although when I saw the barn owl cough down what I thought may have been a mouse I almost felt sorry for that departed mouse – almost!
There are some truly amazing creatures out there in this great big world and I’m happy that places like Ohio Nature Education and other animal rescue agencies are helping them.
Teri 📷
Hoo hoo hoo hoo! C’mon and admit it, you sang that didn’t you? Barred owl provided by the Ohio Nature Education at the Grange Audubon Center.
Teri 📷
Teri 📷
The calendar has announced that here in this hemisphere we have just entered the season of fall. But as we all know, no matter what the calendars say, nature may and often says something different. Nature has been known to toy with us mere humans and throw different seasons at us all in a matter of days… or hours even so overlapping shouldn’t come as any surprise.
Here in Ohio, the leaves have begun to change color (entirely too early I think) and drop from the trees but yet there are still flowers blooming and bees and butterflies going about their days while squirrels are busy socking food away for the long haul.
Squirrel in a tree with changing leaves chattering away at me.
A honey bee gathering pollen.
A butterfly and just barely noticeable above him in a flower, another honey bee.
Queen Anne’s Lace or wild carrot or whatever you may call it.
While it’s nice to see both seasons at one time it’s only a matter of time before the former fully gives up it’s time to the latter. How is whatever your current season is looking in your area?
Teri 📷
Colorado photos by DH! Today I’ve decided to let my partner in life, crime, photography and many other things shine. DH has gone from just hauling my equipment to becoming involved with me in many photography excursions. His tastes are different from mine in that he almost always uses a zoom lens and would be content to forever just photograph birds and other animals.
The only human he likes to photograph is guess who? Drives me round the bend but sometimes – when not scowling at him as I look up from what I’m doing and see his lens pointed right at me – he gets some good ones like here when the moose crossed the road between a group of us gawking humans. In this 200 mm shot, you can see just how ridiculously close I was to the moose. I’m so happy he was a laid back moose!
I call this poor guy stubby for obvious reasons. Wonder what happened to his other antler?
Bird photography is DH’s thing and wouldn’t you know we barely saw any of them while out on our hikes. But one day way up in the sky we saw this bird. I failed miserably to capture any bit of it but while not as clear as we’d like, he caught this gorgeous golden eagle circling in the sky near the Alpine Center at over 10,000 feet elevation. It was shot at 600 mm and I had to do a tight crop in order to get a better image. It was that high in the sky! Did I happen to mention that DH leaves all the editing to me?
On lower ground – and by lower I mean elevation of around 8,600 feet – on our walk around Sprague Lake he had fun capturing ducks doing their ducky thing. I thought this one of a duck shaking himself was very cool. I’ve never seen a duck with its eyes closed before.
And of course we both photographed elk… lots and lots and lots of elk.
Hope you’ve enjoyed!
Teri or should I say DH 
Colorado residents, I discovered, are really into their outdoor exercises out there! I saw so many people riding their bicycles almost everywhere, even in the Rocky Mountain National Park where it amazed me that they could do it at such high elevations and low oxygen.
Hiking is very popular as well and no wonder what with so many amazing trails and scenery and then there is the trout fishing. Lakes and streams abound and while initially I was surprised to see people hiking up trails to lakes high in the mountains, after awhile they just became other hikers passing me on the trails as I sat to catch my breath. I am such a flatlander!
But it was the rock climbers that really caught my attention and they are a daring and quite wiry bunch. It may be difficult to see the guy on the side of the canyon here in Eldorado Canyon State Park in Boulder, Colorado but there he was. We couldn’t tell if he was going up, down, stuck or what. This photo was taken at 400mm so that should give you an idea of just how far up there he was.
I thought at first these two climbers were taking a selfie until I uploaded the image and discovered he was just taking a break (barefoot no less) and holding on to a rope.
Hanging on by the skin of his fingertips!
This woman was loaded up with gear to anchor the ropes; at least I assume that was her job. Maybe she was removing them?
I spoke with this woman, Isabel and her friends, and learned that she is a dancer but one that puts on a show where she and her group do like routines but on rock climbing walls on stage.
It was great to watch these athletes but this is something I do not foresee myself trying. At least not higher than oh say… 10 feet and that’s stretching it!
Teri 📷
Next Colorado adventure? Possibly lake hiking – stay tuned!
