In the garden of the daylilies

 

Yellow

Yellow is such a cheerful color to me.  It is the color of the sun, of lemons for lemonade, of daffodils, daisies and butter.  This tree stood in the middle of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, Florida.  I don’t think I saw another one like it while we were there and I have no idea what kind of tree it is but I was drawn to it.  When the breeze blew the trumpet shaped flowers would float down like beautiful yellow confetti.

I enjoyed standing under it and letting the flowers float over me once I was finished taking these photos.

 

Screaming Neon Red Shrub Rose

With bee.  How’s that for a rose name?

Masked

No, I don’t mean layer masks in Photoshop, I mean on the Cedar Waxwing’s face.  I’ve seen pictures of these birds before but until this day did not think I would ever see one live let alone enjoying oranges.  The waxwing part of their name comes from the bright red wax-like droplets on the tips of their wing feathers.  They look ready for a masquerade party with that black mask across their eyes.

(I hope that Mother’s Day has been a pleasant one for everyone; DH doing all of the cooking has been wonderful.  I know that there are many of us who no longer have our mothers or that special mother figure and that makes the day bittersweet and my heart goes out to those moms who have lost the ones that called or would’ve called them mom.  I miss my mom but I give thanks that I am called mom and nana.  I am thrilled that Facetime and Skype were invented so that while I’m not there with my progeny who live about 7 hours away, I can still see and speak to them.) 

Orioles

The sanctuary has an aviary that guests can walk through to view and interact with the song birds.  The Blue Jays and Orioles will sometimes eat from a visitor’s hand, decide to inspect your bag or even land on your head…which is what happened to DH with a Blue Jay.  Cheeky bird!

Harris’s Hawk

F 4.0 – 1/160 – ISO 100 – 134mm – Canon 5D M3 – Tamron 70-200mm

 

Diesel

Diesel* (Red-shouldered hawk) was retired from the sport of falconry when her handler realized she only wanted to hunt earthworms and grasshoppers instead of a hawks usual prey. Diesel is a human imprint, which means she does not recognize her own species.  Can you imagine what it would be like if you didn’t recognize yourself as being a human around other humans?