Sure, you could just ignore this photo-essay... Of course, if you DOO-UUUU, you'll MISS the DRAGONFLY pix... ;o)

I'll tell ya... It started out being "one of those days"...

The moment I stepped out my front door, SOMEBODY started yelling at me! Here he is -- a little "acorn woodpecker" in the oak tree in my front yard... (I dunno why me... Maybe today was just "my turn"!)

(Look at that light-colored eye... Strange looking, isn't it?)

Then I looked up in the sky above the oak tree... Uh-oh! A red-tailed hawk! Hmmm... Maybe it wasn't ME the woodpecker was upset with, after all... 

I can't seem to remember WHO it was that recently made the comment on one of my photo-essays that they've given up trying to take photos of butterflies and dragonflies because they said they seem to fly off when they even just THINK of taking a picture of one...

Well, wouldn't ya know it? One of the first things I found sitting there just WAITING for me to take a photo of it was this really cool DRAGONFLY!!!

He just sat there for the LONGEST TIME and let me snap a half-dozen or so photos of him... My very FIRST dragonfly photographs EVER! :^D

How cool is THAT!? :o)

And the clouds today were BIG and FLUFFY -- making for some really interesting and pretty photos, I thought... Here are a couple of those shots that I liked a lot:

And, today, I noticed that the California Quail that live down at the other end of the driveway have BABIES!!!

I counted at least TEN of them running behind mama but, by the time I'd gone back in the house to get my camera and come back outside again, they'd "flown the coop" (so to speak...)

The ones that live on my end of the driveway came out for their daily walk, though -- they don't seem to have any babies yet... (Gosh! I hope they didn't get eaten by a snake or a hawk or anything!) I was able to get a couple of really good close-ups of the little male:

He doesn't look like he trusts me too much, does he? ;o)

But -- I want a shot of those quail babies down at the other end of the driveway so bad I CAN TASTE IT!

Uh-oh!  8^0  ! !

No offense, little quail -- I didn't mean it THAT way! REALLY I didn't!!!  My bad... Me sowwy...  :^(

;o)

Right about then, I saw a butterfly light very nearby and it stayed there so long that I was able to get 3 or 4 good shots of it... Here he is:

I looked it up in one of my reference books to see what kind it is and, while I would've told you it was a "buckeye", It's NOT... It's called a "wood nymph"! (Isn't that just the coolest-ever name?) :o)

Then I got to thinking -- I take a lot of landscape shots looking DOWN the hill from my house (mostly of the vineyards in the Alexander Valley below us) but, I seldom, if EVER, take a shot looking UP at the hills to the west of Cloverdale -- so, I snapped this shot:

I think it turned out really well -- partly because the bottom half of the shot is "framed" by the vegetation... What do you think?

Well, I guess that's all I've got for you today, my wonderful Gather friends... (See? Aren't you glad now that you peeked and got a chance to see the dragonfly pix??? ...lol...)

Til next time!

luv,

jean