Love the butterflies of course and all the other pictures are great too.

Howie: your posts always make me smile. As for your latest one, since those cows had no horns, would that make it a poll-gate? ~~~

Flopsy: thanks for identifying the flower! Chavs: thanks for the link : )

ClaraSue: you can post pix of the pond and the lilies forever, I'll never tire of them. Gorgeous.

Daniel (can we call you Daniel? I keep forgetting how many extra a's and e's to add lol): Not completely sure what sort of birds you have there (other than the white ones) without closeups. If they are indeed all gulls (which they could be), then I'd hate to be one of the five babysitters lol. In the pre-flight picture, the brown birds (yes I know juvenile gulls are not white, but here anyway, they're never that brown) seem to be sitting very low in the water (as ducks do). Gulls are fliers, not swimmers, and sit high on the water - they tend to look more like they "bob" than anything else - and typically hold their tails/butts out of the water in a distinct upright position. Gulls also have very short necks and short, sort of "blunted" fantails. The darkest birds (almost black) in your second picture appear to have longer necks and might be cormorants or black ducks. As for the brown ones IN flight? They look like fruit bats to me from here (so what do I know??? LOL!). Will be curious to hear what you find out in your research.


Yes, I know the sun "should" look more round/uniform, but I didn't alter anything.
Sunset on a Cuban beach. Wish you could have been there as the camera doesn't do it justice.
It was as if the whole world was bathed in gold, bronze and copper (blissful sigh).

Thanks for that Jakeroo (nice photo as well!)- call me Daniel if you want (that must be my most-used phrase on FT lol). Even Dan will do. Unfortunately I couldn't get a better shot of them in the pack because they didn't get very close and the zoom on my camera isn't fantastic. I think some birds look darker than others in the second shot because of the shadowing- the sun was just beginning to set when I took it. I'm pretty sure that they're cormorants that are in flight (I see them quite often, particularly little pied cormorants), which leads me to believe they were cormorants on the water as well. If only I could have got closer! I took a photo the same day of what I believe is the same type of bird, and it does look a lot like a cormorant. I'll share it tomorrow to see if anyone can tell me what species it is. For now, I'm going to bet they were cormorants on the water.

ClaraSue, that is a gorgeous scene, I have 'pinched it' as it might be perfect on a sympathy card at some stage.

Thanks, ClaraSue. I was wondering if it's some problem at my end since it's been happening for the past few days.

Jakeroo, gorgeous photo.



Jog Falls, Karnataka. At a height of 253 meters, they are the second highest waterfalls in India. There were 1500 steps to the base but I only had time to make about halfway down.

The lake at Wimbledon Park

Thanks for the messages of congratulations. I've been too busy to take photos (other than of my new grandson, that is) as I've been working and leaving the house at 6.30 and not getting home (to prepare for the next day) at 5.30. Not much time for photos.

However, you have all done so well this month. I love the diversity of photos you are all posting. There are some lovely pictures of animals and fantastic scenerey too. I've enjoyed looking at them all. Thank you.

Is he your first grandchild? Congrats "gramma"Dot : )))

Zorba and Daniel: thanks, you are always most kind.

Zorba: Personally I prefer your pic. And yikes - that many stairs? Seems like a prime location for zip line, then you only have to walk the stairs once. Maybe we should start up a "biz" together lol

David: lovely lake picture. Am sure you'd rather that those pesky Canada geese weren't there though!

I can't really remember the last time I posted here. I haven't been very snap-happy lately, either, and I would like to fix this! Anyway, at the insistence of a certain Jakeroo (:P), I will begin posting again

Part of the gardens at Hatfield House

Those honeysuckle berries look as though a mere touch and they would explode!

Jakeroo, your golden beach looks heavenly!

Sue, you are more than welcome to "pinch" a photo at any time! I remember years ago you took a copy of one and made a beautiful card for my father.

I took dozens of photos of the water lilies, but here's some day lilies that were at the same park.

Those are lovely. They do look good en masse, especially that colour, they almost glow they are so vibrant

Ah, Ranunculaceae. Alex, sometimes "simple" is the "bestest" when it comes to pure visual pleasure. As a child I remember "snuffling" flowers like those (which resulted in a VERY yellow nose lol). Thanks for posting it :))

Christina: lovely garden. Wish our growing season was as long as yours!

oops, while I was posting the last, I missed ClaraSue's entry. LOVE your photo (orange is a favourite colour for me). Oh, and since you don't mind "pinching" may I paint your water lily? I've been waiting for a subject that stirred me....

Jakeroo, be my guest. I'm flattered that so many like the lilies. I took so many photos of different ones in different stages of opening and closing over a two day period. I did not know that they close each night at sundown and open back up the next day. I'd like to show more, but I didn't want to bore the good folks here with the same subject.

Did someone mention pesky Canada geese? Here are some from around the Washdyke Lagoon (near the Smithfield rockpools) after a lot of rain.

What a gorgeous day lilly, Clarasue! And Jakeroo your cuabn sunset is stunning! No wonder Sue is pinching it for her cards!

Love that waterfall, the flowers and those ducks.

This is a photo of the type of bird I'm guessing was in that group, it looks the right size of the ones in flight and definitely the right colour. Wonder why it wasn't with the others? It's a cormorant of some type I think- a great cormorant perahps?

Fantastic photos as usual.

Thank you ClaraSue, yes I remember the card.

Yesterday, my husband and I took a rode trip on our motorcyles around the area. It was a great ride and I took a few photos along the way (when stopped, of course, ). People have the misconception that Arizona is nothing but desert. We have lots of sand and cacti, sure, but there are a lot of mountains, trees, and water, too. This is Canyon Lake approx 50 miles east of Phoenix.

Santana: Thanks! (but I think it's the water lily Sue is interested in lol)

Howie: Oh noooooooo... they're in New Zealand too?? Good grief. I apologise on behalf of my entire country lol.

Daniel: I don't think that's a cormorant as the neck seems too long, as does the bill (and it doesn't appear to have the characteristic "crook" on the end of it that cormorants have). It also has a distinctive white stripe going from the bill down the neck. Bearing in mind that the bird is probably still wet (and so will look darker than when it is dry), I think what you have there is a "Darter" (either Anhinga melanogaster or Anhinga novaehollandiae). I also think it's male. That doesn't mean that there wasn't a bunch of cormorants in the big group though lol. Anyway, if you can find an online birding, zoo or university website for your location with a contact email address, I'd suggest sending them your picture and maybe they would do a better job of identifying it for you : ) I've had good success here by sending weird spider pics by that method and the folks seemed quite happy to help out!

Once again, thanks for your help Jakeroo. According to Wikipedia it couldn't be the oriental darter as they don't live in Western Australia. The Australasian Darter does, so it could be that. I'll definitely try find a good website, animals fascinate me so I'm always willing to add to my knowledge. I know a lot about other animals and some other birds (see "Who's the Expert?" wins ), just not as much about water birds.
Beautiful photo ClaraSue.

http://www.ozanimals.com/Bird/Darter/Anhinga/melanogaster.html

Daniel: According to the website above, the melanogaster variety is indeed found in many parts of Australia, including Western areas (although not terribly common around Perth). It's also the one most noted for the white stripe. We're not "supposed" to see Eastern Bluebirds or Red Cardinals in my part of Canada either, but we do on occasion : ) so I wouldn't necessarily take "wiki" as "gospel" LOL. In any case, good luck in your investigations.


These are my two pacific salmon that I caught off the coast of Bamfield British Columbia.
They are approximately 25 lbs each and while they didn't earn the "tyee" distinction (which means
anything over 30 lbs) they still warranted a wheelbarrow to bring them up from the dock lol
Sorry for the blurriness, but it was raining cats and dogs.

Oh, I like that a lot! Great atmospheric catch, Jakeroo.

Good sleuthing too. Looks like you two need to edit wiki now!

OOh Salmon! Can I come to dinner?

Jakeroo- the geese made the picture! Here's another pond, up the road on Richmond Park

ClaraSue: Absolutely. You're in charge of the wine. Tell me when you two are arriving so we can pick you up at the airport. Don't worry, we have real vehicles now (we traded up on the dog sleds a few years back) : )

David: The geese did NOT make the picture. You did, with your very good "eye". And I like your last posting just as much (with no geese LOL!). Very tranquil. I'd love to sit on that bench and contemplate something (not my navel, am afraid what I might find in there lol).

Oh I don't know where to start. Everyone's pictures are fabulous, each month just seems to get better and better. I love seeing all the ones from overseas, I can travel the world without leaving my chair, and it's the only way I will see some of these places now. Satguru shows me places in the UK I never knew existed as well as ones I have just driven past without ever really looking at. This has to be the best and friendliest forum on FT.

We had this rather lovely cloud effect just as the sun was setting.

This is the best site on the whole web!

Love those clouds, Christinap! One of my favorite subjects is clouds at sunset and sunrise.

Beautiful clouds! Love 'em.