A Beautiful Nest, Part 2

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It’s not a very good photo, but it shows us 11 days later what was under the mother hummingbird.

 

Baby Broad-tailed Hummingbird

 

It’s hard to figure out what you’re looking at.  It’s fuzzy stuff with a beak sticking up at one end.  The bird’s eyed were tightly closed. Its chin is resting on the left nest edge; its tail is resting on the right nest edge.

It was raining and the light levels were low. The quality of the photo isn’t good. Because the camera was getting soaked and the baby was shivering, I decided not to spend more time getting a better photo, and allow mama to return who was waiting nearby.

Other posts in this series:  Part 1, Part 3.

Joyce Gellhorn

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My friend Joyce passed away last night.  It was not unexpected.  “Death is part of life and I don’t fear it”, she said.  Fortunately, I got to say goodbye to her a few weeks ago.   She was so peaceful and so accepting.  That makes her passing so much easier.  I’m not sad; I’m happy and lucky to have known her.

I met Joyce probably 15 to 20 years ago when she became involved with the Boulder County Nature Association.  I’ve gone on hikes with her, taken nature classes she taught, and for a few years we attended the theater with other close friends.  Joyce has spent her life learning and teaching aspects of the natural world.

 

Joyce happily digging a hole to show us the different layers of snow. Winter Ecology class, March 2002.

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The early bird…

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…gets the good shots.

I had gotten to bed late due to having my quarterly 3-hour conversation with my youngest brother.  What was I doing awake already at five AM? By 5:30, I was tossing around like a fish out of water and decided to get up, go hike, and shoot photos before work.

I recently paid Canon USA way too much money to fix my broken EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens.  I received the lens back last week so I decided to use it this morning to give it a good workout.   Generally most of the photos I capture are with focal lengths under 50mm.  Being forced to use 70mm or more is a challenge.  Fortunately, getting up at dawn gives me the chance to see a lot of wildlife, which the longer focal lengths are good for.

I headed over to Caribou Ranch and set out on the trail.  Needless to say, at 6 AM, I didn’t seen any other people.  Just the way I like it.

 

Chickaree squirrel digging up a cached morsel next to a beautiful lichen covered rock.

 

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