A Cup of Morning
On a recent morning walk through Berry Springs Park & Preserve, I kept stopping in my tracks. Scattered across several open areas of the park, clusters of White Winecup (Callirhoe involucrata var. lineariloba) were putting on a quiet, understated show … Read More
Nature’s Own Wall: The Case Against a Border Barrier in Big Bend
The plans for a border wall across Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park continue to face strong opposition in Texas. The project has encountered significant resistance from residents, landowners, and both Democratic and Republican officials in … Read More
Foreground to Horizon: Layered Nature Photography
Lens-Artists Challenge #392: Framing Your Shots: Exploring the Foreground, Middle Ground, and Background When Patti set the theme for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, I wanted to capture new photos that put her excellent guidance to the test. She wrote, “This … Read More
Stalk, Strike, Swallow — Twenty Minutes with a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron
A few days ago, I headed out to Berry Springs Park & Preserve with a couple of friends to photograph birds and wildflowers. The wildflower blooms were a little sparse this trip, but the birds more than made up for … Read More
Corbiculae and Cobalt
“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”Henry David Thoreau Spring seems to be in full force in Austin, Texas. Not only are the city and surrounding areas getting covered with wildflowers, but pollinators have also started to … Read More
From Saddle to Shutter: A Winter Ride Through Brushy Creek on the S23
Lens-Artists Challenge #391: Phone Photography So, this week, Tina leads the Lens-Artist challenge with a theme that should be lots of fun for everyone. As Tina says in her post, “phone photography … has come such a long way these … Read More
Huayna Picchu: Standing on the Edge of the World
You’ve seen that photo before — the one of Machu Picchu with a dramatic mountain looming in the background. That mountain is Huayna Picchu, and the sweeping view below? That was taken from its summit, where I stood, slightly breathless, … Read More
Standing in Gold: A Great Blue Heron Moment Worth Stopping For
There are wildlife encounters that stop you in your tracks — and then there are the ones that make you forget to breathe. These two frames of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) wading through golden, sunlit shallows are exactly … Read More
Chasing the First Pollinators of Spring in Central Texas
As winter loosens its grip and the first trees break into bloom, one of nature’s quietest spectacles begins — the return of the pollinators. This featured image was captured at Balcones District Park in Austin, TX, where an Eastern Redbud … Read More
Frozen in Time: Macro Magic from a Texas Winter
February 2022 brought our second freeze of the season: three quiet, cold days of ice and snow blanketing everything in stillness. After the trauma of 2021’s catastrophic storm — when millions of us lost power and water for days — … Read More
