Earlier in December, while chasing fall colors, I spent some days at Garner State Park. While hiking the White Rock Cave Trail with another master naturalist friend, we found ourselves photographing the flora and fauna we saw along the trail. … Read More

Whenever I think of butterflies, some words come to mind: ephemeral, graceful, fragile, and colorful. The Checkered white (Pontia protodice) certainly checks three of those qualifiers. To say they are “colorful,” however, may be a stretch. They are not bright … Read More

Lens-Artists Challenge #372: Ephemeral What a wonderful challenge Tina gave us this week: Ephemeral. Here’s her prompt: “I will start this week’s challenge with the dictionary’s short and simple definition of the word ephemeral – ‘lasting for a very short … Read More

Black is beautiful. When it comes to black in wildlife, that saying is spot-on. The American black bear (Ursus americanus) you see above was photographed at Big Bend NP, near one of the park’s busiest and most popular trails, the Lost Mine … Read More

Well, it is a week late, I know, as the day is celebrated on October 4. I was traveling and did not have access to my photos. Thanks to Terri’s (of Second Wind Leisure Perspectives) Sunday Stills Challenge, we are … Read More

While walking the grounds of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center a few years ago, I witnessed several pollinators doing their job of carrying pollen from flower to flower. However, little did I know that I was going to have … Read More

The photo above is a Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) butterfly, also called Blue Swallowtail. It is found in North and Central America. I had to try countless times to get pictures of this butterfly, but they move so quickly that … Read More

While revisiting some photos I captured in our old home’s backyard, I came across this Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) enjoying the nectar of a Turk’s Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii). The shallow depth of field I got was obtained by … Read More

In our old home, we used to have a water feature with several native plants around the area. We had done a project to attract more wildlife, primarily pollinators. One of the plants we added was a Pride of Barbados … Read More

In September 2021, we spent a few days in the Ruidoso, New Mexico, area. Besides hiking around the area, we also did some sightseeing in other places. On the day we went to White Sands NP, we noticed a beautiful … Read More