Archives
A Sample of Pop’s “Bee” Images

Tuliptree Blossom with Guest

Another Day at Work

Apis Workers' Party

Predator

Some of Your Beeswax

Sedum Bumbler

Look of Defiance

Chicory Bee

Bumbling Bees

Garden Cafe

Buzz By Here - To Infinity and Beyond

Pick Your Poison

Blind Side Attack

On a Mission

Honey Bee on Sedum

Covering the Cosmos

Center of the Cosmos

Three's a Crowd

Popular Spot

On A Pedestal

A Sample of Pop’s “People” Photo Collection

Big Harry Fireworks Display

To Impress the Girl

Different Perspective

Sweet Ride

Perfect Little Piggies B&W

Flipping the Light Fantastic

Festival of Flights

To the Crowd's Delight

Amish Go Round

Wondersome One

The Stars In Her Eyes

Tuesday's Child

Sleeper Hold

Considering the Next Move

Sugar and Spice

Front Porch Portrait

Caged Competitor

Early Adoration

Child In the Ligtht

Stroll Through the Weeds

Bill Pevlor

Stalkers

White Egret, Egret, Bird, Children, Curious, Bridge

This was a study in childlike curiosity. I was on an engagement photo shoot at Pamperin Park in Green Bay when we noticed a small commotion nearby.

A large egret had swooped in and perched on the railing of the small suspension bridge spanning Duck Creek. Nearby children saw the great white bird and got low to the ground, crawling toward the bird for a closer look.  It was fun watching them plot among themselves and slowly inching their way toward their prey. They didn’t get much closer than this before the bird flew off.

To get a better look, click on the image and a larger version will open in a new browser tab.

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House Sitting House Wren

House Wren, Wren, House, Birdhouse, Bird, House, Small Bird

I happened to catch this house wren sitting in the doorway of its home, but it wasn’t there long. I was constantly swooping in and out to bring insects to the babies inside.

In an earlier post, I showed this same wren with a beak full of spider to feed the babes. See it HERE.

This bird was photographed on a recent trip to northwest Missouri.  We’ve not been able to attract an wrens to nest in a similar house we have in our yard in northeast Wisconsin.

To view a larger image of this bird, click on the photo.

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Technicolor Throne

Skipper Moth, Moth, Purple Coneflower, Cone, Flower, Butterfly

This skipper moth was overlooking the splendor of his kingdom from the comfort of his technicolor throne, a purple cone flower.

This is a photo taken on our recent vacation. This image came from a flowerbed just outside the gift shop of the Topeka Zoo. While the rest of our party went to look through the shop, I stayed outside to snap more photos.

To view a larger version of the king on his throne, click on the image.

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Freshwater Gar

Freshwater Gar, Garpike, Lepisosteidae, Long Fish, Freshwater, Gar

A little synchronized swimming demonstration by two Freshwater Gar (or Garpike)  in a marine display at Cabella’s in Kansas City. OK, they weren’t actually performing, I just happened to catch two gliding by,  side by side.

According to Wikipedia:  Gar bodies are elongated, heavily armored with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long, sharp teeth. Their tails are heterocercal, and the dorsal fins are close to the tail. As their vascularised swim bladders can function as lungs, most gars surface periodically to take a gulp of air, doing so more frequently in stagnant or warm water when the concentration of oxygen in the water is low. They also appear to surface in fast-moving rapids. As a result, they are extremely hardy and able to tolerate conditions that would kill most other fish.

This was a difficult image to capture. The scene wasn’t as bright as it looks here. In order to get this shot at f/6.7 I had to kick up the ISO to 3200 and the shutter speed down to 1/20tth of a second. Of course, handheld with no flash through. I don’t think I’ve ever shot at ISO 3200 before. (Even in low light conditions, I try to keep the ISO no higher than 800.) If you look closely, you’ll notice the image is not quite as sharp as I’d like and there’s a bit of digital noise…but not enough to discard the image.

To view a larger version of this image, click on the photo.

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June Rainbow

Rainbow, Sky, Rural, Wisconsin

This was a rainbow that popped up on an early, mid-June evening.  If you squint, you can kind of see a second band in the upper right corner.

I should have processed it earlier, but just got around to processing it.  I remember, when photographing it, being disappointed that I couldn’t get the whole rainbow in one frame.  It was very tall in the sky.

If you have a large monitor, you may be able to see a bigger version of this image by clicking on it.

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Sneaky Snake

Snake, Snake in the Grass, Grass, Wildlife, Nature

I call this guy, Sneaky Snake.  I stumbled upon him on a walk through the woods of northwest Missouri.

On vacation I got to spend some time in the woods with my camera.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, when I’m alone in the woods I like to walk slowly, stopping often to look around me, taking my time to spot anything of interest. It was at such a stop on a path that I noticed this snake in the grass. I really don’t know how I spotted it, it was so well hidden.

This was an unusual find for me because the snake wasn’t on the ground. It had coiled itself up on some of the stalks of grass, resting in its own stand, about a foot of the ground.

It sat motionless as I tried to move my camera into a position that would allow me to get a shot through the grass. After snapping a few frames, I decided to try and move some of the grass that was obstructing my view since the snake was holding steady, with only the a slightest movement of it’s head. Using a stick, I tried to part some of the grass nearest me. The moment a blade of grass moved the stake dropped to the ground and was gone.  It was freaky fast. No way to follow it through the tall grass.

I have no idea what kind of snake it was. I’m guessing its overall length was about three feet.

This image is much more impressive in the large size.  Click on the photo to see the bigger version.

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Wild Roses of Kansas

Wild Roses, Flowers, Beauty, Wildflower, Wildflowers, Rose

These are wild roses found on a hiking trail at Perry State Park, Ozawkie, Kansas. (About 20 miles northeast of Topeka.)

This was our first visit to this park.  We were visiting our son, Aaron, and his family in Topeka and decided to venture out for something new. We found an area of trails through the woods, grabbed a map, paid the park fee of $5 and started our hike.  The party included four adults and an 8-month old in his stroller.

These flowers greeted us at the very beginning of the trail. We made it about another minute before everyone started noticing ticks – lots of ticks – from the tiniest specs to the normal sized rascals.  An occasional tick is tolerable, but a couple of minutes into our walk they were crawling all over us.  We high-tailed it out of the woods and spent 15 minutes in the parking lot trying to remove the beasts.  We got most of them, but did find a couple when we got back home. Can’t imagine the ordeal we would have had is we hiked an hour or so.

It was too bad because all of us were looking forward to a little outdoor activity and I wonder what other beauties we might have missed.

If you look closely, you can see a spider’s legs on the flower on the right. Click the image to see a larger version.

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