Poking Around on Friday

After a week and a half of mostly overcast skies and fog, rain, and just general humidity, the sun finally came out today. I took a stroll down to Ballard Park and Hazard Rd., and even though the clouds came back by the time I headed back into town. Actually, I like shooting in diffuse light rather than in bright sunlight. But sometimes your body just needs to soak up some more Vitamin D, you know? In any case, here are the best of today's shots.

More flowers are blooming in Ballard Park, but these aren't so wild as the ones I took last week. This Crabapple, for instance, is probably a garden escapee. Last Saturday both Lauren and I had noticed this one was getting ready to pop. Well, it popped! It grows at the intersection of the Twin Ledges Trail and the Valley Trail (and you can look at the map to see where that is).











Here's another oddity! These are Blueberry blossoms, and this Blueberry bush grows on the Joseph Cotton Overlook (Point of Interest #5 on the map). But see, Blueberries in the wild aren't native to this area. People have them planted in their gardens here and there, so obviously a bird who had recently eaten a Blueberry from one of those bushes must have done a splat! bombing on the way by one day and now we have a Blueberry bush gone wild in Ballard Park.



So after Ballard Park I went down Hazard Rd. to Gooseneck Cove to see who might be hanging around there. And it was Egrets again today, one Great Egret and three Snowies, who were doing the Snowy Dance stirring up the minnows for lunch in the shallow waters. I tried to get shots of the Snowy Dance, but no luck. Ditto on shots of a Snowy in flight. Oh well... In any case, one of the Snowies was more intent on eating than on me and managed to get fairly close, so I got some good shots. This is the best one.

© 2009 by A. Roy Hilbinger