Costa's Hummingbird

New Hummingbird Resident to Walker Lake, Nevada

The Costa's Hummingbirds have added a new and colorful accent to my garden landscape over the spring and summer of 2013. 

 I noticed one or two of the brilliant hummers coming to my feeders over the last few years, however this year the Costa's appear to outnumber the Broad-tailed hummingbirds which are here every summer. 

Costa's are a desert hummingbird which migrate from south of the U.S. boarder in winter to spend the breeding season in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts of California and Arizona.  So why is this tiny hummingbird that measures from 3-3½ inches (7.6–8.9 cm) in length so far north in the Great Basin Desert, I am most curious.  However I have been informed that the migration routes of many birds are changing due to weather patterns. 

The colorful Costa's male has green upper parts and displays a vivid violet crown with a gorget (throat patch) that extends out from both sides of his throat. 

The immature Costa's and adult females have a white throat with gray-buff on upper-parts, and may even show a few violet feathers.

Costa's feed on flower nectar and the small insects that are found on flower petals.  Like most hummingbirds, they are also attracted to sugar water in feeders.  

I suspect that the Costa’s have managed to raise a new “charm” of hummers, which are keeping me on the run to re-fill their feeders with nectar water.   Well, what a small price for so much lively entertainment.

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Cliff Swallows of the Great Basin

The Social Birds of Summer

Anyone fortunate enough to live near a colony of Cliff Swallows in the summer time is in for some fascinating entertainment. 

 

 The gregarious cliff swallows dart around catching insects in mid-air while making their "twittering" call as they fly back and forth from the nests. 

These social bird's nests are made from mud and saliva and can number in the thousands, space permitting. 

Any structure near a water source with an eve or overhang on cliffs, buildings or bridges may be chosen as nesting sites for the Petrochelidon cliff-nesting swallows.

  And the best part is, the swallows do return to the same location each year. 

A colorful cliff swallow is just about ready to fly off for more mud in the construction of its gourd-shaped nest.

The swallows stay over the summer to breed and raise their young, but will depart for winter migration around Labor Day.

With my Nikon and tripod, my goal is to recreate the scene as it appears in nature, to preserve in a photographic image the awesome, yet simplistic beauty of the scene that waits around a bend or over a hill. Sometimes it's a colorful landscape, and many times I'm allowed in the presence of the numerous creatures that adapt to life in the wild. 

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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A Pyrotechnics Celebration for the Fourth of July

A Salute to Independence Day 

Independence Day is my favorite holiday and I will always remember the celebrations where the entire community turned out for BBQ and the thrill of fireworks choreographed to the sounds of patriotic music.  When I was a drummer in my high school band, I had the honor of marching in the Fourth of July parade while playing the music of John Philip Sousa.    

  

As a salute to our Independence Day, I have choreographed a pyrotechnic slide show from the Great Basin Desert community of Hawthorne, Nevada set to the music of  my favorite John Philip Sousa's March, "The Stars and Stripes Forever".

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAdZAtclHdU

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Fourth of July

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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