Happy Saturday!

I have several images for you today.  Yesterday I drove to Maquoketa to have lunch with a Friend that I haven’t seen in some time.  After lunch and on my way out-of-town I stopped by the “duck pond” because I saw a Great White Egret sitting at the marsh and I cannot pass up a chance to photograph them.  It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze (very windy at times) and low humidity.

Since I didn’t have a suit on I decided to explore the wild prairie grass area and look for butterflies.  I am pleased with the image above and some of the other images I was able to capture.

I rarely can pass up wild flowers.  It was difficult to capture images of anything that was nailed down because the breeze was blowing things around pretty good and it was difficult for the camera to lock on focus.

This Common Buckeye for example is a little softer than I like, because he was on some flowers that were really being tossed around by the wind.  My lens would drop focus and then reacquire it.  I have my camera set up so that if it does not focus I cannot take the shot.  I don’t want a bunch of completely blurry images but even on this setting there are some less than sharp images that get taken.

This was the last image I captured.  As I was walking deeper into the grass area I saw the unmistakable movement of a snake slithering into the tall grass.  Probably just a small Garter snake but a snake non the less.  I’m the first to admit that I have a snake phobia (i.e. an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. Common phobias are a snake phobia.)  So yes my friends can tell me all they want to that there is nothing to be fearful of, but a phobia is a phobia and I’ve had it all my life.  😦

So it was a hasty retreat to the car and back to Dubuque.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.