Rocking Mocking Bird

I remember that I still have a tell to tale about the junior Mourning Dove. In the meanwhile, though, this young Mocking Bird has started chirping -- more like squeaking,  really-- every time that mom slows down on the steady stream of worms she's been ferrying in.   He needs to get big quick because the nest is sitting on the leaf of a palm tree.  The windy weather we've been having has probably given him a queasy feeling quite often.
--steve buser

I hope I can fly

The grandkids were in town this weekend.  Need I say more? Sullivan gets a little wobbly on the slide after his shoe sticks and flies off.
--steve buser

Couriers careen through concrete canyon

This was the scene a few weeks back at the Houston Marathon.  The runners, whom normally look larger than life as they slap past, seem dwarfed here.  This concrete canyon was near the finish line.
--steve buser

Morning (Mourning) dove goes roque

A

A morning full of drama at our house.  This junior morning dove was wandering slowly around the day lilies.  I am pretty sure she came from a nest in the bush at the corner of the house in the backyard.  A pair of pretty amorous mourning doves always fly out of that bush when I come round the house. 


I suspect they were not aware of this little gal getting her walking shoes on and venturing out on her own.

Stay tune for more of the Mourning Dove drama.


--steve buser

Spring brandishes fuschias, citrons

You can change the addage -- this year, it's April showers bring April flowers.  After a long, cold winter, the flowers seem even more eager than ever to volcano into an exclamation of color.


--steve buser

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly survivor

This Tiger Swallowtail looks to have had a close call fending off a hungry predator, perhaps a bird.  His beautiful tail is tatters.  Nonetheless lives on in his flower-hopping life. It's a cruel world out there, and it's a beautiful, happy world.  Juxtaposed.
--steve buser

Bee busy

When your job is to drink nectar all day, how bad can life bee?
Bees do this to me a lot.  I was taking a picture of the flower, but the bee decided that he couldn't wait. These azaleas are a tough task for the bee.  He has to climb down inside the flower to get his meal -- it makes all that pollen shake all over him.
--steve buser

Spinning wheel, spinning round

If this gives you a sense of vertigo, it was meant to. You slide around the track going totaly topsy-turvy and the top and multiple G's at the bottom.  If that wasn't fun enough, you stop at the very top and do the whole fun things backwards.   You get to pay for this privilege.  I think I am still spinning from watching it long enough to get a in-focus shot.
The South Texas State Fair.   But then, you probably have an event with that spins this much fun in your neighborhood, too.
--steve buser

South Texas State Fair, Texas, Beaumont

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Fair days, fun days

Linda and I were at the South Texas State Fair this weekend in Beaumont.  I observed that a lot of the fun seemed to be the spinning, twisting, grinding, yelling, 10+ G's, that I used to enjoy when it would not put my body into a week of intense pain.  Those were the days.  Or, I guess I should say THESE are the days, just not for me.
--steve buser

State Fair, Beaumont, Texas

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Green Heron practices hunting skills

It a small lake at the Aboretum in Austin.  I suppose that the competition makes  a bird like this green heron have to travel some days to find food. Nonetheless, he was patient, practicing all of his hunting skills -- the bank-side waiting, the shallow water-wading, the stealthy, slumped low warrior, the tree branch sniper and more.
--steve buser

Green Heron, Austin, Texas

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Roseate Spoonbill -- grooming time

In a crowded neighborhood like the one this Roseate Spoonbill lives in (Shangra La, Orange, TX) once you have the kids down for a nap, it's time to stay quiet.  Many like to do self grooming during the kids's name time.  If your a Spoonbill, that's a little harder than it sounds.
--steve buser

Roseate Spoonbill, Texas

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Pines busy preparing for the summer

More evidence of Spring.   The pine trees are budding -- getting ready for mating and this year's crop of pine cones.
-- Steve Buser

Pine tree, pine cone

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Flower springs out

Digging in God's rich soil this weekend.  Linda looked over and pointed it out.  The first flower after what has been a brutal winter.  It came suddenly springing out this week.


Other signs -- waves of ducks flying high over head -- yesterday they were spaced out about 15 minutes apart.


Robins -- a pack of them flitting through the woods scavenging -- on the road out of our subdivision.


Sprigs, starting to appear.  Shoots, shooting up.


Spring.
--steve buser

Spring, flowers

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Ring billed gull -- whispering wind

I fly, held up by the wind.  Feeling it's gentleness. Sensitive to the minute differences above and below my wings. It whispers to me.  The sky is my domain.
A ring-bill gull at the river front in Port Neches
--steve buser

Ring Billed Gull, Port Neches, Texas

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Egret: instant fish dinner

Splash.  It was sudden and explosive.  In less that the blink of the eye, the egret sliced the dark soupy waters with his beak and neck to grab some unsuspecting fish.  

Hunting time, was suddenly meal time.
--steve buser

Egret, Birds

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Shoot for the star

Linda and I had the grandchildren this weekend.  This was the drop-off-- we met our daughter Vicky in Jennings, LA,  to pass the grandkids over.  Sullivan took the time to show his climbing skills at the park on the Interstate.

He was about halfway down when I decided to take a shot.   Always the kind of drama that he is,  and letting no good opportunity for showmanship go,  he climbed back to the top and told "okay,  now shoot."

The climbing piece resembles a derrick.  Makes sense, sense it is the Oil and Gas Park, in the town that since 1901 has claimed the moniker of "Cradle of Louisiana Oil."
--steve buser

Jennings, Louisiana, kids

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Silent sentry

 

This Cooper's Hawk flew across the yard and took up sentry on a fence post in the back yard this morning.  I don't think he had the best of intentions.  I am sure he was attracted by the large number of sparrows that have been coming around the bird feeder. This morning, he was out of luck -- they had finished off the bird seed the night before.  The sparrows, that beautiful blue jay and that handsome pair of cardinals that always come around were searching for food elsewhere.  
The drama continues.

--steve buser

Cooper's Hawk, Beaumont, Texas, birds

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Washing the sky's belly: GUSHER!

Three actors that portray the workers at the original Spindletop gusher watch the modern re-creation blow into the sky.  Of course, today at the Beaumont Gladys City Museum, it is water washing the sky's belly.  The original spewed oil that was as valuable as it was messy.
--steve buser

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Boom the moon

I will confess that the moon you see is superimposed.  The moon in this shot was way over exposed, so I borrowed one from another shot of mine. 


Still, the juxtaposing, you have to admit, brings up lots of antithesis -- the whisperless quiet of the moon; the fireworks booming through the smoking, sulphur-smelling sky.  The moon, peaceful, tranquil.  The firework, exploding, like the fireball of a supernova.   The steady, steely brightness of the moon.  The short-lived, damn-the-torpedoes life of the firework.

The firmament tolerates a variety of behaviors.
--steve buser

Fireworks, Moon, Texas

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Houston : a bigger bang

I guess maybe I just needed some excitement today, because I was drawn to this picture from awhile back in Houston.  We were sitting out on the street by our son, Charlie's place and these big boomers were shaking out bones.   It was a hot July night, but we didn't wan to miss any of the excitement.
--steve buser

Fireworks, Houston

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Clever critter

This is one of the cleverest, wiliest little guys you have ever met. He added a lot of excitement to our visit to t the CampJunction in Beaumont.
--steve buser

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Sundown -- the passing nature over to the night.

It is that time of the night when the sun has slipped beyond the horizon, but still leaves its magical visage hanging in the waves of darkness that seep into the clouds, stealing their substance.  There are no sharp lines anymore, they exist only only in the firmness of the light. Now, the horizon is just a water coloring smearing upon itself. Soon the sun share no soul with the color-drained heavens. Reds will drift in the night sky as greyish ghosts, forgetting for one dreamy night their water-giving nature.
--steve buser

Sunset

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Still sunset

The stillness, quiet and whispering tones of a backyard sunset.
--steve buser

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River of light, ripples along the way

This was the upside down beach-of-a-sky sunset over Beaumont, Texas, a few days ago. Dark clouds upstaged by ripples catching the sunset light
--steve buser

sunset, texas

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Snow again? Maybe.....

They are talking about snow around here on Friday.  That reminds me of last year on December 10 when we were inundated with what was officially 3 inches of snow. 
That's the official line.  Around where we live, I was walking in that stuff and it was well over my ankles --  at least 4 or 5 inches.  Maybe we will have two snow events in the same decade.  Wonders never cease.
--steve buser

Snow, Beaumont, Texas

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Where in we meet porky Corky

Our friend Jenna is really into her FFA work for her school.  This year, she is raising a pig (last year was a goat).  We got a chance today to go by and meet porky Corky.  It was amazing, he already recognizes her and her voice.
--steve buser

pig, FFA, Beaumont, Texas

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Christmas brings out kids' imagination

I hope your Black Friday Christmas shopping went well and you came away with some sure-fire hits.  This scene from last year is of our grandson, Sullivan.  He couldn't wait to get home from the Christmas gift giving to see what excitement was in this box.   Some say that imagination is like trust, and love -- not visible to the human eye.   Those people haven't been to the Christmas gift exchanges that I have, filled with little kids and large imaginations -- both quite alive and easy to see.
--steve buser

Christmas, kids

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White Tiger -- intense stare

This is one of the white tigers at the Aquarium in downtown Houston.  Notice the stare -- he seemed to wonder around aimlessly, but his state was intense.
--steve buser

White Tiger, Houston, Texas

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Scraping the sky in downtown Houston

This was a misty cool day in downtown Houston.  Standing in front of the Aquarium, this capture shows the skyscrapers of downtown literally scraping the sky as they clouds come just a little too low not to get hooked.
--steve buser

Houston, Texas

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Dancing water, spinning dreams --Houston

Tucked in between these dancing waters and the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston earlier this year was the Ice on the Discovery Green Celebration.  I just discovered this flicker page with a couple thousand pictures of all the activities.
--steve buser

Houston, Discovery Green

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Pine Warbler

This Pine Warbler was among a flock that came flitting through a grove of pines and fruit trees in Terrell Park, Beaumont, TX.  I was shooting their one day, but brisk, stingy wind had just about convinced me to take my leave.   They were hard to shoot, because they stayed deep in the thicket.
--steve buser

Pine Warbler, Beaumont, Texas

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Pelican squadron buzzes Galveston beach

This is probably why a group of brown pelicans is often called a squadron.  They were cruising the beach in Galveston, Tx.   At this particular moment, though, the wind was being uncooperative.
--steve buser

Brown Pelicans, Galveston, TX

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