365 Alternates

Here is the Chickweed pod forming.

Here the pod is opening up with mature seeds inside.

This is another view of the jonquils I took pictures of today. I originally planned to make this one my pick of the day, but after processing the other picture, I thought the composition was better, the focal point not so centered. Still, this doesn't matter sometimes, and maybe this is the nicer pick...what do you think?

This is the flower that fell over last year, forcing me to snip it and bring it inside for pictures! This year it was able to hold itself up and as a wonderful surprise, another one has popped up behind it! Hooray! :D

This morning I headed down to the mail box to drop off the outgoing mail, and I thought I'd get my pictures of the day too. As I walked away from our gate, I saw a bird on a fence post and stopped to take pictures. I realized that it was a male Spotted Towhee trying to impress a female with his fabulous courtship dance and song. What a show he put on! He bounced left and right, stuck his tail in the air and all the while, he sang his song of love! So wonderful to witness this!! I found a link to some Spotted Towhee sound files if you would like to hear their call: Spotted (Roufous) Towhee Songs

Munch, munch, munch! I couldn't see the progress as I watched, but the evidence was obvious with this missing chunk of leaf and the culprit caught in the act! :D

I was making my way through our lower forest when I noticed something on a Hound's Tongue plant's leaves. I almost squealed in delight when I found myself staring at this gorgeous caterpillar!! In fact, there were TWO! I don't know what kind of butterfly or moth this will become, but it's sure beautiful in this form! :)

One day I was crawling around in the grass looking very closely at everything as I moved around. It's amazing what you can see if you really get close to the ground! I noticed tiny flecks of shimmering white and looked closer before gasping in surprise. I was looking at the open seed pods from tiny Whitlow Grass flowers, and they had fallen away to show just the translucent inner surface where the seeds adhere to and then fall to the ground. I think they look a lot like "Money Plants"! :) It amazed me that I could actually see these little seeds, which are only about the size of the inside of the letter "e"! :D Below are pictures of a Whitlow Grass blossom and a seed pod! :)

Until I saw this bird eating in a "sitting" position, I thought the only birds that crouched down this way were emus and ostriches! What a surprise, and what fun to watch! Such gorgeous birds, aren't they?!

Alphabet Site: K is for Kudu!! :D Would you just LOOK at this magnificent creature?!! What HORNS it has! These are one of my favorite antelopes, and it was so nice to get a picture of both an adult and a juvenile during my visit to the zoo! From Wikipedia: The greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas, due to a declining habitat, deforestation and poaching. The greater kudu is one of two species commonly known as kudu, the other being the lesser kudu, Tragelaphus imberbis.

One of the nicest areas in the zoo is their huge African savannah/forest, where a number of large animals were kept, including giraffes, Kudu, ostriches, and others. Zebras were supposed to be there, but I didn't see any, which made me a very sad panda as I love them so! But I did get this wonderful picture of a very large giraffe with a young Kudu grazing in front of it! :)

I was so happy to get a picture of this gorgeous fellow. He was really not very happy that people were staring at him and he did glare at me. I didn't want to upset him, but I wanted his picture so badly, so I took a few pictures. Shortly after this image, he turned around and sat with his back facing the group of people staring at him. What a message that sent! New note: I found out that this fellow's name is Oscar Jonsey and he is a new father to a darling baby girl at the San Francisco Zoo! www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23692362/baby-gorilla-born-at-san-francisco-zoo

This beautiful gorilla was very happy and relaxed and sat near several others. They all seemed to be enjoying the warm day and this one looked at me from quite a distance away with curiosity in its eyes. What a joy to see these amazing animals!

Here's another picture from my trip to the zoo when I was down in San Francisco visiting my dad. There were several wonderful aviaries which you could walk into and get quite close to the birds if they chose to be near the viewing area. This pair of birds captivated for quite a while, with the one on the left so lovingly preening the one on the right. It was really sweet, and I also loved how unusual these birds looked. In fact, their name translates to their shape, "Hammer Head"! :) From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamerkop The Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta), also known as Hammerkop, Hammerkopf, Hammerhead, Hammerhead Stork, Umbrette, Umber Bird, Tufted Umber, or Anvilhead, is a medium-sized wading bird (56 cm long, weighing 470 g). The shape of its head with a curved bill and crest at the back is reminiscent of a hammer, hence its name. It ranges from Africa, Madagascar to Arabia, in wetlands of a wide variety, including estuaries, lakesides, fish pond, riverbanks and rocky coasts in Tanzania. The Hamerkop, which is a sedentary bird that often show local movements, is not globally threatened and is locally abundant in Africa and Madagascar.

Wow, would you just take a look at this bird?! Holy hairdo, Batman, that's one ugly bird! :D That poor thing must have fallen out of an Ugly Tree and hit every branch on the way down! WOW! But I also have to say, it's very cool-looking, don't you think?! The wonderful aviary I went inside had at least a dozen or more of these birds, and they were busy nesting and gathering sticks. I saw one completed nest with more in progress, very interesting to watch them building. So intent on their project, the birds weren't overly concerned about people, which I really enjoyed!

Doesn't this bird look like it's a dinosaur?! I just LOVE seeing birds with these primative bony growths! To me, they look like modern feathered dinosaurs! :) And the feathers are so lovely, I looked for some on the ground but sadly, I didn't find any. :(

What fun to see this magnificent male Mandrill baboon walking around! I was fascinated by this fellow and the females he was with, and so were countless other people...it wasn't easy to fight my way in to get pictures, but eventually I got my chance! My favorite picture is unfortunately a bit blurry, so I can't make it full size as we all want...what a shame it's not crystal clear, that grimace is just amazing and I was very lucky to capture this at all! Since I couldn't enlarge that one, I decided to make a collage of some of the pictures I got! :) Isn't he handsome! :)

I had such a fun time watching the penguins on their island! They swam in the water, played, preened their feathers, and sunbathed in absolute happiness! It was a joy to see them, and I just love how well this picture turned out!! :D