Pretty Cold for Pretty Pictures

What a day for nature photography! Constant cold wind with occasional rain and sleet mixed with moments of brisk sunshine…just what kind of weather were we going to have today? Uncomfortable or not, I ventured out to explore after a day-long online training.

Even with the overcast sky I was able to find some wildflowers suitable for photographing. I will begin with the most plentiful species - bloodroots.

None of the bloodroot blossoms were open, but they still made for pleasing images. As I photographed the wild plants, I invested much of my efforts into out-of-focus framing with only key portions of the blossoms in focus. I did my best to make the blur increasingly strong. My plan seemed to work.

I found a few Virginia bluebells too, but only this one was almost mature enough for photos.

I will also share an image of a solitary Siberian squill found near the bloodroot. The Siberian squill is a non-native plant.

To share something in focus and feathered I will feature this killdeer. I did not look too far, but this bird appeared to have claimed a nest area. Maybe there are eggs already?

I want to add this bit of plant drama. Notice how an iris blade is growing up through one of last year’s leaves. It will be interesting to see which dominates - new growth or old growth.