Experiencing bio-diversity with photography.

One of the things that I am getting a better and better respect for is just how many different animals, plant, fish, bird and insects there are in a small urban area.  And sometimes, you can see it many times, and never even notice until you take a good picture and are able slow down and look at it!

A few days ago, I was watching some gulls, waiting for an Osprey to hopefully come by for a supper snack.  We had seen an Osprey hunting here a week ago so I had high hopes.  I noticed some of the gulls did not look like gulls to me...Then I saw one that looked a little bigger body, and a little greyer.  That caught my eye and I was hoping he would hunt up a fish in front of me...but he landed on the far shoreline..and was not acting like a Gull at all..more like a Heron!

I did not get a great look, since he was at least 150 meters (500 feet) away (yes, I checked!).  But when I got home, with the hints based on the way he moved, Dawne and I came to the conclusion it was a Black Crowned Night Heron.  I had barely heard of these, but by paying attention to the world around me, I saw one..and went back the next day and saw him again.

While I was waiting there I saw one of the most finely delicately colored butterfly.

 I was musing over this and decided to bring my camera to work and go for what our receptionist calls "One of my walkies" in the back 40.  I managed to capture a lurking Leopard frog, who was one of about 10 I saw, including some big and some smaller than I have ever seen.

And how about this tiny moth.  That is a regular blade of grass he is barely overhanging

Or these mating Dragonflies.

These were tiny leopard frogs.

This Heron caught my eye on the way home..

 While tracking the Great Blue Heron for other shots, I noticed one of the ever present "Gulls" was acting different and looked different too..

 It was of course a Common Tern, not a Gull.  But I had always missed noticing the different.

I had also recently learned about Killdeer...



Then I saw a Green Heron, which I had never seen before either.

I even saw a painted turtle peeking it's head out of the lake..

So in a very eclectic 2 days, I saw over a dozen different creatures right in my own backyard and surrounding neighborhood.  If you open your eyes, it is amazing how much there is there!
Then today, walking in front of the office, I noticed something else I had never seen before..

Every day opens new doors to the world!!