Rural Explorations...The Saga continues ! (brought back to life by everyone)

@ Demonic, soon

But, I need to finish last weeks trip...

After the bridge I found this cool old chimney, built out of what else ? (indian love stone )

The cow seemed nervous, I was across the road from her and could see she had a calf....(cows can get mean with a calf by there side)

I just wanted a pic of the chimney !



When I looked to see if I got a good pic I saw a little black spot that I didn't notice when I shot the pic. I decided to walk closer to see what it was....

Now I knew why she was so nervous, she had a new born



A little closer

Demonic ... thanks for letting us explore the cave your son visited.

Notech ... you have some great stories to go with your pics. Makes them much more fun to look at. Maybe now instead of Treetech (which I believe TK coined), you can become BabyFarmAnimalTech.

Ok, now for the pics. Last April I was in southern California. Spent some time in the Desert at Anza Borrego State Park. This park is huge. Bigger han the state of Rhode Island. I wish I had brought the Wrangler with me, cause it has over 500 miles of off-road trails. I had to settle for hiking and sightseeing from paved roads. The first pic is just a view from an overlook, the other two are of a male Costa's Hummingbird, which, were quite plentiful in the area.

Horni, I've never been that far south. But I have been to Death Valley (no pics) and alot of places around that area

I've always had a 4X4 (it's all I drive) and it comes in handy for exploring that's for sure

I think I will ad a hummingbird pic or two that I took in my yard (yes I'm rural)

Now back to my tour.

Before the cow pic the rock wall pic mentions a cinder cone (post 141) this is on the other side of that cone roughly 20 mi. so. east. I was past the

first bridge looking for the next....



From the cinder cone it's only about 7 mi. to the creek (TK this is a great place to trout fish)

upcreek

in front of me

Walking down to the bridge...

And the blackberries aren't quite ripe yet, one was I ate it yum.....

Well it looks like this thread is dead, thank you all who viewed/rated/posted your own, and got me a 30 day sponsorship

(I'm just going to keep posting and finish this sucker off)

The Bridge....well where the creek goes under it



When I got back to the road I found a pic to go with AZDrat's reptiles ...



It's a Skink for those who don't know their lizards !

He stayed long enough for one more pic

Please feel free to post your own Rural Exploration photos here

Nice Skink pics Notech, and congrats on your sponsorship win. I have some pics of lizards from when I was in California, but haven't posted them cause I had no clue what they were ... probably Skinks.

Here's a pic of Bald Eagle nest (same as the one I posted earlier at sunset). It's from Sherburne NWR in central Minnesota. I was there about a week or two ago. Lots of American White Pelicans were in the refuge. I must have seen 3 to four hundred that day. Also, a couple more pics of Bald Eagles. One is a juvenille. They don't get their white heads and tails until they become adults, at about 4 or 5 years old.

notech - Flowing water such as these streams have a hypnotic effect. Especially when running over Indian love stones.

hornithologist - how far away are you when you take these marvelous bird images?

Horni , thanks

Post those pics of the lizards and I'll try to ID them for you

Also I knew that about the Bald Eagles ! We have a few families here too. Those are awesome pics of them, tell us more

Katje, glad you appreciate the humor (and I'm still sorry it was you that got bit )


On with the trek....

This was 10 or so miles beyond the creek to the east, (by now I'm lost, most of the old roads don't go through anymore).

I saw this cool rock outcropping, looked like a cave in it !



I think it is....And I'm reasonably sure IT was a home to the natives years ago. We have many caves here that were used before the white man came to this area. I hope to investigate it more later

In the first pic of the outcropping I think the white streak is a waterfall. What do you think ?




I drove about 50 yards past where I was parked to take those pics and looked to the left and saw this.

Katje ... it varies, but obviously, the closer the better. For the adult Bald Eagle, probably 20 meters away. The juvenille, probably 40 meters. One was taken with a 15x optical zoom, other was taken with a zoom lens at 300mm. If you have a high number of megapixels on your camera and good lighting, you can crop the image so the subject appears to be closer.

Notech ... here are the lizards. They were both small, probably less than 6 inches. To me, they look like 2 separate species, but I could be wrong. Both were in southern California.

As for the third pic, just a view of the California coastline. Taken from Point Mugu State Park, located in the Santa Monica Mountains. That's the Pacific Coast HWY (hwy 1) you can see. I think that road is probably the coolest drive in the United States. From what I've seen of it, the views are best in northern California.

They are the same lizard . We call them "Blue Bellies" ! The first is a female, the next is a male


The coast Hwy1 is awesome I've driven it from Pismo Beach to Coos Bay Oregon

Lookin good, nodawg.

Quote:

Originally posted by hornithologist

Katje ... it varies, but obviously, the closer the better. For the adult Bald Eagle, probably 20 meters away. The juvenille, probably 40 meters. One was taken with a 15x optical zoom, other was taken with a zoom lens at 300mm. If you have a high number of megapixels on your camera and good lighting, you can crop the image so the subject appears to be closer.

Thanks for your reply!

I was curious to know how close you could get to the subject.

My Dad has film cameras with different lenses. He can take pictures from far away.

I was not bitten by the bug, my only camera is also my phone.

Quote:

Originally posted by katje

Thanks for your reply!


I was not bitten by the bug, my only camera is also my phone.

SO.......

If you can take pics on your phone post them here !

(step outside and click a pic)

There was no requirement that the photos had to be Hi-Q, just a fun share!

LOOK, I took this for the Kitten....

It should be the frown from a grasshoppers butt,





(even point and shoot has so issues





(thanks Kitten for being a part of my first semi successful thread)

Last weekend I was in western Minnesota, not too far from Fargo, ND. Checked out a couple of different state parks, Maplewood and Buffalo River.

First pic, a sunset obviously



Next, a Great Blue Heron I drove by. A quick stop and snap shot



Here is a Turkey Vulture me and the wife found snacking on a dead, small mammal. It was early morning, still fairly chilly, and they have trouble getting airborne until they have warmed up a bit. So I was able to walk up pretty close before it awkwardly got up and flew to a nearby tree.



Finally, a Plains Garter Snake. The little bastard lunged at me on the hiking trail. I've never had a garter snake do that before. Anyway, he settled down and let me get close.

Tonight I start with one for Katje

A tribute to dead cats everywhere




(just needed a place to put this)

No mean thoughts intended

Quote:

Originally posted by hornithologist

Last weekend I was in western Minnesota, not too far from Fargo, ND. Checked out a couple of different state parks, Maplewood and Buffalo River.

First pic, a sunset obviously

[ Link ]

Next, a Great Blue Heron I drove by. A quick stop and snap shot

[ Link ]

Here is a Turkey Vulture me and the wife found snacking on a dead, small mammal. It was early morning, still fairly chilly, and they have trouble getting airborne until they have warmed up a bit. So I was able to walk up pretty close before it awkwardly got up and flew to a nearby tree.

[ Link ]

Finally, a Plains Garter Snake. The little bastard lunged at me on the hiking trail. I've never had a garter snake do that before. Anyway, he settled down and let me get close.

[ Link ]

Awesome

In reply, I finally found a snake in the road (not my rattlesnake) just a gophersnake. It is long though !



Right after this pic I decided that I should have grabbed my flashlight (Honda's gonna chuckle)'cause I lost that

Sucker in the dark, I'm glad that it wasn't a rattler

I found it again...



Then lost it I struck it out to find it again ( @ horni, it didn't strike at me), they do you know !

(dammit if I would have only grabbed my light)....

Then I found it leaving the road

Sorry that I haven't added anything lately, I've been busy keeping my shop alive !

Here is a sunset pic I took just before I found the snake



More pics are coming in the next few days