on the wing
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a little r&r ~ Huron River Watershed, Michigan
“and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”
― Ruskin BondFrom *master gallery
Mute Swan and the River ~ Cygnus olor ~ Huron River, Michigan
“The river is such a tranquil place, a place to sit and think of romance and the beauty of nature, to enjoy the elegance of swans and the chance of a glimpse of a kingfisher.” ~ Jane Wilson-Howarth
From *master gallery
Common Loon, liftoff ~ Gavia immer ~ Hancock Pond, Maine
"Come here, Norman. Hurry up. The loons! The loons! They're welcoming us back." ~ Katherine Hepburn, "On Golden Pond"
From *master gallery
Wild Laughter of the Loon ~ Hancock Pond, Maine
"No sadder sound salutes you than the clear, wild laughter of the loon." ~ Celia Thaxter
From *master gallery
"Spirit of the North" ~ Common Loon ~ Gavia immer ~ Hancock Pond, Maine
"In the middle of the night, as indeed each time that we lay on the shore of a lake, we heard the voice of the loon, loud and distinct, from far over the lake. It is a very wild sound, quite in keeping with the place and the circumstances of the traveler, and very unlike the voice of a bird. I could lie awake for hours listening to it, it is so thrilling." ~ Henry David Thoreau
From *master gallery
White Ibis ~ Eudocimus albus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words." ~ Ansel Adams
From *master gallery
Blue Jay ~ Cyanocitta cristata ~ Huron River Watershed, Michigan
"Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated." ~ Terry Tempest Williams
From *master gallery
American Flamingo ~ Phoenicopterus ruber
"Beauty lingers somewhere in the twilight, waiting for us to find it, never quite ready to have its picture taken." Jim Richardson, National Geographic Photographer
From *master gallery
Bald Eagle ~ Haliaeetus leucocephalus
"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." ~ W.B. Yeats
From *master gallery
The Royal Tern Trio ~ Thalasseus maximus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"To make living itself an art, that is the goal." ~ Henry Miller
From *master gallery
Royal Tern ~ Thalasseus maximus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce
From *master gallery
Northern Mockingbird ~ Mimus polyglottos ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." ~ Pablo Picasso
From *master gallery
Forster's Tern ~ Sterna forsteri ~ Southern Outer Banks
“So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings...” ~ J. M. Barrie
From *master gallery
Double-crested Cormorant ~ Phalacrocorax auritus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused." ~ unknown
From *master gallery
Tree Swallow ~ Tachycineta bicolor ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy." ~ unknown
From *master gallery
Pileated Woodpecker ~ Dryocopus pileatus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Stories never really end... even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories alway go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page." ~ Cornelia Funke
From *master gallery
sanderlings snoozing ~ Calidris alba ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Poetry: the power to persuade that vulnerable part of our consciousness of its rightness in spite of wrongness all around." ~ Seamus Heaney
From *master gallery
Forster's Tern ~ Sterna forsteri ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ~ I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." ~ Robert Frost
From *master gallery
Forster's Tern ~ Sterna forsteri ~ Southern Outer Banks
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." ~ Lewis Carroll
From *master gallery
double-crested cormorant ~ Southern Outer Banks
"the earth has music for those who listen." ~ Shakespeare
From *master gallery
Double-crested Cormorant ~ Phalacrocorax auritus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"the meaning of life is to find your gift. the purpose of life is to give it away." ~ William Shakespeare
From *master gallery
Black-Crowned Night-Heron ~ Nycticorax nycticorax ~ Southern Outer Banks
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ~ A. A. Milne
From *master gallery
Bonaparte's Gull (adult in winter plumage) ~ Chroicocephalus philadelphia ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion." ~ Martha Graham
From *master gallery
Double-crested Cormorant ~ Phalacrocorax auritus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim." ~ Tyler Knott Gregson
It's not what you look at that mattersit's what you see. Henry David Thoreau
From *master gallery
Great Egret ~ Ardea alba ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance." ~ Gibran
From *master gallery
Tricolored Heron (formerly, Louisiana Heron) ~ Egretta tricolor ~ Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge, Outer Banks
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
From *master gallery
flying White Ibis ~ Eudocimus albus ~ Southern Outer Banks
"I swear to you, there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell." ~ Walt Whitman
From *master gallery
American Avocets, breeding plumage ~ Recurvirostra americana~ Great Lakes
"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." ~ Socrates
From *master gallery
American Avocets, breeding plumage ~ Recurvirostra americana ~ Lake Michigan
“I'm not telling you it's going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.” ~ Art Williams
From *master gallery
Brown Pelican ~ Pelecanus occidentalis ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Live in the sunshine. Swim the sea. Drink the wild air." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
From *master gallery
elegant Great Egret ~ Ardea alba ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and the shadows will fall behind you." ~ Walt Whitman
elegant Great EgretArdea albaOuter Banks
From *master gallery
Sanderling ~ Calidris alba ~ Old Saugatuck, Michigan
"In order to see birds, it is necessary to become part of the silence." ~ Robert Lind
From *master gallery
Blue Jay by the river ~ Cyanocitta cristata ~ Huron River Watershed
"You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants." ~ Stephen King
Cyanocitta cristatabirdBlue Jayriver
From *master gallery
Cedar Waxwing ~ Bombycilla cedrorum ~ Southern Outer Banks
A ogni uccello il suo nido è bello." ~ Unknown
Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorumNorth CarolinaFort MaconAtlantic OceanBogue BanksCrystal CoastbirdNikon D7100Southern Outer BanksAFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR II
From *master gallery
ring-billed gull ~ Larus delawarensis ~ Southern Outer Banks
"Make your own magic -- life's too short not to fill it with everything that makes you smile." ~ Unknown
AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IINikon D7100birdringbilled gullLarus delawarensisAtlantic OceanCrystal CoastPine Knoll ShoresBogue BanksNorth Carolinabirdinflight
From *master gallery
Hooded Merganser ~ Lophodytes cucullatus ~ Huron River
"When your spirit cries for peace, come to a world of canyons deep in an old land; feel the exultation of high plateaus, the strength of moving waters, the simplicity of sand and grass, and the silence of growth." ~ August Fruge
Hooded MerganserNikon D7100Huron RiverMichiganbirdLophodytes cucullatusAFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIwaterfowlduckcrested
From *master gallery
Brown Pelican ~ Pelecanus occidentalis ~ Southern Outer Banks
"It's a new canvas and I am painting wide and free, remembering what I was then, am now, and ought to be." ~ Alice Boley
birdNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IINorth CarolinaPine Knoll ShoresBogue BanksCrystal CoastAtlantic OceanbirdinflightBrown PelicanPelicans occidentals
From *master gallery
American Robin, Juvenile ~ Turdus migratorius ~ Huron River Watershed
"In one of the stars I shall be living, in one of them, I shall be laughing. And so it will be, as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
American RobinrobinTurdus migratorsNikon D7100juvenileMichiganbirdperching birdsongbirdmigratorythrushreddish orange breaststate bird of MichiganConnecticutWisconsinamong first birds to sing at dawnsymbol of springAFS Nikkor 70 200mm f2.8G ED VR III
From *master gallery
American Herring Gull ~ Larus argentatus ~ Lake Michigan
"Do what makes you happy. Look upon what gives you joy. Listen to what lifts your spirit. Speak to those who warm your heart. Surround yourself with sights and sounds and people who make you smile." ~ Unknown
birdOld SaugatuckLake Michigan inflightAmerican Herring GullLarus argentatusNikon D7100gull
From *master gallery
on the wing ~ Huron River Watershed, Michigan
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” ~ George Eliot
on the wingCanada GeeseBranta condensesHuron RiverMichiganNikon D7100birdinflightAFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIchallenge
From *master gallery
Red-tailed Hawk ~ Buteo jamaicensis ~ Huron River Watershed, Michigan
"Tashunka Witko, better known as Crazy Horse, had a vision of a red-tailed hawk at Sylvan Lake, South Dakota. In his vision he saw himself riding a spirit horse, flying through a storm, as the hawk flew above him, shrieking. When he awoke, a red-tailed hawk was perched near his horse." ~ Michael R. Burch
redtailed hawkraptorMichiganbirdHuron River WatershedNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIbird of preyButeo jamaicensis
From *master gallery
American Avocets, breeding plumage ~ Recurvirostra americana ~ Lake Michigan
"Everything you have in this world is only borrowed for a short time." ~ Welsh Proverb
American AvocetRecurvirostra americanaNikon D7100Continental United StatesbirdsSouth HavenMichiganLake MichiganelegantAFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIshorebirdsbirdbeach
From *master gallery
Downy, by the River ~ Picoides pubescens ~ Huron River, Michigan
"Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see." ~ C.S. Lewis
Picoides pubescensDowny WoodpeckerHuron RiverMichiganNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIwoodpeckerdownytreeclinging birdbird
From *master gallery
Song Sparrow ~ Melospiza melodia ~ Huron River Watershed, Michigan
"We don't remember days, we remember moments." ~ Cesare Pavese
Song SparrowsparrowMelospiza melodiaHuron River WatershedMichiganAFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IINikon D7100songbirdbird
From *master gallery
American Herring Gull ~ Larus argentatus smithsonianus ~ Lake Michigan
"If you want to know where your heart is, look to where your mind goes when it wanders." ~ Walt Whitman
gullLake MichiganOld SaugatuckContinental United StatesinflightbirdNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR II
From *master gallery
Sandhill Crane ~ Grus canadensis ~ Leonard Preserve, River Raisin Watershed, Michigan
“Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.” ~ Cornelia Funke
AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIsandhill cranecranegrus canadensisLeonard PreserveRiver Raisin WatershedMichiganlonglegged wader. nestingNikon D7100bird
From *master gallery
wood thrush ~ Hylocichia mustelina ~ Stinchfield Woods, Michigan
"'Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.'" ~ E.B. White
thrushhylocichia mustelinaStinchfield WoodsMichiganwood thrushNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIbird
From *master gallery
Brown-headed Cowbird ~ Molothrus ater ~ Huron River Watershed, Michigan
"Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might and, when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough." ~ Ernest Hemingway
brownheaded cowbirdMolothrus atercowbirdgallup parkhuron river watershedAFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIwatershedMichiganNikon D7100Continental United Statesbird
From *master gallery