The Bald Eagle is back

The bald eagle came back this week to hang out at our osprey nest.  In the summer, the osprey share a nest with house swallows and European starlings.  Out of the corner of my eye, I think I saw the eagle shoo away some of the birds living in the nest.  But he must have gotten too busy eating breakfast to bother with the 7 or 8 birds that came back to visit their home.

The National Zoo Continued

The animals at the zoo with the most freedom and largest cages were the big cats.  There were lion cubs and tiger cubs and they were awesome to watch.  They were full of energy and played a lot, chewing on sticks, playing in the water and on the stairs.

 The male lion was in its own large pen and he paced back and forth every once in a while.  I was lucky enough to photograph him with with backlit bushes behind him.  He showed his teeth with a big yawn (below) and I heard him roar from a nearby location, but missed seeing it.

A visit to the National Zoo

On Saturday, we visited the Smithsonian National Zoo.  We haven't been there in years.  I haven't looked at all of the photos yet, but here are a few I liked so far.  It is challenging to get good photos, since most of the animals were indoors with cages and manmade walls.  Some of the exhibits even included trash, like tissue boxes and tooth paste boxes for the animals to use for play. (Small mammals)

                   Andean bear

               Reflected discus fish

           Roseate spoonbill

                       Seal

                Baby gorilla

 

Jousting at the 2014 St. Mary's County Fair

While enjoying the St.Mary's County Fair, we watched part of the jousting competition and chatted with Mikayla and her horse Tyke.  Jousting is the official state sport in Maryland.  During a competition, the jouster aims a long lance at 3 separate tiny rings spaced along a straight line, while riding a horse at a fairly rapid pace.  The rings have a little powder on them so they don't stick.  The powder makes a visible puff when the jouster is successful in spearing the ring.

The only thing missing were the medieval costumes.

To learn more about our unusual state sport, visit

http://marylandjousting.com

Here are a few photos of Mikayla and her horse Tyke.  I enlarged one of the photos so you could see Mikayla's expertise.

A competitor owned a blue eyed mare, that I couldn't resist photographing, even though the fence was in the way.

And by the way, Mikayla did very well.  Congratulations Mikayla!

Ridge Carnival

We visited the Ridge Carnival a few times.  I picked out some of my favorite shots, showing a variety of things you would see at a Fair.  I will share why I liked a particular photo beneath it.  Which ones do you like?

I liked the repeating patterns in this one.

A romantic moment while watching the kids on the teacup ride.

Good things come in threes.  The pink monkey breaks the pattern.

A child brings a smile to a game worker.

Interesting textures with the fence.

Lots of emotion here!

I liked the frame in a frame and big smiles.

Her hair shows the movement, even though this is a still image.  Lots of emotion!

Fun colors.  Since the smurf is bigger, it became the subject in an otherwise busy shot.

The St. Mary's County Fair is this week, September 18-21.  Maybe these photos will give you some ideas for photographing it or interest you enough to attend or enter a contest.  One of the photography categories in the photo contest run by the St. Mary's County Camera Club is last years County Fair.

Night blooming water lilies

Here are some more lovely tropical water lilies.  We waited till dusk to see these night blooming lilies.  Just beautiful!

           Tropical Nymphaea Antares

             Tropical Nymphaea Antares

Victoria or Queen victoria lily from the Amazon?

Water Lilies

Here's a few of the photos I took of a water lily display over the weekend.  The weather on Saturday was lovely and there was an overcast sky, perfect for flower photos.  

On sunny days, the shadows can be much more harsh, although I still like the photos because of the colors.

If you want to compare, you can look at some of my water lily photos on Flickr at 

www.flickr.com/photos/75311362@N08 in the flower album.  Here's an example.