David's Images of the Day Photoblog
It was really cold out last night with a clear sky. When I woke up at 05:30 both Venus and Jupiter were bright lights in the sky. A bit later, just before sunrise a few of the clouds near the horizon lit up.
Individual images in the slide-show can be viewed here.
The Northern Flicker (also known as a Yellow-shafted Flicker or Eastern Flicker) was back at my bird feeder but didn’t seem interested in the bird seed. One of my neighbors said it was working on a downed log while I was away in Florida. I need to get some more suet (beef fat) for the feeder for the woodpeckers. The flickers are high up in the pecking order at the feeder, and do not leave when a blue jay arrives.
Although it was cold this morning when I woke up, I noticed some colorful clouds developing just before sunrise. I went out with a Fuji X-T2 camera and a 8-16 mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens. I took a number of shots to create this dawn panorama.
I noticed a hairy spider while checking the hydroponic herb garden. I hope it goes after the tiny bugs nibbling on my basil leaves. I am not sure if the tiny bugs are nymph forms of the stink bug or something else. I also got a shot of the small pink flower on the cactus.
The herb plants (basil, thyme, parsley, dill, mint) in the hydroponic garden are all bigger. I added about 2 liters of water and 8 mL of the nutrient solution to each garden after returning from Florida. I noticed some small black dots on the bottom of the basil leaves. Looking closer through a macro lens, the dots are tiny bugs. One type looks like nymph versions of Stink Bugs and another type looks like Aphids.
