Wait for Tomorrow

I can't help myself. I try to put another image on the blog, perhaps one of my 1,200 photos that I took in the Everglades, or the hundreds of flower photos that I took recently at Planting Fields' greenhouses, or my beautiful Scotland images, or for heavens sake my Adirondack Mt photos. But no, I am consumed with the owls and unfortunately you will have to suffer through this with me. I have a feeling it is going to end soon.

Tomorrow has been left alone on this branch to get used to the idea. His wings are enourmous and so is his hesitation to fly. He looks around, flaps a bit, scratches, opens his beak with hopeful yearnings for food and mom. This morning we watched him alone on his branch, mom and dad no where to be seen.

we all need support

Now it's just mom and Tomorrow. I watched them together on this limb for over an hour. Mom is nurturing and supportive. She on occasion jumps onto another limb, I'm sure to teach her youngest how to do it. When they are on the same limb the little one leans into mom as if to get extra support. She is just not quite ready for the big leap. Below is an image of mom feeding a meal to Tomorrow. She rips the meat into small pieces and feeds it to her. I think it is a squirrel.

The inevitable

When I returned from the Everglades I went to check on our resident owlets. There was the nest with both Today and Tomorrow still sitting there. The nest was stripped and part of it was hanging down. They barely had anything left of it. You could see all of them now. Mom, (Yesterday), and her two little ones are having a last moment altogether. Within hours Today, who's wings are on the ready, left the nest to go out on his own. Frankly I'm conflicted about the whole thing. I'm excited for Today's journey into the world yet sad to see him go.

A big brother's goodbye......

The Everglades

I've been in the Everglades for 6 days and have had no access to blogging. What better way to get a sense of where I've been than the image of this awesome alligator. Can't wait to share the wonders of the glades. It was fabulous and I look forward to sharing it with you. 

wide eyed

This was just a little freaky. I thought the owlets had grown strangely wide between the eyes, some weird stage of growing up. 

Then the mystery was solved as Today moved further apart from Tomorrow.

Dad is exhausted, yawn.....

All about Today

When I arrived this morning there was only one owlet in the nest and no parent to be found, I looked everywhere, and of course began to worry. I'm pretty good at that. I think this little guy may have just finished his breakfast as you can see a bit of white feather on his nose. Then out of nowhere came mom flying in to resume her duties, whew, I was relieved. I think Tomorrow was relieved as well.

I later noticed that Today had been sleeping and stretched his wings, another sigh of relief for me. You'd think I was the parent for all of the fuss I created in my head!

Here is dad busy pruning, and below the family settles in for the day.

best friends

Tully and Shamus are best friends. Shamus is a dog, althought we think he may be part Bunny. He loves to run and yes he loves to jump, he just can't help himself. Life is just too much fun, especially when Tully comes to play. These two have won our best in show....

camellia

This camellia is beautiful. It is a bit shy, hiding behind that shiny green leaf, just showing enough to get my attention. Rasberry tinted cream and pettycoat layers...

a family

This is not going to be easy to see, it certainly is not a good photograph, technically speaking. But I am so totally struck by something here.
 Mom on the left, hidden behind the branches, solid and dependable, she hasn't moved since I've been back from NY. Now we have the two little ones. I think they are brothers.... Big brother is seen testing his wings, can you believe the span! The little one has not moved, just peaks out from the top of the nest to see what is around in his small world. He has no need to test his wings, he plans on staying put, all cozy and safe.
Yesterday,Today and Tomorrow.  I feel that mom is yesterday, she has created them and has done a great job, big brother is today, full of confidence and ability, and the little one is tomorrow, where all our hopes and worries reside side by side. So I think I'll call the owlets Today and Tomorrow.

And of course lets not forget dad, he is exhausted because he's feeding this clan. Here he is asleep in a near by tree.

owlets

Just before the sun came up this family was busy in and around the nest. Can you see the three of them? The owlets of course remained tucked in but mom was moving around, never going more than a limbs length away from her babies.

These two adorables have already one my heart this valentines day...

Once the sun came up and the light became golden the owlets decided to call it a day and went to sleep. All that was left for me was a vision of piled, light feathery fluff.

gentleness

The skies are true blue and the moon is full and these pink camillias are living happily at Planting Fields, all tucked in at the greenhouse. The petals feel like velvet and they are unfolding all the tomorrows....

winged flight

Is life a runway or a landing strip. I'm off to NY to get my wings clipped and then sewn back in a different pattern. I expect the world will still look the same to me....

underfoot

I haven't been spending enough time underfoot, my head has been in the clouds...

this morning

This little blue heron had to work very hard to catch, hang on to, and eat this fish from the pond. He was chased by an egret that just wouldn't give up. Back and forth across the pond the little blue evaded the egret. He finally flew into the tree where he ate the entire fish while the egret looked on.

If you look very closely you will see the bit of tail in his beak and his thick neck. Breakfast accomplished!

Zoo Beauty

This African Crane loved me.   I have to say he stopped me in my tracks. We spent 20 minutes having a discussion. I had never seen an African Crane and I was blown away by his fanciness. He was of course behind a fence and I tried to capture  his image between the openings of the wire. After a fashion we began to actually connect, and I was able to convince him to change location, as you would guess I wanted better light. He agreed and we had photo shoot session. 

morning owl light

I do believe that I live in paradise, between the bobcats, last nights howling coyotes, and this mornings view of the parent owl, I am in heaven. This image was taken just at sunrise with the golden light underneath his belly. He watched me while he flew a few times to different perches.

ISO 500
1/320 sec
f5.6
400mm prime lens

The other parent is on the nest which is extremely well hidden at the very top of the tree. I have noticed that she is sitting higher in the nest than she was last week. I can't wait for the arrival of the owlets.

ISO 500

1/100 sec

f/5.6

400mm prime lens