Something different

The gardener of the family is away, so I took some pictures yesterday morning so she wouldn't miss all the spring flowers. I didn't intend to make a post out of them, and shooting flowers feels different from shooting zoo animals, but a couple are pretty good.

hellebore

primrose, I think

pussy willow

If the resolution is high enough, cropping can sometimes turn a lousy picture into a decent one. Here's the original:

meh

All the lower catkins were showing yellow pollen (Catkins? Pollen? I just now looked that up), so I had to point the camera up to get some gray ones. Shooting against the sky is ... I could come up with lots of excuses for this crummy photo. BUT I had focused on the center catkin, so what would happen if if I cropped down to that? It worked-out pretty well, although the stem that's in the way nearly ruins it.

daffodil (Trouble holding the camera straight, huh?)

I started the expedition inside at an eastern window, where amaryllises hang out.

Past its prime

Red

red panda (Columbus Zoo)

red-winged blackbird (Columbus Zoo)

red kangaroo (Columbus Zoo)

wild red squirrel (Minnesota Zoo)

redtail catfish (Toledo Zoo)

red spitting cobra (Toledo Zoo)

red-bellied piranha (Toledo Zoo)

Finches

Finches, or finch-like birds, all from the Toledo Zoo.

Gouldian finch

Gouldian finch

 

black-rumped waxbill

 

pin-tailed whydah (female)

pin-tailed whydah

double-barred finch (owl finch)

diamond firetail

diamond firetail