February 16, 2013

Mid-February Ruminations & Cogitations




This red-shouldered hawk was perched on a neighbor’s roof the other morning. I looked out my window, saw the bird, grabbed my camera, and skedaddled out the door. Thank goodness I was already dressed and not lollygagging around the house in my robe. (It would be a shame to needlessly frighten the surrounding populace.) We routinely see a pair of hawks flying around our area. I happened to catch this handsome fellow doing a little morning feather-fluffing, lifting its leg during a vigorous shake.

The first challenge topic has been announced over on A Personal Photo Challenge! Please scoot on over there, find out the details, and sign up!

I got an unexpected surprise a few days ago. Getty Images noticed some of my polar bear images in my Flickr portfolio, and they extended an invitation for commercial licensing through their stock photography program. I decided to take them up on their offer! What the heck, right?


Snowflakes are pelting down right now on the other side of my office window. Baby, it’s cold out there! In utter defiance, I’m dreaming of an early spring. The daffodils don’t lie, and we have several blooms that should make an appearance tomorrow in our flowerbeds! We spotted some blooming in our area on the 11th. That is the earliest I’ve ever seen them in East Tennessee.

I hope that signs of spring are coming alive in your area too!

15 comments:

  1. cute little shaker on the roof. :)

    i saw our first spring beauties in the yard this week - and i mowed part of the yard the week before as the green grass was coming in pretty thick. but then last night we hit freezing again. so not quite springtime, yet.

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  2. Oh I love Getty Images...hope that you're going to accept the invitation.

    Black and white, eh? Hmmm...will have to study up.

    No signs of spring here. At all. Nope.

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  3. Congratulations on the photos and love the one of the hawk; he looks like he needs a warm meal.

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  4. Awesome work. That hawk certainly got himself fluffed out. I love winter in the south. There will be plenty of hot days. But spring is so beautiful in East Tennessee, I can understand why you dream of it.

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  5. Yeah, You're pretty much going to be famous and I'm going to be able to say I knew you when. LOL!
    That hawk picture is so cool. We have hawks land on our property all the time but I am yet to capture a cool picture. We also have a bald eagle family that lives on the property in front of us and one day they were sitting on the fence by the road where we live and of course I had no camera. One of these days!!!

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  6. Love that photo!

    You really do amazing work.
    xoxo

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  7. Such good news with your polar bears. And your rooftop visitor, very cool.

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  8. Oh Donna! How Wonderful for you! You can tell them WE'VE been noticing your photos for Years!!!Hahaaaa.....'Bout time THEY Did!!
    And my favorite....the Bears!! CoolBeans Girl!
    Loving the hawk! He looks like he was out on an all nighter and needed a nice warm spot!Hahaaa... Gorgeous shot Donna!!
    Running over to the Challenge!
    Happy Sunday...
    hughugs

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  9. High fives, low fives, backwards fives, all of it. You're the cat's meow, girl, with this fabulous photography, and I'm SO PROUD of you!! Yay! I'm living vicariously through your photos and I'm happy for you. Good going.
    Love, Jackie

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  10. Nice shot of the hawk in mid fluff.
    Congratulations on the invitation. That is awesome.

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  11. Congrats on the invitation. You photos stand out, I'm not at all suprised.

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  12. curious - could you email me please - i want to ask ya about the favicon again ... what address do you need - i have my photobucket pic - do i use which one? there was a direct address. a IMG i think it was? but i recall you saying it could take forever to upload to google but it never did. any thoughts? here is the problem when i click email ya from your picture it won't go?! can't recall your last name ... thank you, thank you. ( :

    elizardbreathspeaks(@)gmail(.)com

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  13. Hi Donna, We been in Arkansas for a week --so I'm trying to catch back up with my blog friends. Hope you had a great week.

    Congrats on the Getty Images.... Hope it all works out. Your photos are the BEST.

    We also had a tiny bit of snow (dusting) --but it was gone the next day...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  14. No, no signs of spring here, sorry Donna..not for a loong while here in Australia!!
    ;-)
    Plenty more rain here at the moment....we are coming up to Autumn soon,
    ..that'll be much better than the summer we have just had, I hope.
    It has been either Hot HOT HOTTER, or WET WET WETTER....!!

    Great fun about your photos Donna, and I love the hawk. I had great difficulty trying to take a photo of a bird yesterday, one day I might have time to slow down enough to understand and learn about my camera. Another year, I think I need at the moment!

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  15. I love it!!! I've been trying to capture a good shot of our hawks for ages! The only one we've gotten so far was injured. :-(

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Marty, here! Donna loves comments, and I faithfully pass them on to her. Thank you so much for visiting!