41 Comments

Fun times for you during migration 👍❤️👏. Pelicans are definitely a cool bird… so amazing… I found them intriguing when we visited St Petersburg Florida a few years ago❤️😍…..praying for Florida during this hurricane 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏. My brother is on east side but did not evacuate ☹️☹️(Merritt Island)

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Thinking about David and hoping all is well.

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Thx…🙏🙏🙏

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Wow. A lot of these species we don't see here in the UK so it's amazing to see your photos and to feel your excitement come through in your words

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Thank you Janelle

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A delightful post, Karen. Your decision 10 ya to learn - bird names and photography - created this image in my mind. Deciding to cross the street to meet the new neighbor who just moved in. Then learning of common interests while developing new ones of your own.

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Thank you Gary - I love that image! Be safe through the upcoming storm.

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Thank you, Karen. Milton seems intent on making an impression in all the wrong ways.

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Will look forward to hearing you are safe.

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Thanks for asking, Karen. Tallahassee was spared all but a brief, mild windstorm before dawn today. My niece in Naples was far enough south of the “cone” that their home is in good repair. Tragically lives were lost, homes obliterated, and of course the poorest suffered the most. Certain oranges were ready to pick but their loss to strong winds. Migrant pickers lost in that way too. Economic inequity clearly illustrated. Heartbreaking.

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As always, this is a very special place in Substack land. Quiet, exuberant, happy, reflective, by turns, but always an abiding friendliness...

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Thank you Michael. I love that, an abiding friendliness. That's how I always want my home to be.

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I place a very high value on friendliness as a virtue, Karen. Old people sometimes get grouchy and crabby- I am anything but. Aging has made me more friendly!

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That was a wonderful capture on the pelicans! I love pelicans so much. They look like bombers. I haven’t caught them well enough on my camera yet, because I get too excited. I am never ready for their surprise appearances here.

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Thank you Dawn! I love pelicans too.

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So many of those challenging flight shots. I really don't know how you do it.

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Thank you Diane! I take a lot (hundreds and thousands) of shots...and I've done it every day for over a decade!

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Love all of it, including the woman you have become! It gives me hope!

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Thank you Linda

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As a fellow photographer I loved the photos. Especially the northern flicker, one of my favorite birds to photograph.

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Thank you Susan!

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Love this time of year and your images really capture the feeling well, Karen. That Northern Flicker wing wave and the Ring-billed Gull flying in to land on the buoy are amazing photos especially.

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Thank you Neil!

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Hurray! Cold front headed our way in Indiana. Not here yet. Temps should drop tomorrow.

Are those white pelicans? I never see them in the part of Florida I visit. Always the brown pelicans.

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Yay for the cold front coming your way! Yes, American White Pelicans - we don't get the brown ones here.

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Lovely in every way!

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Thank you Patricia

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Love how you are showing us the change of the season via birds!! Love that. So many terrific shots! And look at our comments, we all have different favorites. Pretty amazing to see what you are serving up! Quite like the flicker shot myself. But then look at how well you captured the size of that pelican! I can practically hear his engines! :-)

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Funny, I think this is really how I learned to love the change of seasons - from the birds! Thank you Sandy.

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I always, always love your photography. But this particular post stands out above, way above all the rest. Your last few paragraphs, brought tears.

You have learned how to fly.

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Thank you Lor

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I love all these photos, so beautiful. How did you learn to identify all the different birds?

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Thank you Karen. As Anne Lamott says, "bird by bird". I learned by taking photos and then looking them up or asking my really good birder friend (a lot). There's a photo memory that comes up on Facebook every year and reminds me that I didn't know what a chickadee was at the beginning.

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Incredible flicker shot! The tern and egret are also caught at the just exactly perfect moment…

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Thank you Jim!

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Thanks for starting my day with beauty. Congratulations on noticing how you’ve changed. 💕

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Thank you Leah!

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