35 Comments

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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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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Oct 7Liked by Karen Davis

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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Oct 6Liked by Karen Davis

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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Oct 6Liked by Karen Davis

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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Oct 6Liked by Karen Davis

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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Oct 6Liked by Karen Davis

Lovely in every way!

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Thank you Patricia

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Oct 6Liked by Karen Davis

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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Oct 6Liked by Karen Davis

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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Oct 6Liked by Karen Davis

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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Love the ring-billed gull approaching the buoy. Perhaps you'll share what prompted you to begin this photographic journey of yours a decade ago? My, how far you have come?

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I will take that under advisement! I have to think how to write the story. I'd like to say it was this very well planned thing, like a set a goal and went and did it - but in perfect honesty, it just kind of happened. Thank you Clark!

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