More flowers in the rain

This picture of an Orange Jewelweed show what the weather was like today. The other picture is a Common Sunflower(?).

Lock #61

No, these are not ancient Roman ruins. They are lock #61 on the old Erie Canal. They are 18feet wide x 110 feet long with a 10 foot drop. We were walking along the Current Erie Canal near Macedon, NY and decided to go have a look at the lock 61 park. As you can see it is a nice well maintained area,but it is quite well hidden.

In-the-soup

Sorry but no birds today. We went to the Rochester water supply. The frog-in-the-soup is in part of that supply. That particular pond was much thicker than the others.
I haven't taken the time to look up the name of this dragonfly, but I just like the picture as a work of art.
We are looking down on Honeoye Lake. On the horizon is Lake Ontario, visible on a clear day.

A little lunch for the twins beside the road.

More birds ...

I do not set out to take pictures of any particular subject or type of subject as a general rule. I do go places that I know will have a type of subject ie. landscapes, animals, flowers etc. However, most of these places have a variety of subjects that might show up at any given time.

In 2007 I made a bird book because I took a lot of bird pictures. Last year and up 'til recently this year, I haven't seen many birds to photograph, so today has been bountiful. Above is a Green Heron (Butorides virescens).

Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcon)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)

American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)

Butterfly and Thistle

Can't add anything to this.

Birds down in the swamp

Later that night ... Heard some booms and I realized they were fireworks not thunder. I just grabbed my camera and ran out on my front steps to take some pictures. I didn't have time for a tripod or long lens, but this is what I got. Not great, but kind neat never the less.
We were hiking through the swamp this morning and found a load of birds that I don't normally see. The guy above is a Baltimore Oriole.
When I first saw this guy I thought it was an Oriole, but on closer inspection I think it is a Barn Swallow from the color, but the tail isn't quit long enough. Don't know ...
As bird pictures go this is not much for id use, but I love the way the Common Yellowthroat is looking around the leaf at me.
Not sure what we have here. It might be a female Scarlet Tanager or it might be a Warbler.
Some how we disturbed this Blue Heron and he flew up with much squawking and circling until he finally left.
The female Northern Cardinal had something for lunch.

This mornings walk

I have been looking for this Northern Water Snake all summer and was very glad to see not only this one but 2 more sunning them selves. I was afraid some thing had happened to them.
Northern Flicker
Male and female Scarlet Tanagers