Fall Photos

Fall is a beautiful time of year! The leaves change from green to beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow, and purple. A perfect chance for pictures! Along with the beauty of fall comes changes in weather too. It starts to cool down and often gets really windy. It's the perfect weather to snuggle up with a cup of tea and a good book! Raking leaves and jumping in leaf piles are all part of the fun of fall. All these things provide good picture ideas! Try to take some pictures that show the fun and beautiful aspects of fall. Maybe take a picture of the birds that show up or migrate during the fall time. Maybe take a picture of two doves snuggled up together trying to keep warm, or of the frost on the leaves in the early morning. Try to take some motion pictures too, such as leaves falling or the wind blowing. A nice sunset is a beautiful backdrop for fall-colored leaves! At my house, many Spotted Towhees come and scurry about bushes. There are many other things to take pictures of during the fall. Try to find some of these things and have fun!

- Kate

 

 Just popping in to say hi! Not much has been going on lately. I recently counted how many chipmunks I could count from my deck. Ten! That’s a lot! (BTW they are Least Chipmunks) 

See ya soon,

-Lili 

Fall is Almost Here!

 Hi there! Today I'm going to show y'all a list of a few fall nature-related things that I'm excited for!

1. The fall migration. I love seeing new birds that I don't normally see!

2. The beautiful golden leaves of the aspen trees. Perfect photography opportunity. 

3. Putting up the bird feeder! I don't put it up until later in the fall when the bears are hibernating.

That's all for today! See you next time!

-Lili

Fun Nature Photography Idea

 Hello folks! It's Friiiiiday! Which means a new post!                                                                                      Today I am going to be sharing some fun nature photography ideas with y'all.

When people think of nature photography, they often think of photos of epic animals, flawless macro flowers, or gorgeous landscapes.  However, nature photos do not have to be like that. In fact, as long as your photo is interesting and high quality, people will like it.

Here are some ideas!                                                                                                                                          -Try taking a photo of one tiny detail, such as a tree bud or a berry.                                                                - Lay on the ground underneath a tree and point your camera upwards for a new perspective                        - Like above, try a fresh perspective! An eye level view on a blade of grass, for instance                              - Focus on patterns. For instance, tree bark or the veins of a leaf.

Hope you like this post! Be back next week for more!                                                                                      -Li                

Summer In The Woods + Updates

 It has been months since I've posted. In these past few months, my life has changed a lot. However, the woods have not. 

After weeks of not going on a nature walk, I take my Audubon bird call and find a quiet spot in the woods. I twist my bird call, waiting. Except for my bird call, the woods are silent. Then I hear it. An answering call. Before I know it, nuthatches, chickadees, and hummingbirds are all around the woods, calling. But I don't think they just appeared out of nowhere - I think they were there all along. I just had to look.

I hope you enjoyed my little description of my latest nature walk in the woods. Now on to the updates: my summer has been really busy. That is why I have not been posting. Now that school is starting, I will have a regular schedule and plan on posting here at least once month.

Well, see you soon!

-Lili

Flower Photos

 Hello! It's been a while since we've posted something, but I got some nice new spring photos that I'll share with you. :) 

We have crab apple in our back yard, and every other year, if we get enough moisture, it will blossom beautifully, and pretty white flowers will cover it. I got lots of wonderful photos!

Here's another photo of our crab apple tree.

We have a half-acre of pretty much nothing, and every spring dandelions cover it. It's beautiful.

This cool photo is one I took on accident, but I thought it looked unique.

Beautiful sunset from my backyard.

Red flowers.

I hope you like the photos!

- Kate

Summer Nature Bucket List!

 Hi there! Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve posted! I will definitely be posting more often this summer. 

Summer Nature Bucket List!

1. Get a good photo of a deer.                                              

2. Enter a nature photography contest.

3. Experiment with pressing different flowers

4. Find a Zebra Mussle.

5. I’ll be adding lots more, this is just the beginning!     

Comment your ideas below!                                              -Lili

Spring!!!

 It's SPRING!!!

    There's new life growing all over the place and the longer daylight hours let us enjoy more time outdoors. I've been taking multiple pictures of things growing and coming to life. I've also been taking lots of pictures of animals (mainly birds). Here are a few of my pictures:

Mountain Chickadee

American Robin

Old Fence

Beautiful Sunset

Tree

Hawk

Same Hawk

Rabbit Bones

Baby Grass

Plants

Hope you enjoy!

- Kate

Spring is Here! Nature Challenge #12

 Hi everybody! The reason why I haven't posted in a while is because I have been busy going outside, looking for signs of spring! Sunday I was super excited to see the first robin (that I have seen at least) of the spring! Buds on the trees, enormous snow melts, robins.... you name it. Spring is here!!!! And I couldn't be more excited!!!

Nature Challenge #12: Signs of Spring Journal

Here is the nature challenge: keep a journal on the signs of spring! Well, it doesn't have to be a whole journal, it could only be part of one. I have a nature notebook, and I write/draw entries on the different signs of spring I find. In case you haven't noticed, I love spring.... and I can't wait for summer! One app that I have been using a lot to help me notice the signs of spring more is 72 Seasons. It is a really cool app! It is basically a calendar, but it's nature based. It updates every five days, and every five days has a name like a mini "season". With each mini "season" there are a bunch of cool facts. It is an awesome app! 

Okay, that's all for now!

-Lili

3 Weekly Pictures #10

 Here's this week's snowy 3 weekly pictures!

Ice on a tree.

Tree with icy trees in the background.

Bush with snow.

3 Weekly Pictures #9

 Here's this week's 3 weekly pictures. Again they have no animals. This time they are close-ups of different things. Enjoy!

Leaves and a branch.

Close up of a plant.

Wood.

3 Weekly Pictures #8

 Here are this week’s 3 weekly pictures! Enjoy!

A beautiful, fiery sunset picture.

Blue skies and puffy white clouds.

Beautiful sunset with peachy mountains in the background.

3 Weekly Pictures # 7

 Here are this week's 3 Weekly Pictures:

Daytime picture with trees

Bird bath

Cloud

3 Weekly Pictures # 6

 This week's 3 Weekly Pictures:

Black-Capped Chickadee

Beautiful Sunset

Cute picture of a birdhouse

Three Weekly Pictures # 5

 So sorry I missed last week! Here's this week's 3 weekly pictures!

Tree with leaves

Cute bird

Tree and leaves

Nature Challenge #11: My Special Spot!

Hello there everyone, I sure do hope that you are having a wonderful day so far, and that you have gotten the time to step outside for a while! Here's the nature challenge! I started this challenge a long time ago, and really enjoyed it as soon as I started it!

Nature Challenge #11: My Special Spot                                   

Choose a small spot in your backyard - it can be anything from a big rock you like to sit on, to a little spot behind the shed full of weeds and bugs - as long as it's small. Every day, or every week, or as often as you can, bring your nature notebook with you and go sit in that spot for 5-10 minutes. (see more about recording nature in a notebook here: https://coloradowildlife1213.blogspot.com/search?q=nature+notebook ) Record everything. For instance: the weather (temps, clear or cloudy, ect.), and animal sightings (this includes bugs), and sightings of plants (from a dead dandelion to a rare columbine), and, of course, sketches of everything! Make it a routine to come out to your special spot and record everything through the year. This is a fun activity, as you get to watch how your special spot changes through the seasons! I do hope you enjoy this nature challenge!

-Lili

Nature Challenge #10!!!!!!

 Hi everyone! Sorry about being a bit late, I ended up taking an unexpected break, but I'm back! And guess what? THIS IS THE TENTH NATURE CHALLENGE! So, in celebration of this, the nature challenge will be a bit more, um, 'extravagant' then usual....

Make Your Own Nature Center

I know, I know, it sounds kind of crazy, but this is not the kind of nature center you are most likely thinking about! This is a private, in-your-home-or-bedroom nature center.

Step 1: Find a location. Pick a spot where there are not a lot of people all the time, somewhere out-of-the-way and quiet. Possible locations are in the corner of a large room, in a bedroom, or, if you are lucky enough to have one, a spare room you don't need. Of course, you could always use an old empty shed, although you might have to looking into a small heater or something if you live in a place with very cold winters. 

Step 2: Prep time. If the area you want to use is dirty, clean it! The cleaner it is, the more inviting it will be when you are finished. Clear out any extra clutter, or anything that doesn't belong there.

Step 3: Furniture. Now, your 'area' that you plan on using might be an entire basement, or no bigger than the size of your own bed, so what you will need differs. Generally, you will need some type of small table or desk. You don't need anything big or expensive, a tiny little plastic fold-up table would do the trick. Of course, some storage space would be nice. If you have the space, you could put in giant bookcases or other things like that, but, most likely, that won't fit your space - or your wallet. In fact just a shoeboxes would do!

Step 4: Add things. Have some books about nature, and maybe even a couple of field guides? Bring 'em in! Those nature collections of feathers and rocks and shells all over you windowsills and desks? Bring 'em in! You will also want what I call an 'Exploration Tray'......

How to put together an Exploration Tray:

You will need a plastic or metal tray, which you can easily find for cheap at the Dollar Tree or Walmart. Fill the tray with..... a magnifying glass, tweezers, a small plastic bug cage, a sketch pad or notebook, a pen, and some colored pencils and crayons! Ta da! Automatic, easy exploration on the go!

Step 5: Using it. Bring your siblings/friends/kids over and show it to them! Make it cool, with handmade posters and blankets. This area an become your go-to for reading up about animals and nature, examining specimens, sketching you sightings, recording observations, and more! Have fun!

-Lili

3 Weekly Pictures # 3

 Here are this week's 3 weekly pictures!

Robin

Eurasian Collared Dove

Very large spider (I'm not sure what kind it is)

Three Weekly Pictures # 4

 Hello everyone! Here are this week's 3 weekly pictures:

Black-Capped Chickadee

Robin

Leaves

3 Weekly Pictures # 2

 Hello everyone! Happy new year! I'm really sorry, I've been really bad about posting the 3 weekly pictures. I will try to do better. Here is this weeks 3 weekly pictures:

Red-Tailed Halk

Rose

Eurasian Collared Dove