Saucer Magnolia at the Hotel

More traveling with work, and this time I remembered the camera. I'm in Houston, and the hotel has several saucer magnolia trees spaced between palms and other kinds of greenery. I shot a few photos of the flowers, hoping to get one with good color and sharpness.

I had taken another photo of a saucer magnolia tree at the Houston Zoo, and I am really proud of that one. I had some note cards made with that photo.

I hope you like this one as well.

Glad to be back,

Mike Z

Out the Plane Window

Seems like I am always on a plane these days! Another trip to California, this time to Simi Valley. I seem to be taking more photos with my phone these days than with my camera, but I try to see interesting things wherever I am, and this shot of the California sunset and the wing of the jet struck me as pretty interesting! I hope you agree.

Til next time,

Mike Z

San Diego Sunset

My coworkers and I had just stepped out onto the patio atop the Marriott hotel in San Diego, and we talked about the great weather and wonderful sunset as the sun sank below the Pacific Ocean. I had come from some pretty cold and cloudy weather, and Shawn had escaped from even worse weather in Minnesota.

So I got out the trusty Blackberry, and snapped this photo of the bay and sunset. Believe me I know that the image does not do justice to the actual experience! But it will give you the reader some idea of what we saw.

More later! I have not been taking too many photos due to the weather, but I hope things will be different by the time I return to Texas.

All the best,
Mike Z

Birdwatching the Day After Christmas

Even though the day was very cold, Jan and I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to walk off some of the Christmas festivities. As we walked through the Town and Country sports park, we stumbled upon a most beautiful hawk in a willow tree just 25 feet or so away. Did I have the camera? No. So we decided to high-tail it back to the house and bring the camera back. I didn't have much hope of seeing that hawk again.

As we walked through we passed a young dad and his daughter and mentioned we had seen the hawk. He said there was one on a wire just a bit ahead. We walked as quietly as we could and there he was! I got three shots before he flew off.

Looking on the Whatbird website the closest match I can find is the Red Shouldered Hawk. It appears to be a young one, but I am no expert. I got this on max zoom and manual focus, and I hope it's clear enough for an expert to confirm my ID of this beautiful bird.  (or not, if I'm wrong...)

Another hawk across the waterway

We took some more shots of various birds, a couple of which I think are robins? but that will be for another post. Hope your Holiday was wonderful, and thanks for stopping by!

All the best,

Mike Z