The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
In the Bucket yesterday one comment thread on shorebirds wound around to the reflections these birds create, KenBee showing us an egret, a dowitcher and (I think) a cormorant on a branch. I was going to post a pic or two of mine, and then got sidetracked, stuff to do. But I love the idea, so for the Bucket today, I'm offering a few images of aquatic birds in my neighborhood reflecting their beautiful lines and colors in ripply nearshore water.
Sometimes birds are still, or drifting and watching.
More below the sunsety ripple...
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
Sometimes they are above the surface, taking off or landing.
A Black Oystercatcher and a Glaucous-winged Gull:
Colors are even prettier reflected sometimes. A pair of Hooded Mergansers:
Shapes of creatures get wiggly. A gull with a Dungeness crab, and a Great Blue Heron's beak closing on a fish and seaweed:
Sometimes the reflections are vertical bars. Trumpeter Swans:
I like the combined shape of mirror images.
At sunset, the reflections of these Buffleheads are consumed by ripply golden light,
while in a quieter bay, this merganser's bright shades stand out, on the surface too.
Even his shadow has a reflection.
Do you like reflections too? Have any pics to share?
And as always, the Daily Bucket is open for your observations of nature. What's up in your neck of the woods or water?
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"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 on the Daily Kos front page. It's a great way to catch up on diaries you might have missed. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.