More Trilliums, Spring Flowers and Birds, Etc. (I just can't help myself)!

Still posting some Spring Flowers and Birds

for your pleasure today!

Trillium beauty:

And?

You can't take in all that beauty

without

SOME questionable beauty:

A turkey vulture!:

Not sure what kind of bird this is. Does anyone know?:

A wild strawberry blossom!:

A wild violet in the middle of the woods:

So, now that I have posted 

some BIRDS....

You  need to get out there and take some photos of some...

because

this month's FREE PHOTO CONTEST

theme is 

BIRDS!!!

Send in your bird photo no later than midnight on July 31st

following THESE RULES.

You don't have to be a Blogger to enter.

Smitten and Distracted

I am smitten.

It happens every spring.

It's wildflowers.

And

Trilliums in particular.

They bloom here around Memorial Day, give or take a few weeks,

and

then they only live for about a week and die.

But while they are here,

they are glorious.

We were heading for a wedding late May and I spied
some on the side of the road.

I wanted to stop and get some photos, but my husband didn't think
it a good idea to hike up my long skirt to climb over the grass on a public highway in my heels to do so.
(Silly man).

But, I honored his opinion and waited until the next day to go out
to our favorite place in the woods
to capture some shots of them.

We found a whole entire hillside of them!:

I just love looking at flowers from all different angles:

Some even had some wild forget-me-nots

beside them too!:

Then I spied a beautiful light blue butterfly

flitting all over.

I must have chased him for 5 minutes and he would land

but with his wings CLOSED.

I finally captured one of him with his wings

partially open and on a wild strawberry blossom:

Now...

where WAS I?

Oh yeah..

the trilliums...

(See? Didn't I tell you I was distracted from all of Nature's wildflower beauty?)

Do you SEE why Trilliums are one of my favorite wildflower?

They are protected in Michigan and cannot be picked or transplanted:

And then the apple blossoms

came out.

Oh.

My.

And we had a flock of Bohemian Waxwings

fly into our yard and start eating the blossoms with flurry!:

Where was I (again??)

Oh,  yes...

the Trilliums!:

You can see why I get distracted

with our U.P. Spring.

Everywhere you look, there are gorgeous wildflowers

and birds and blossoms.

I wanted to get back out to take more Trillium photos and we got a few weeks straight of rain!

So it's a good thing I got out there that ONE day.

***********************************************
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Hope you are having a wonderful holiday filled with family and fun!

More U.P. This and That

I have so many pictures yet to share with you that I have taken over the last month or so.

So, today, we will start with a collection

without a theme.

What the heck...

we don't always need a theme, do we??

Our apple blossoms

were lovely this year.

I wait every spring for them to blossom.

And to hear the buzzing of the bees in them,

pollenating away:

Someone once left a comment

that they had

never seen a

beaver hut.

So, here you are:

We had spied that huge one on a pond in the woods.

I think this is a female redwinged blackbird...but I am not sure. Does anyone know?:

When we were walking in the woods, trying to find Trilliums, we saw a tree that had "hung on" to its red leaves since last autumn! It was so pretty...just like it did last fall!:

Lovely, dreamy white Trilliums:

One trillium in the dappled sun on the forest floor:

We went to visit my brother

and saw this swan beside a mallard

at the head of the bay

on Lake Superior!:

She was so pretty.

But she was pretty far off shore for me to get clear closeups.

But I love swans so much...I was just happy to see her!:

I hope you enjoyed my "no theme" collection

of photos today!

***************************************************

Today is the 28th of June, folks!!!

ONLY TWO MORE DAYS

to

enter your

FLOWER photo

for

my June 2010 FREE PHOTO CONTEST following the rules!!

Just don't sit there....get busy!!