On this particular Saturday morning adventure it included looking for wildflowers and country life. I had recently noticed numerous wildflowers on the drive to work & it was time to seize the opportunity. I found a safe place to park off the road in front of a locked farm gate. I was able to keep on eye on my truck just in case someone arrived & needed access to go through the gate.
I typically always start early in the morning, this time I was getting my camera gear out of truck around 7:00am. An early start was important this time because I wanted to capture dew drops on some flowers. And there was dew drops as I had hoped, I call this bonus coverage from God. Walking through the dew covered grassy field my boots soon were wet. As my daughter says - the work is worth it.
Love the wildflowers in Arkansas that rise up during the different seasons. The eastern purple coneflower is probably my favorite. These flowers really seem to give you so many different type of looks. They are either closed up or opened up, beginning to start turning colors from white to purple or have changed completely to purple. There were three varieties of wildflowers available in this field, which allowed for some great photo opportunities. You can view my pics of these wildflowers by currently clicking the Recent tab on the Home page.
After one hour or so of moving my tripod into several positions to capture the right angle, lighting, shadowing it was time to head down the road south to find some country life. What is country life? Hey, Thanks for asking? Haha. Country life can be a rustic barn, birds on a barbed wire fence, farm animals, rusting vehicles, you get the picture. This Saturday morning I had noticed turtles were crossing the roads so i added this to my gotta get list. i also selfishly wanted to capture a scissor-tailed flycatcher or scissor tail for short on a barbed wire fence. Hoping this might be the day.
First I came across a slow moving turtle on the road. I pulled my truck off the road & walked up to the turtle. I actually laid down on the pavement as close as I could, making sure the turtle was still sticking out his head from the shell. This turtle was very colored with red lines running throughout his body under that thick shell. He worked great with me as a photo subject & I was thankful with his or her patience with me.
Making another turn down a country road there it was, the illusive scissor tail was sitting on the top strand of a barbed wire fence. This bird was on the right side of my truck making it impossible to take a pic out of the passenger window because I would have to pull up to the bird & then the flyaway escape would happen. I waited a minute & he or she flew off & up in the air. The bird flew over me on my driver side so I was able to take a couple quick in flight pics.
More country road driving & i came across a farm silo with green ivy growing up the side. Ok one more chance, I spotted another scissor tail on a barbed wire fence. This time on my driver side, I had a good feeling about this one. I crept my truck close enough to capture a shot with the lens I was using at the time. I angled my truck in order for my mirror to be out of the view of my lens. We are talking serious photography folks. If I opened my door to step outside the scissor tail would escape my lens as so many others have done so in the past. This bird cooperated & I was successful in taking pics of this most cool bird sitting on a barbed wire fence.
As I continued my country roads route I saw something move in the grass on the passenger side of the road. It was a cottontail rabbit eating his breakfast diet of grass. As I slowly backed up my truck the rabbit moved from the road side to just inside the fence of a field. He or she allowed me to move close enough to capture a good shot until the rabbit hopped out of view.
Join me again as I share with you - Loving Outdoors Life adventures.
Kirk Hobbs
#LovingOutdoorsLife #LOL