These colorful lichens at Lake Abert look like bits of captured sunshine.
Captured sunshine: Macro Monday
Macro photography
Petrified wood bits – Bear Creek: LAPC & Macro Monday
Last month, we collected petrified wood bits from Bear Creek, south of Prineville Reservoir in Oregon. The following pieces are one inch or less in size. Getting decent photographs of these tiny stones proved to be a challenge.
I set up a tabletop studio and tried a Panasonic Lumix and a Galaxy Ultra phone camera. I had to keep adjusting the spotlights outside of the studio. Each stone was given a quick spritz of water to bring out their color. After many unsuccessful attempts with both cameras, I finally got some good shots with the Panasonic.
A white poppy up close: Macro Monday
A white poppy up close growing in our garden last year. Poppies come in a variety of colors, but they’re also pretty in white.
Ammonite fossil up close: Macro Monday
This picture of an ammonite fossil up close shows their beautiful spiraling structure. In ancient times they were called “snake stones” or “serpent stones.” The stones were thought to have healing and oracular powers. Fossils of these once abundant, now extinct, marine molluscs are popular with collectors.
Stilbite up close: Macro Monday
This is a beautiful piece of stilbite up close. Specimens like these, from the stilbite subgroup, can be found near Mill Creek, Polk County, Oregon. The crystals on this mineral are gorgeous, but I also like the parallel lines surrounding the cavity in this piece.
Labradorite up close: Macro Monday
Here’s a picture of a piece of polished labradorite up close. This feldspar mineral has a unique appearance. Its iridescence catches your attention and is referred to as “labradorescence.” I like holding a piece with a lot of color and tilting it to see different colors in the light. The parallel lines of color within the stone, the twinning surfaces, reflect the light.
Marigolds up close: Macro Monday
I saw these marigolds up close in a park at the end of July. These vignettes show orange, yellow, and white flowers that were growing in a border planting. Marigolds are an easy to grow annual that blooms for weeks during the summer months.
Milkweed seedpod up close: Macro Monday
Here are three photos of a milkweed seedpod up close. As you may know, milkweed flowers are a favorite of monarch butterflies. North American populations of this butterfly have been rapidly declining.
I got a packet of seeds for free from Deschutes Land Trust, one of our local conservation nonprofits. To find milkweed seeds near you, use the Milkweed Seed Finder courtesy of the Xerces Society.
We planted milkweed starts in our garden this year, but they fried during a week of unusually hot weather. 🙁
My friend, Suzy, planted hers last year and had greater success. This seedpod she gave me measures 4 inches in length. A couple of days ago it split along a seam. Each seed is attached to a little wispy fluff known as coma.
Does this milkweed seedpod remind anyone else out there of the pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
Poppies & honeybee up close: Macro Monday
Poppies & honeybee up close in our garden this spring. This bee has full pollen baskets on its hind legs. Did you know these pollen pellets can account for 30% of a bee’s weight?
Yellow & white iris up close: Macro Monday
I saw this yellow & white iris in bloom in mid June. When you see them blooming, summer is on the way. The golden colors in this blossom mirror the warmth of summer days to come.
Whirlybirds up close: Macro Monday
Whirlybirds up close on a maple tree in my High Desert yard. I have fond childhood memories of collecting whirlybirds from the ground and tossing them up into the air. Watching them helicopter towards the ground was cheap entertainment in those days.
Baby bird among the berries: Macro Monday
This morning I was out taking pictures of the sunrise and noticed this baby bird among the berries. It was lucky to have landed in a place covered with a cushioning layer of western juniper leaves.
I looked up in the tree overhead and spotted the nest. An adult American robin perched nearby, completely motionless. I talked to it and got no response at all. I have read that birds sleep with one eye open but this one didn’t follow that theory.
When we placed the baby bird back in its nest, it squawked and that finally got the attention of its parents. I hope it stays in the nest and fledges with its siblings.
Robins like junipers because they provide shelter and food. In the fall, they and other thrushes eat as many as 220 berries in a day.
The nest is in this tree. Can you spot it?
Manzanita blossoms up close: Macro Monday
Manzanita blossoms are putting on a show right now in Central Oregon. The delicate pink blossoms contrast with the thick, leathery green leaves and red bark. The bark on these shrubs peels like on a madrone tree. It’s one of my favorite local plants but it refuses to grow in my garden. That gives me an excuse to seek them out in the wild.
Colorful lichen up close: Macro Monday
A rainbow of colorful lichen up close. These lichens grow on the rocks in my High Desert yard. Though they are small, they have a big presence
Macro Monday
A white coneflower up close: Macro Monday
Here’s a white coneflower up close in my garden. I usually see pink or purple coneflowers, but they’re also pretty in this color. Their scientific name, Echinacea, comes from the Latin word for ‘sea urchin’ and the Ancient Greek word for ‘hedgehog.’ The spiny cone-shaped central disk resembles some type of prickly creature.
Showy layers of a poppy up close: Macro Monday
Showy layers of crepe paper-like red petals encircle a yellow melon-shaped ovary. Golden-anthered stamens stand guard over the precious seeds within.
Monday Macros
Marvelous Malachite up close: LAPC
Today I’m sharing close up photos of marvelous malachite. According to geology.com, malachite is a “green copper carbonate hydroxide mineral.” The site also refers to its striking green color and that’s why I collect it.
This first piece has a rough texture and interesting shape. For scale, it measures 1.5 x 1.0 inches.
The second piece is opposite of the first – rounded shapes and smooth textures. It measures 3.75 x 1.5 inches.
A blooming cosmos up close: Macro Monday
A blooming cosmos is one of my favorite sights to see in a garden. We had several colors of cosmos in our garden this summer, but this magenta-colored flower was my favorite. I love how the color contrasts with the bright yellow center. The bees appreciated them as well.
Macro Monday
Another lovely lichen on the forest floor: Friday Fun
I saw another lovely lichen begging for me to photograph it. This fluorescent green lichen was on the forest floor in a ponderosa pine forest near Sisters, Oregon.
Sweet alyssum up close: Macro Monday
This delicate beauty is sweet alyssum. Sweet to see and sweet to smell. Most common as a white flower, this dwarf variety has lavender purple blossoms.
Macro Monday
Shooting stars up close: Macro Monday
Shooting stars up close. Wildflowers blooming on Glass Buttes in the High Desert of Oregon.
Macro Monday
Bachelor buttons up close: Macro Monday
Bachelor buttons up close in our garden. I never knew they had so many colors. This flower has such an interesting structure – like a bouquet of tiny trumpets.
Macro Monday
Ice plants up close: Macro Monday
Here’s a photo of ice plants up close from my garden near Bend, Oregon. I always look forward to seeing their bright, long lasting blooms.
Macro Monday
A coneflower up close: Macro Monday
Macro Monday
Blue flax flowers up close: Macro Monday
Blue flax flowers up close in my garden. These delicate flowers are difficult to photograph because they have a habit of turning away from the camera. I guess they are a little camera shy!
Macro Monday
Flicker feather up close: SMM
We have Northern flickers in our yard and everything about them is loud, even their feathers. Here’s a flicker feather up close.
Chive Blossom up close: Macro Monday
Here’s a view of a chive blossom up close in my garden. We have a bumper crop this year!
Macro Monday
Clover up close at Glass Buttes: SMM
Last week we visited Glass Buttes to collect obsidian and many wildflowers were in full bloom. Here is a clover up close.
Golden sword yucca: SMM & Monochrome Monday
Prickly pear in the snow: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Spruce Cones in Snow: SMM
We got some much needed snow in the last few days of our mild winter. This close-up of spruce cones in snow was taken in my yard in Bend, Oregon.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Mussel Beach near Pacific City: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Brown-eyed wolf lichen up close: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Bunchberry in full bloom: SMM
This small groundcover plant is actually a type of dogwood. These striking plants range in height from eight inches, as in the bunchberry, to the 60-foot tall Pacific dogwood tree. Beautiful in any size!
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Bumblebee on paintbrush: SMM
I saw this bumblebee on paintbrush at Yellowstone National Park in the late spring.
Slender paintbrush was common near the thermal features.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Spruce cones up close: SMM
A photograph of spruce cones up close that I took in my Bend, Oregon yard.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
A moment with a Mariposa: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
A Fiery Western Columbine: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
A marvelous moth at rest: SMM
I saw this marvelous moth near Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada. What a beauty! 😀
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
A sweet little onion in bloom: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)