Jan. 15, 2012 - Greetings from Florida

No, this isn’t from Florida. I didn’t have a chance to use this photo before, so I just had to include it now. This is a Red Squirrel at our home in northern Minnesota.

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A full moon occurred shortly after we arrived in Florida. I took this photo from the deck of the house we are renting on St. George Island. I used a camera setting called Tungsten. It emphasizes the blue tones and is especially effective for night photos like this.

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Here’s another photo of the full moon taken by the St. George Island Lighthouse. I did an earlier “Pictures of the Week” segment on the restoration of this lighthouse following its collapse into the Gulf of Mexico in 2005. Here’s a link to that story. http://www.earlorfphotos.com/Pictures-of-the-Week/2010-Pictures-of-the-Week/3-14-10-St-George-Lighthouse/11503696_M9HMG4#!i=809522665&k=ZKx6b

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We’ve been coming to St. George Island for quite a few years, so people know that I am interested in photographing birds. I was told about some ducks that were spending time on a small pond. When I got there, I was delighted to find two male Canvasbacks and a female Ring-necked Duck. They were quite cooperative and I was able to get some nice close-up shots.

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Here’s one of the Canvasbacks stretching his wings. Because they are hunted, it’s no surprise that ducks are often wary of people. Getting a chance to be this close to them was a real treat.

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