It is the itme of year to see fledglings in the yard. This blue jay fledgling seemed like he wanted me to go far, far away. "He" was hiding in the middle of the gooseberry bush. The parents were close by, but they did not dive bomb me as I took my shots. I took shots from various perspectives, but I liked this one because it showed the bird's downy feathers. I did not stay by the bird for long, because I knew its parents wanted to feed the fledgling.
Thank you for all of your comments about my photo of the storm clouds. I am struggling with that photo club theme. We have had clouds and thunderstorms, but the clouds in my photos do look more like rain and not like a threatening situation. That is good though. Before I moved here, there were two tornadoes (both in the 1970s). People still talk about these tornadoes. Then, there was another tornado in 2011. Fortunately, there were no lives lost in these tornadoes. There were injuries and property damage. I am grateful that there have not been many tornadoes here and that the tornadoes have not killed any people. My heart goes out to those impacted by the recent tornadoes in states to the south and to the west of here. I do not want the chance to photograph a tornado. For one thing, I will try to get to a basement for shelter when I know a tornado is coming. For another thing, I realize how much debris there is in and by a tornado. The 2011 tornado came within about six city blocks from my house. Leaves and twigs were torn off of the trees in my yard. We had debris from the other side of town deposited into my yard. This debris included house inuslation, business receipts, and broken items. I even found a broken comb in the base of the flower. The comb had been driven so far into the flower that I could not pull it out. I hate to think what the flying debris could do to my camera lens (or to me). Even though I would like to get several good photos for the photo club's storm cloud theme, I do not want to phtograph a tornado. I am not as brave as the tornado chasers.
