Penning Photography Daily

There’s a river birch tree right at the corner of our garage. This is a flowering seed catkin, ready to send it’s winged seeds into the wind.

The tree used to have two big trunks, but a wind storm last year, caused one of the two to break off. Now the remaining trunk looks like a forelorn tipsy gent, sad at his missing mate.

These flowers – or catkins, are full of tiny winged seeds, which are hidden in the catkins bracts (yeah, I learned something new too). Wikipedia sure comes in handy when trying to learn. I now know that these pendulous things are flowers called catkins and have bracts which hide winged seeds. They’re just pretty to me, especially when viewed up close.

I saw them yesterday, and thought them a good subject for a macro, but held off due to the high wind gusts. Tonight I held them steady in my left hand with the camera in my right. I still had to still myself and wait until a moment of no movement. I posed them against the lush green lawn, which makes them pop with color.

Nature sure is a wonder, when I take time to pay attention.