All Categories - Liz Tyner

Thriving Bald Eagles in My Area

1/1/2021

At one time, wild bald eagles were never seen in the area where I live. Never. Their numbers had declined throughout the USA.

The thought was that a pesticide ingested through eating other critters which had also eaten the poison, was causing them to lay eggs with too thin shells.

This has been questioned..

And the suggestion was raised that people may have been the ones to hurt the population. I don't think this is up for debate.

Public awareness changed the path of their decline, however.

In the USA, they've now been moved from the category of Endangered Species to Protected Species, and they're thriving in my area.

For the first time ever, I've been able to see eagles regularly in wooded areas. I don't think they're thrilled to see me, but they ignore me gracefully. Seriously, if they were as ferocious as they look, I'd not be taking their picture because I'd be cowering from them. They can get angry. I've seen a local video of one of the young ones...maybe one pictured...knocking another eagle for a loop.

From a distance, the young ones look a little more like buzzards.

To put things in perspective, their nests can reach the approximate size of a twin bed.

I don't expect to see any hatchlings because they'll be hidden. That doesn't disappoint me. The youngest ones aren't cute and cuddly.

Coloration changes on the eagles' head as they mature, and around the age of five years, they become the bald eagles we are more used to seeing in photos.

A success story for the eagles, and for the fish they prey on, not so much. But the increased population of eagles meant I was able to see this one flying over me when I was taking a walk outside my house.

Christmas

12/19/2020

Most years I've tried to take photos for Christmas, and many years they've not been especially cheery. I cannot seem to help it.

I spent months waiting for snow, saved an old pair of boots, found a trap, and that's really a Santa hat on my leg. And yes, this is a selfie and it was a COLD day. Ah, the memories.

Photos From My World

11/28/2020

Putting up a hunting blind to use for animal photography is a good way to get pictures. As you approach, it's possible to see the animal you're hoping to capture. I've also stepped out of the blind and scared away animals who were quietly approaching at an angle I couldn't see from the window.

Or I've stepped out of the house and found a fawn in the yard.

And I've looked out my bedroom window and found a doe looking back at me.

I've decided the best way to increase your chances of taking pictures of any animal that you'd like to photograph is to find out where they live and move there.

That's what I did.

Thanksgiving

11/24/2020

Turkeys aren't going to win any beauty contests by conventional standards but I'm so thankful that they occasionally find their way near me.

I'd never seen so many birds until I moved to my current location, and I'm very thankful for the chance to share their space.

Blooming Where You're At

11/7/2020

In the western plains of Oklahoma, you can be driving along and see a gate like you've never seen before. Because, it's one of a kind. Well, one of a kind, but a similar one is across from it.

When you look closer, you see what the gate was made from. An old tractor seat, for instance. A wrench or two. Shears.

Creativity comes in many different forms. Watch for it, and you'll find it in unexpected places.

The Really Wide Web of Spiders

10/23/2020

Usually, I'm grumbling at spider webs because it seems like a majority of them are hard to see, face level, and in front of the trail I'm traipsing on. But, the symmetry of the spider web impressed me. Then I noticed the other ones and realized that not every web fits every situation.

The little crab spider doesn't make a web, but hides.

It’s up to us to find the environment that fits.

Instructions: Watch For Them

10/10/2020

Instructions can keep a person from getting hurt. The caution sign above didn't keep me from getting a tiny bump because the opening was truly low and I didn't kneel quite enough.

Following the sign instructing me not to climb on rocks was easy.

Following the instructions not to climb on the stagecoach was a little more difficult.

The photos were taken from my visit to the National Cowboy and Western History Museum in Oklahoma.

Finding Foxes

9/18/2020

Although foxes are native to the area where I live, I'd never seen one when I was a child.

They have a mystique about them, though, and they're thought to be cunning. I can believe that because they're very good at staying out of human sight.

One day I heard a barking "yip" and assumed I heard a dog bark. Seconds later, a fox ran across the field in front of me.

Photo of the two foxes taken at the zoo. The other was taken while looking out a window in my house.

Roping in the Research

9/5/2020

It’s not every day you get to test your roping skills in a fairly safe environment, and if I’d not doing it correctly, well, this may have been the first time I ever held a real lariat…

It is a long way to the ground and as I’d recently taken a painful tumble from a hammock, I didn’t want to fall from three times as high. So I removed my shoes to get on the stationary horse, making sure I could feel where my feet were.

The stirrups aren’t stationary and are moving as you nudge your feet into them. But, I managed to pull myself into the saddle easily. There were steps and this was a relatively small horse. It does take a little power to pull yourself into the saddle on a real horse…or you need to teach the horse to kneel for you, or have a raised object you can stand on.

Then I practiced the twirling. I learned that a pro roper often stands in the stirrups as he throws the rope over the horns of the animal, and also that he would be holding the reins in his left hand, along with the twirls of rope, at the same time. The rope even had to be looped carefully to make sure it wouldn’t tangle when thrown.

The horse is moving, the animal to be roped is moving and the cowboy or cowgirl is moving. It’s harder than it looks, but more fun than it looks, too. Or, at least it is on a fiberglass horse.

As long as you could do it without shoes or cowboy boots, I could see trying it again on a real horse…except it really is a long way to the ground, and again, the horse is moving. In a rodeo roping event, the horse would be running at a fast clip, and speed is important as the event is timed to the seconds.

The safest and easiest thing to rope is your own foot.

Pictures taken at the Ben Johnson Museum in Pawhuska Oklahoma.

Finding Happiness In Unconventional Ways

8/25/2020

When I was young, the story of Moses and the bulrushes seemed worrisome. It still does. What if Moses started to wail and the basket tipped over? What if it filled with water? What if a current caught the container and swept him away?

My concerns were realistic. I lived near the Illinois River. I discovered later that my beloved Barbie dolls had been in a makeshift boat and had been swept up in a current. I like to think they were discovered by a little princess and given a new home.

As an adult, I could easily imagine a woman knowing that a child she loved could have a better life if she gave her up for adoption. But in Regency times, the adoption services were overflowing

So, instead of Miranda being left in a basket, my heroine has another fate in store for her…

That’s where the glimmer of an idea for The Governess’s Guide to Marriage began.

I’m sure my Sunday School teacher never expected the lesson to end up as inspiration for a romance novel, but I felt it fit so perfectly. A child with a background of poverty ends up surrounded by luxury and has a happily ever after.