Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #191: Curves Found in Nature

Posted byDawn PalmerPosted inAnimals, Flowers, Landscape, PhotosTags:, , , , , , , , ,

Spring is in the air, and it is a great time to get out there and appreciate nature’s beauty. There’s been a few storms, but nothing major for southern California. It still brings about wonderful scenery and makes for a great visit to the harbor or the zoo, where I found plenty of natural curves for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #191 – Curves.

The first picture was just after a spring shower, when a rainbow–with a natural curve!– appeared over Point Loma in San Diego, California. The sun was still rising behind me as I stood on my hotel balcony in my pajamas with my Nikon camera and cell phone, providing great lighting for photos. The moon’s curve and all of the storm clouds were highlighted by the sun, making for a peaceful start to the first day of spring; captured with iPhone 12 Pro Max for John’s Cellpic Sunday.

Sunrise illuminating curvy moon, storm clouds, San Diego Harbor, and Point Loma; captured with iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The first day of spring also provided great shots of brilliantly colored bush lillies, which I am sharing for Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD).

African Bush Lily flowers blooming at San Diego Zoo; captured with 300mm DLSR lens.

Not to be outdone by the nearby flowers, these flamingos were showing off their plumage; whether they were showing off to the other birds or for visitors, I could only guess. They sure were noisy either way!

Flamingos with beautifully curved feathers, necks, and beaks causing a commotion at the San Diego Zoo; captured with 300mm DSLR lens.

The flamingos were not the only birds causing a commotion at the zoo. Many birds–males in particular–were on a one-track mission to build their curvy nests. It was quite lively and entertaining, and as a bonus, their feather colors and mating songs were mesmerizing.

Male Taveta Golden Weaver building his curvy, upside-down nest in hopes of attracting a mate; captured with 300mm DSLR lens.

While I had to duck a few times for the weaver frantically flying from the grass to his nest to grass and back again, this male red-cheeked cordon-bleu bird was a little more methodical and slow-paced at collecting grass for his nest.

On this first day of spring, some mammals were also deep in thought. This colobus monkey –with curvy hair!–was sitting in the sun; perhaps he was contemplating which fruit to steal from the nearby group.

Angolan Colobus Monkey deep in thought at San Diego Zoo; captured with 300mm DSLR lens.

And while the colobus monkey was hard at work thinking, this male baboon, with his own curvy hair, took time from staring at his patch of grass to give me the evil-eye. Not sure what he was thinking, but I am glad he was up on a hill away from me.

Male baboon at San Diego Zoo pauses his staring contest with the grass to let visitors know who is boss; captured with 300mm DSLR lens.

The giraffes at the zoo certainly decided to chill and take naps–maybe it was the springtime air. Despite what some might think, giraffes are pretty flexible and can curve their necks to do many things, including staring at the photographer. I also noticed that the giraffes’ patches were quite curvy and not uniform, a great adaptation that allows them to blend in together (and comes in handy during naps). The first photo is of baby Mawe, born in December and first mentioned in this blog post. She has the cutest curvy eyelashes.

And last, but not least, I cannot go without mentioning my favorite polar bears. The girls were chilling and taking naps. I got a close-up of Tatqiq taking a nap–look at her curvy claws!

Female polar bear Tatqiq, the sister to Kalluk, taking a nap and showing off her curvy claws at San Diego Zoo; captured with 300mm DSLR lens.

I hope everyone had a peaceful weekend and enjoyed the first day of spring.

Published by Dawn Palmer

I am an avid nature and ecology lover and enjoy sharing my photography in my blog writings. I will often be out early in the morning or late in the evening with my camera, trying to capture the peacefulness and beauty around me.

26 thoughts on “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #191: Curves Found in Nature”

    2. Really enjoyed your beautiful photographs of
      the curvy wonders. The Colobus monkey was especially beautifully photographed in black and white. Such intense expressions but yet sensitive. Appreciate the narrations.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you! 😊 Yes, the views from there are great, too. I only got shots of the point this trip, but whenever I have time, I like going over to it. I heard that it’s a great whale watching spot.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. Lovely take on the theme – and so many great photos of the animals! The dance of the flamingos is really sensual, and baboon fur in curves is incredible. The polar bear and her curvy claws is really special – and I also noticed the curvy nose of the colobus monkey. Great entry.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you! 😊 It’s hard to move on to look at the other animals when the flamingos are dancing, but I’m glad I did because I found the colobus monkeys just chilling. (I noticed his nose, too. 🤓) The polar bears are my favorite, even when they’re napping. 😎

      Like

      Reply

    1. Thank you! 😊 I’ve definitely seen more colorful birds since coming back to CA, but I always seemed to see more wildlife up in Prescott than down in Peoria. 🤣 I’m glad I live closer to the zoo. 😎

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. My dad lived in San Diego after he retired. I would love to have moved there, but something about employment kept me in Central California! We went down there a lot when he was alive.

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: