Sun Pillar

A sun or solar pillar develops when the sun is low in the horizon, either at sunrise or sunset.  Light from the sun is reflected off of ice crystal in the clouds that are falling horizontally.  This phenomenum is usually short-lived and this sunrise pillar lasted less than five minutes.

Cooper’s Hawk

It was a rainy, foggy, cold afternoon when I spotted this raptor perched high in an old tree.  He was surveying the open field below for his next meal.  Unfortunately for bird lover’s, one of the mainstays of this guy’s diet is smaller birds.  We have seen him dive bomb our back yard trying to catch sparrows in his long, sharp talons.  As far as we know, he has not been very successful using these tactics.  He is a beautiful bird, and we must remember the first law of Nature…survival of the fittest.

Country Fog

This winter has been much colder than usual with lots of moisture.  We have had many, many days of thick fog and near-freezing temperatures. This image was taken as the fog was starting to lift aound this old barn, which is located between Manor and Elgin

Daybreak

The heat has been extreme in central Texas for the past week.  An upside to the 100+ degree days is that it provides conditions for the creation of awesome crepuscular sun rays in the early morning and late afternoon.  This is a sunrise over a farm pond near my home.

April Sky

Spring rains have finally come to Central Texas.  We still have quite a ways to go before the damage done by the long drought will be corrected.  It also made for a beautiful sunset!

Sunshine and Showers

Central Texas finally received some heavy rain today.  We are hoping that the drought is about over.  Even with all the storm clouds around, the sun just wouldn’t give it up.  It still managed to send some rays through the heavy clouds.

Foggy Sunrise

There was quite a bit of low-lying fog in Central Texas this morning.  As the sun rose above the fog line, it made for a very interesting contrast of colors in the eastern sky.

Stormy Sunset

The sun and threatening thunderstorms interacted last week to display this beautiful sunset.  Central Texas is in the grips of a serious drought and, unfortunately for us, this awesome sight was all we were going to get from Mother Nature that day.

Southern Lights 2

Another view of the “Southern Lights”.  The colors started to fade somewhat as the sun lost its intensity, but still presented an awesome display of natural light.

Southern Lights

Austin residents were treated to a spectacular phenomenum in the western sky on July 31st.  The setting sun interacted with high Cirrus clouds that contained moisture and perhaps ice crystals, which in turn acted as a prism to project these beautiful rainbow colors.  I have never quite seen anything like it.  It reminded me of the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights seen in Alaska at certain times of the year.

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