On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
This is the final On the Road post of frosty’s Coronavirus Road Trip. Thank you, frosty, for sharing your trip with us!
Hey, On the Road Virgins who have never submitted to On the Road before… Yes, you! I’d like to have another Virgin’s week in August, so please think about submitting a set of photos to OTR.
Also, we have a last-minute addition for After Dark on Friday night – pictures of the John Lewis Funeral Procession in DC and the Black Lives Matter Plaza. ~WaterGirl
And now, back to frosty and some very lovely birds!
frosty
Fool Hollow and Lyman Lake were the two state parks where I did a lot of sitting outside the trailer (reading Balloon Juice obsessively) with my camera at the ready. These are some of the more colorful birds that came by.

Bullock’s Oriole (M). I was so glad this one came by and perched in front of me. I’d seen 2 or 3 at Fool Hollow but never got my camera up in time.

Bullock’s Oriole (F). She was in a shrub just to the left of where I was sitting outside the trailer.

Violet-Green Swallow. There was a birdhouse hanging close to us that the swallows were using. I love this one, at a certain angle he looks like the Penguin from Batman

Mountain Bluebird (M). He was sitting on a road sign some distance away and I had the camera set up for multiple shots. This was the best one.

Mountain Bluebird (F)

Lesser Goldfinch

Indigo Bunting. These were taken through the window of the trailer as we were eastbound. I’ve always liked these birds, but never saw one before. There was a flock of four or more.
WaterGirl
They are all nice, but the second and third bird photos are my favorites!
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Fabulous. I’m particularly impressed by the shot of the sitting swallow, but I love the Mountain Bluebirds. Thank you!
WaterGirl
I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I have started adding a featured image to each On the Road thread, which means that one of your photos shows up in John’s twitter feed in the sidebar on BJ and on John’s actual twitter feed that has 13,000 followers.
Auntie Anne
@WaterGirl: That’s a lovely idea!
opiejeanne
These are gorgeous photos. Thanks for sharing.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: Way to make sure some of us never submit anything.
Yutsano
BIRBS! Not gonna choose a favourite, but the male bluebird shot is stunning.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: I can not do a featured image, if you request that. :-)
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: Also, if you click on the image in John’s twitter feed in the sidebar, you get a full-screen version of the featured image.
frosty
@WaterGirl: Yes, I’ve noticed. Good choice for this one, I love the swallow.
WaterGirl
@frosty: I’m glad you approve!
Click on your image in the sidebar and you’ll see how awesome that photo is full-screen.
Benw
Geez those are some amazing birds!
Way to get some great photos!
sfinny
All of the photos are wonderful, but the bluebird in flight and the indigo buntings just made me so happy.
frosty
I have to laugh, because I didn’t do anything to get the photos except sit with a camera. And you’re not looking at all the others that didn’t turn out so well.
J R in WV
I know about not showing everything to everyone…
These are great photos, especially the bluebird in flight!
Thanks…
eclare
That Mountain Bluebird photo is gorgeous!
Richard
That was nice. Thank you. Those are some of our prettiest birds.
Albatrossity
Nice! Aren’t Mountain Bluebirds just lovely? Yes, yes they are! And that shot of the male Bullock’s Oriole is wonderful as well.
Indeed, just sitting with the camera is a very good way to get nice bird pictures.
JimV
I have processed #1 (Oriole) and #4 (Bluebird in flight) for use in my next Heroes of Might and Magic III “mod”. I had to remove the background, scale them down so the bird body fits in 32×32 BMP’s, play with the colors a little and do some pixel-by-pixel cleanup of the scaling, so they might or might not be recognizable as to source. (Or as birds for that matter but I think they turned out fairly well.) Thanks for them, and this constitutes your legal Notice of Use (if there is such a thing). (My mods might be played by as many as a dozen Heroes III hobbyists somewhere around the world and I don’t get or deserve any money for them.)
frosty
@Albatrossity: Thanks! Your pictures are the gold standard to which I aspire someday.
frosty
@JimV: Jeez, images are in the public domain if they’re posted on an almost top 10,000 blog? I know FB claims copyright on anything posted, I don’t know if John does. Or WordPress.
Be that as it may, I guess it’s OK if you use these.