What kind of bird is this?

I tried to lighten this one...please click to enlarge and get a better view.


We saw these on the Mississippi...I first thought pelican and then I thought no. I really don't know their range. Then I have just been checking out the internet a little and still undecided. So, tell me what you think they are.

A little detour

These two photos were taken by my daughter....on her cell phone.

Yesterday evening we met my daughter and her husband for dinner...I was asking about Otto among other things and she whipped out her cell phone and showed me these two photos of Otto. They make me smile just to look at them....he is such a love. He loves Jeremy, and wants to go with him whenever he can. He really tries to keep up with Jeremy...if Jeremy is in the garage fooling with a car, Otto is perfectly content to go out there and just get in the car and wait.

He also has this thing of seeing a squirrel or bird out in the yard. He will spot it and do this exaggerated sneaking walk to within a few feet of bird or squirrel and then make a mad dash to try to catch it. I have seen it once and cracked up laughing. So far, any time he has met young children, his demeanor changes and he settles down and becomes very gentle. With us, he is so happy to see us, he about beats us to death with his tail wagging so hard.

I just had to share this...thought maybe they would make you smile as they do me.

Today's churches

Churches are another thing I love to photograph. These are from the trip...I almost wish I had asked to turn around and go back where I got the last photo shown. There were two of these churches, side by side and the quick glimpse I caught of them they seemed to be identical. I was lucky to get this of just one of them, but I will always wonder what the story behind the churches are.