Two lovely surprises on this day.

First a cloud that blew my mind, and then a surprise in the late afternoon.

It started at our house and flowed across our roof, and something told me to take the car for a drive in order to see all of it.

Not every day that we can see this, as in fact it was our first. I have created the habit of listening to the small voice inside me, and the voice told me to take a trip. Just as well that I did on this occasion, as you will see what a show this was. Let me just tell you that although I have a good camera, it still cannot do justice to what we saw with our eyes. Just imagine that the starting point of this cloud was at our house and see how it has grown.

The cold front has now landed, and the air is icy cold. That would be okay, but somebody left the fridge open for the wind to escape, and the first thing that the wind did was to grab that cloud as you will see below. I don't know what they call a cloud formation like this but let me tell you that it was a stunning show. Spread in a broadline, that cloud started to cover the sky. I don't have a wide-angle lens, but I guess these shots were good enough.
Come and see.

This below was the second surprise!

So, much later in the afternoon we had to visit a service station as our fuel price was set for a drastic increase the next day. On the way back a view of the sun shone through a break in the clouds, and I stopped the car to see if I could get more shots of it on the mountains. I got out of the car to study the view more intently, and as usual something was waiting for me.

Just look at that, and you may ask what? Look at the center tree below the rim of the mountain.

The zoom was pleading with me to take a closer shot and I did, as you will see below.

Three Pied Crows (Corvus albus) were sitting at the top of the tree.

So many times, things are not what they seem, and I would never have seen those crows if I didn't get out of the car to take a closer look. I can tell you now that I would have missed them. This is the thing with us as people. We are so hurried that we only take a cursory look at things, for instance many would see the sun on the mountains and then move on not for a moment thinking that there might be something else on show.

Nature harbours many secrets and it is for us to search them out, as it is always such a great feeling to see the smaller things on show. I know that many people also do not like crows, but let me tell you, they are masters of flight in the turbulent strong winds. Often times we see three or more together playing up high in the strong winds. No other birds can be seen, as they only fly roof height to stay out of the wind.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

Until next time, cheers!