Nature Photography

[digit]

A few bird images from Gainesville. A Tricolored Heron backlit in silhouette with some nice specular highlights on the waves. A Blue-headed Vireo at a spot where we enjoy seeing Red-headed Woodpeckers. And lastly, a Barred Owl that perched just off our back deck for a couple hours till dusk and then flew off to start the process of making owl pellets.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

   

 

[digit]

More birds (well, one bird at least).

 

There has been much buzz lately about a xanthochromistic male Northern Cardinal that someone spotted in a wild area of the UF campus here in Gainesville. I've been busy of late but finally had an opening with some nice weather so Tammy and I decided to drive the 10 minutes to were this golden oddity has been reported. Walked around the UF SEEP (Stormwater Ecological Enhancement Project) trying to spot this unusually colored cardinal which for genetic or dietary reasons is not the usual red but a yellowish color instead. Apparently, around 3 xanthochromistic Northern Cardinals are spotted in the US each year and I was lucky enough not to have to book a plane ticket or drive for hours to see this one. Some folks have called this guy 'Sunny' but my name for him is 'Bachelor' as I think this unusually colored male will have a hard time securing a mate to pass on his novel genes.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

    

 

[snolly50]

For all you landlocked folks, the peaceful Atlantic...

 

 

[snolly50]

snolly came nose to nose with this happy fellow as he ascended a bank via a well worn 'gator slide (that chosen method seemed apt). His goal (soon accomplished) was to cross a brief span and find ingress to the fine swamp ahead. Although this creature was approximately the same size as well-fed snolly, the reptile froze at snolly's looming presence. The ridge-backed fellow stared and seemed to say; "hey mammal, I'm trying to walk here!" Being a benign and courteous sort snolly quickly snapped a memorial photo and deftly stepped aside. At this gesture, ole grin face rapidly advanced and splashed into the dark water across the way. 

 

[minnbuckeye]

@digit. Here is a cardinal that spent the winter at our feeder. It is a proficient bird of flight in spite of its defect.  Lets take your genetic mutation and cross it with mine! A tailless yellow cardinal may hasten  natural selection amongst the breed. 

 

[Shellseeker]

2 hours ago, snolly50 said:

snolly came nose to nose with this happy fellow as he ascended a bank via a well worn 'gator slide (that chosen method seemed apt). His goal (soon accomplished) was to cross a brief span and find ingress to the fine swamp ahead. Although this creature was approximately the same size as well-fed snolly, the reptile froze at snolly's looming presence. The ridge-backed fellow stared and seemed to say; "hey mammal, I'm trying to walk here!" Being a benign and courteous sort snolly quickly snapped a memorial photo and deftly stepped aside. At this gesture, ole grin face rapidly advanced and splashed into the dark water across the way. 

From experience, I know that look.... he was estimating whether you would "fit"..... fortunately we have been eating in a robust manner and are beyond his current capacity.  but he will increase in size...

[Shellseeker]

So,

After my most recent outing,  I am sore and gimping....my dear wife takes the dog out   and.... CALLS my cellphone.... Jack,  come out here and dispose of this snake !!!!  I naturally prepare myself....for a rattler or at least a coral snake...

I come out the door and my 25 pound poodle_lab mix is barking at a stick on the ground...

 

My eyesight is a little poor, but what I think I recognize is the overly vicious and deadly...... garter snake!!

 

[snolly50]

Portrait of the Double-crested Cormorant, Nannopterum auritum

 

[Lone Hunter]

Hope this counts as nature it's certainly one of my favorite things to find, crystals. These are Selenite crystals from the Woodbine formation in Texas.  Couldn't help tossing in a few more of my favorite squirrel pictures 

[snolly50]

This past week on SC's coast the occasional large jellyfish was seen stranded on the beach. The specimen below was roughly one foot in diameter in its deflated state.

 

 

However, this AM dozens of cannonball jellyfish were seen stranded during a two mile beach trek. 

 

[Top Trilo]

Great pictures @snolly50. How long can they live out of the water? Not long I'm assuming.

[snolly50]

1 hour ago, Top Trilo said:

How long can they live out of the water?

There were no signs of life in the ones I have observed. They are well known for mass strandings. Apparently their movement is majorly impacted by the movement of wind and water. Perhaps Ken @digit will have some insight as to their viability once beached. Many we saw were being lapped by incoming wavelets; but they showed no hint of revival.

[digit]

Once they are beached for any amount of time they are sadly goners. If one is being blown into shore but still in water it could survive it transported back to the deep but they are basically crab food once on sand.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[snolly50]

In defiance of the cruel fate allotted the hapless jellies, the kind-hearted snollywife frequently bent to chunk a wriggling starfish back into its briny home. Unfortunately these critters were also seen stiff and baked with no glimmer of squirminess. It has been noted that beached sea stars will sometimes wriggle themselves into the sand. It is assumed this is a strategy to escape the sun and await a more advantageous tide.

 

The individual below was particularly red-eyed...

 

   

[digit]

9 hours ago, snolly50 said:

The individual below was particularly red-eyed...

You must not have used the red-eye reduction setting on your camera.

 

Looks to be a Common Sea Star, Asterias forbesi.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[snolly50]

2 hours ago, digit said:

You must not have used the red-eye reduction setting on your camera.

The darned things so complicated I consistently display operator failure!

[snolly50]

"Don't go 'round tonight..."

 

Clouds and the tree line gave the rising, full moon an eerie appearance...perhaps it was a bad moon risin'...

 

 

 

[fifbrindacier]

I present you my homeland a succession of bonded photos taken from the ISS by Thomas Pesquet.

From the Basque Country at the South to the mouth of the Garonne at the North, and, in the middle, the basin of Arcachon : a beach of nearly 250 kilometers.

Edited April 19, 2022 by fifbrindacier

[Ludwigia]

Took an Easter hike with my kids and grandkids yesterday through a nature conservation area on the northwest banks of the Lake of Constance and ran into a few timid wetland creatures: 2 sunbathing turtles and a muskrat.

 

 

 

[digit]

6 hours ago, fifbrindacier said:

a beach of nearly 250 kilometers.

That would take a lot of beach umbrellas to fill.

 

5 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

and a muskrat.

Love(ly).   (Inside joke for those old enough to remember this song.)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[snolly50]

3 hours ago, digit said:

those old enough to remember this song

That would be ole snolly; and speaking of old here's an old post of that musky critter...

Unfortunately, the link to the tune is defunct, so here is one to a different version. Note it is not the Capt. and Tennille cut that was radio popular; but rather the euphonious rendition by America...

 

 

[Ludwigia]

I saw these beasts today while riding my bike through the Swiss side of the Lake of Constance and believe that they are Yaks. Can anyone confirm this for me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[snolly50]

17 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

confirm

They look like my concept of a "yak," but I don't recall ever seeing one in person. I searched images of yaks and those certainly seem a match. However, the images struck me as portraying larger creatures than I pictured yaks being; obviously an artifact of my yak impoverished store of knowledge.

[JohnJ]

Possibly some type of Asian / water buffalo.

[Ludwigia]

26 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

Possibly some type of Asian / water buffalo.

Yes, they certainly are yakish, as Snolly is suggesting. I think the size is ok, but I'm still not quite sure, since they are molting at the moment.

PS Edit. But now that I've noticed the large goiter between their front legs, I think that you are correct with Asian Water Buffalo.