Spatter Dock surprise

Posted on 2012/11/20 by birds n' bugs

The hunting areas of the Babcock-Webb WMA are open now so I went out to see what there was in the normally closed areas.  While there, I saw a nice group of Spatter Dock or Cow Lily – Nuphar advena in one of the ponds along Tram Grade east of Seaboard Grade.

It was pretty extensive and I took a couple of shots with my D300 which had the Nikkor 70-300mm VR attached.  I just wanted to see if I could find any sort of composition that made it more attractive than just a flower shot.  Looking a little closer, I discovered that I had captured some sort of bee like fly on a flower and a water spider a little lower.

The full size picture wasn’t that impressive, the stems were a little too random for a pattern shot and I couldn’t find a decent angle to get them to frame a flower.  The overall shot looked like this.

and when I zoomed cropped to a bit more than 100%, I discovered the bugs.  Here they are top left and bottom right.

 

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry II

Posted on 2012/11/03 by birds n' bugs

I’m always interested in patterns and often take pictures for myself that show them.  These two were taken in St. Petersburg, Florida at the Dali Museum.  The columns are actually at the performing arts theater next door.

This is from the interior of the museum.  The glass is part of the Enigma of the museum.

And this is the collonade next door.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry

Posted on 2012/11/02 by birds n' bugs

This weeks topic is Geometry and I offer a group of Lacewing eggs which are laid in a spiral.  This is a fairly typical pattern for this insect.  The egg is actually laid with a stalk supporting it above the surface that it is laid on.  In this case, it was a mango on a tree in my yard.

If you look carefully, you can see that there are several little drops of some liquid on each of the stalks.  This is something that is distasteful to ants and helps keep the eggs from being eaten.  This shot doesn’t show the spiral as well but gives a better view of the stalks and liquid.

Posted in animal behavior, Bug, Wordpress Photo Challenge | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign

Posted on 2012/10/29 by birds n' bugs

Foreign is difficult since it only means outside your normal place or experience.  Of course, what is foreign to us is familiar to the locals.  For example, here in Florida we don’t find many reed thatched houses like these in Waresley, Cambridgeshire, UK.

Sure, we come close with the odd Tiki Bar but, these are generally viewed as little more than sheds, not for full time occupation.

But they never have the level of permanence and detail that those of Waresley have.  Look at the screening over the thatching to keep out birds and other pests.  And, look at the detail in the thatch animals placed on the houses.  Do you see the Pheasant on the house on the left and the fox on the one on the right?  Fun to see and a sign of craftsmanship.  Here is a closer view of a squirrel on another house.

So, which is foreign?  Tiki Bar or thatched cottage?

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouettes

Posted on 2012/10/24 by birds n' bugs

This silhouette is a cormorant taking off in the reflection of some condos in Punta Gorda Florida.  It was sunrise and the condos were brightly illuminated.  Their reflection was golden on the ripples of the dead lakes.  As I walked toward the edge of the lake, the cormorant took offense and flew off.

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A walk on the Old Datsun Trail

Posted on 2012/08/05 by birds n' bugs

Today I went down to a state park that I have intended to go to for a long time. It’s the Charlotte Harbor Preserve .  The preserve has several locations on both sides of the Harbor but the locations I went to was on Burnt Store Road just south of the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center.   It has a hiking trail called the Old Datsun Trail after an abandoned truck that used to be there. The truck was removed some time ago.  There is a small parking lot at 12001 Burnt Store Road.  The trail is a closed loop which returns to the parking lot.  In general, it is a firm grass path through pine flatwoods and oak and pine hammocks.  It is a location on the Great Florida Birding Trail.  Here are a couple of shots from along the trail.

   

I was there in the heat of the day and most things were settled down.  There is clear evidence of feral pigs in the area with plenty of rooting along the trail.  I didn’t see any but did find this to be a excellent location for wildflowers.  These are a couple I found along the way.

   

The Yellow one on the left is a Seaside Primrose-Willow – Ludwigia maritima but I don’t know what the other is.  The Seaside Primrose is another of those Florida wildflowers which produces one bloom after another on the same stalk.  In this image, you can see a seed forming below the bloom (notice the ant?) and above it, more buds preparing to open when the bloom is fertilized.

The scenics here were shot with the Nikon P7100 and the flowers with a 105mm f2.8 VR Micro-Nikkor on a D90 body.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth

Posted on 2012/08/03 by birds n' bugs

Two stages of a Fragrant Water Lily. In the first, the bud has just emerged from the water and beginning to open. In the second, it is fully open.

Posted in Park - Babcock Webb WMA, Wildflower, Wordpress Photo Challenge | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A little bitty frog

Posted on 2012/08/02 by birds n' bugs

I went out to the southern end of Oilwell Grade at Babcock Webb the other day. Recent rains had raised the water level a lot and my usual walking path was pretty muddy. Since I was wearing shorts and low shoes, I decided not to go into the underbrush but, I did find this tiny frog on the edge of the road.

It was a cute little thing. About an inch long with legs extended. Those are pine needles that it is sitting on. One hop and it nearly disappeared into the road gravel.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Purple II

Posted on 2012/07/31 by birds n' bugs

A couple more shots on the purple theme. The first two are wildflowers found at the Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area in Punta Gorda FL.

   

The one on the left is a  Meadow Beauty and the one on the right Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass.  The Meadow Beauty is usually a bit paler but, there are a few darker ones I find around a pond in the WMA.  The final purple shot is completely different.  A purple painted Hot Rod from a benefit car show at Muscle Car City in Punta Gorda.

Posted in Event, Park - Babcock Webb WMA, Photography, Wildflower, Wordpress Photo Challenge | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Purple

Posted on 2012/07/27 by birds n' bugs

Well, let’s have some fun with this one.  Last year I went to my local airshow and was shooting the US Navy Blue Angels precision flight team.  As usual, you get a lot that aren’t too good.  In this case, I was trying to catch the team just as they broke from a diamond formation.  The usual shots are kind of static but, the breaks and reforms offer some opportunities for shots I like.  Here is what I got:

Not too exciting.  As I panned, I managed to trip the shutterI missed the break and had them almost exactly in front of the sun.  I was trying to see if there was anything that I could do to make it interesting so started playing with various hue and saturation and individual color sliders.   Suddenly, I ended up with this.

It was a little too wierd and interesting to throw away but, I had no idea what I would ever do with it.  Thanks to this challenge, it can see the light of day.

Posted in Airshow, Wordpress Photo Challenge | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments