Nature Photography (Formally Spring is in the Air)

[Gwangi]

I don't have anything against our northern temperate spiders, but they're not as photogenic as yours!

We've got Argiope spiders in North America too.

[triceratops83]

I don't have anything against our northern temperate spiders, but they're not as photogenic as yours!

My favourites are the Jumping Spiders. They come in a dazzling array of colours - bright green and black, zebra striped, White dots and so on. They're delightful too, I'm not the sort to get too close to most spiders, but I'll happily let them crawl around on my hand. And you can get them to chase a laser pointer, that's pretty funny.

We've got Argiope spiders in North America too.

Oh, cool, I didn't know that. Do you call them "St Andrews Cross spiders"?

[Gwangi]

I don't have anything against our northern temperate spiders, but they're not as photogenic as yours!

My favourites are the Jumping Spiders. They come in a dazzling array of colours - bright green and black, zebra striped, White dots and so on. They're delightful too, I'm not the sort to get too close to most spiders, but I'll happily let them crawl around on my hand. And you can get them to chase a laser pointer, that's pretty funny.

We've got Argiope spiders in North America too.

Oh, cool, I didn't know that. Do you call them "St Andrews Cross spiders"?

No, none of the ours make a web like that as far as I'm aware, they're different species. We do have one called a zigzag spider though. It makes a zigzag pattern at the center of its web. I'll have to share some pictures.

[triceratops83]

No, none of the ours make a web like that as far as I'm aware, they're different species. We do have one called a zigzag spider though. It makes a zigzag pattern at the center of its web. I'll have to share some pictures.

Ah, I foolishly assumed they made similar webs.

[Gwangi]

No, none of the ours make a web like that as far as I'm aware, they're different species. We do have one called a zigzag spider though. It makes a zigzag pattern at the center of its web. I'll have to share some pictures.

Ah, I foolishly assumed they made similar webs.

Here are a couple I've photographed over the years. First is a banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata) and the second is a black-and-yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia). I've only ever seen a couple of the banded spiders but the black-and-yellow are very common and I see them often in the summer. There are other species too. Apparently there are some that make X or cross shaped webs here too.

[triceratops83]

Oh wow, the second one in particular is incredibly striking.

[triceratops83]

Some common backyard birds. First a Kookaburra.


My favourite bird, a Magpie (This one looks young). Magpies have a nasty reputation for aggression during the breeding season, in fact I think they've even killed at least two people. I've never had a problem with them here, though.


Crested Pigeons.


Spur-winged Plovers/Masked Lapwings. These things terrified me as a child, they are very territorial and dive bomb you while cackling demonically.


And a Willy Wagtail.


I've been using a Nikon Coolpix S2800 for years which while has been perfect for photographing toy dinosaurs is not the best for wildlife, so I've got a Nikon Coolpix L830 arriving in the mail soon. I was interested in the Nikon P950 but don't have the money to throw at a thousand dollar camera at the moment.

You'll notice my photos have been a bit dark lately - it's been raining every day for the past two months due to three cyclones. My camera works best in strong daylight. So hopefully my new camera will offer clearer images.

[Gwangi]

I can't imagine having kookaburras as common backyard birds. But maybe we have some common backyard birds in North America that Australians are envious of? Thanks for sharing! I also have a  Nikon Coolpix that's at least 15 years old now. I should probably get a new one.

Taking a long overdue trip to my local wildlife refuge tomorrow. Supposed to have nice weather, hopefully I'll have something to share.

[triceratops83]

I can't imagine having kookaburras as common backyard birds. But maybe we have some common backyard birds in North America that Australians are envious of? Thanks for sharing! I also have a  Nikon Coolpix that's at least 15 years old now. I should probably get a new one.

Taking a long overdue trip to my local wildlife refuge tomorrow. Supposed to have nice weather, hopefully I'll have something to share.

The thing I'm really envious of you guys is squirrels. I'd LOVE to have squirrels running around.

Can't wait to see what you get! It's the start of Spring up there, isn't it?

And now for something completely different...

Actually had a few hours of sunshine yesterday afternoon, so I decided to go out and photograph some coral in the rock pools at one of the local beaches.





And I don't know what the hell this is, it was in a different rock pool. It's either coral or a sponge....

...or a glob of radioactive waste that soon mutates into a fishy humanoid that threatens the nearby town by throttling pitchfork wielding farmers and necking teenagers in parked convertibles until the army is called in to destroy it with a brand new state of the art sonic weapon.

[postsaurischian]

 Nothing special, I'm just happy with the first blossoms & bees around our house this year - Spring is in the Air .







                         

[triceratops83]

@postsaurischian - Beautiful shots of bees in mid-flight!

[Gwangi]

I can't imagine having kookaburras as common backyard birds. But maybe we have some common backyard birds in North America that Australians are envious of? Thanks for sharing! I also have a  Nikon Coolpix that's at least 15 years old now. I should probably get a new one.

Taking a long overdue trip to my local wildlife refuge tomorrow. Supposed to have nice weather, hopefully I'll have something to share.

The thing I'm really envious of you guys is squirrels. I'd LOVE to have squirrels running around.

Can't wait to see what you get! It's the start of Spring up there, isn't it?

Wow! Wasn't expecting squirrels! That's an animal that most people take for granted, or even detest. They can be a nuisance if they get into your garage, attic, or whatever. We even have a member on the Animal Toy Forum who had a house fire caused by squirrels. And they can completely empty your bird feeders in short order, the battle to stop them from getting to your bird feeders is never ending. I still like them though, it's nice to have wild animals that are frequently visible and you can enjoy watching, like birds.

It is spring here! I took my daughter out to look for frogs the other night and took some pictures. I'll post them soon. Went to the wildlife refuge too and although I saw a lot of animals most of them were to far off to get decent pictures of.

[triceratops83]

Wow! Wasn't expecting squirrels! That's an animal that most people take for granted, or even detest. They can be a nuisance if they get into your garage, attic, or whatever. We even have a member on the Animal Toy Forum who had a house fire caused by squirrels. And they can completely empty your bird feeders in short order, the battle to stop them from getting to your bird feeders is never ending. I still like them though, it's nice to have wild animals that are frequently visible and you can enjoy watching, like birds.

It is spring here! I took my daughter out to look for frogs the other night and took some pictures. I'll post them soon. Went to the wildlife refuge too and although I saw a lot of animals most of them were to far off to get decent pictures of.

Squirrels do look mischievous, I guess that's what I find appealing. I wouldn't want them to burn down my house, though! We have possums here of course, and they get into the ceiling, but they don't seem as energetic and fun as squirrels.

Are you frog numbers up there suffering from that fungal infection that's playing havoc with them across the globe?

[postsaurischian]

Wow! Wasn't expecting squirrels! That's an animal that most people take for granted, or even detest. They can be a nuisance if they get into your garage, attic, or whatever. We even have a member on the Animal Toy Forum who had a house fire caused by squirrels. And they can completely empty your bird feeders in short order, the battle to stop them from getting to your bird feeders is never ending. I still like them though, it's nice to have wild animals that are frequently visible and you can enjoy watching, like birds.
 

Oh, in Europe they're nice and cute. Ours cannot completely empty the bird feeders which I placed very well for smaller birds and pretty bad for squirrels (... still sometimes they go right up for them, which is okay for me). The top dogs in our garden are the magpies, of which they seem to be afraid of.
I love them a lot, they always put a smile on my face when I see them . Here's one of the two that regularly show up in our garden.

[Gwangi]

The European red squirrel is definitely among the most lovely and adorable of all squirrels @postsaurischian. The one's I'm mostly talking about are the gray squirrels we have in America, which are larger and not quite as nice and cute. I know they're an invasive species in parts of Europe and a threat to your native squirrels. We have the American red squirrel which is small and cute but not as strikingly red as yours, and doesn't have the pointed ear tips. I especially enjoy seeing them.

[Gwangi]

Wow! Wasn't expecting squirrels! That's an animal that most people take for granted, or even detest. They can be a nuisance if they get into your garage, attic, or whatever. We even have a member on the Animal Toy Forum who had a house fire caused by squirrels. And they can completely empty your bird feeders in short order, the battle to stop them from getting to your bird feeders is never ending. I still like them though, it's nice to have wild animals that are frequently visible and you can enjoy watching, like birds.

It is spring here! I took my daughter out to look for frogs the other night and took some pictures. I'll post them soon. Went to the wildlife refuge too and although I saw a lot of animals most of them were to far off to get decent pictures of.

Squirrels do look mischievous, I guess that's what I find appealing. I wouldn't want them to burn down my house, though! We have possums here of course, and they get into the ceiling, but they don't seem as energetic and fun as squirrels.

Are you frog numbers up there suffering from that fungal infection that's playing havoc with them across the globe?

We have the chytrid fungus too but I've never personally encountered it. Our local frog population appears robust and healthy and I'm thankful for it.

[triceratops83]

That squirrel is adorable!

We have the chytrid fungus too but I've never personally encountered it. Our local frog population appears robust and healthy and I'm thankful for it.

Ah that's good to know. I've got a documentary somewhere where they remove the last of the Golden Toad(?) from their native habitat into captivity. None left in the wild.

Here are some more black and white birds.
This looks like a Magpie but is actually a closely related Butcherbird


A Peewee (Magpie Lark)


What I thought was a female Blue-faced Honeyeater, but might be a different subspecies.


One of the more common Jumping Spiders. My new camera has a Macro zoom function - I'd never be able to focus on something this small with my old camera. @Halichoeres - this is one of the spiders I was referring to.

[Gwangi]

I have that documentary too @triceratops83. I think it was Life in Cold Blood. I know it was an Attenborough documentary. They were Panamanian golden frogs (golden toads are another species, and now extinct). I've seen them a couple of different zoos.

Those birds are beautiful! Funny how we have "magpies" and "butcherbirds" too and they're completely unrelated to yours.

[triceratops83]

I have that documentary too @triceratops83. I think it was Life in Cold Blood. I know it was an Attenborough documentary. They were Panamanian golden frogs (golden toads are another species, and now extinct). I've seen them a couple of different zoos.

Those birds are beautiful! Funny how we have "magpies" and "butcherbirds" too and they're completely unrelated to yours.

Actually yeah, it would have been Life in Cold Blood, I've rewatched it in the last year or so. I've got so many BBC docos that I can never remember what was in each. Attenborough's the BOSS. He's probably the person I most look up to (although my fictional hero would be Carl Denham from King Kong.)

I think a lot of Aussie animals were named for their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere. To make up for the fact that the rest of the animals here have no similar relations elsewhere. So they all have weird and unique names.
MARGE - "We have those in America. We call them Bullfrogs."
AUSSIE - "What! That's an odd name. I'd have called 'em Chuzwazzas!"

[Gwangi]

I have that documentary too @triceratops83. I think it was Life in Cold Blood. I know it was an Attenborough documentary. They were Panamanian golden frogs (golden toads are another species, and now extinct). I've seen them a couple of different zoos.

Those birds are beautiful! Funny how we have "magpies" and "butcherbirds" too and they're completely unrelated to yours.

Actually yeah, it would have been Life in Cold Blood, I've rewatched it in the last year or so. I've got so many BBC docos that I can never remember what was in each. Attenborough's the BOSS. He's probably the person I most look up to (although my fictional hero would be Carl Denham from King Kong.)

I think a lot of Aussie animals were named for their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere. To make up for the fact that the rest of the animals here have no similar relations elsewhere. So they all have weird and unique names.
MARGE - "We have those in America. We call them Bullfrogs."
AUSSIE - "What! That's an odd name. I'd have called 'em Chuzwazzas!"

Carl Denham is an interesting fictional hero to have. Would be interested in hearing more about that.

A lot of American animals have names inspired by European animals too. The American robin is not at all related to the European robin for example, but they both have red chests.

Pictures from last week. Did some nighttime frog hunting for spring peepers and New Jersey chorus frogs. The following day I went to my local wildlife refuge. The wildlife refuge is a great place but can be frustrating, most of what you see is too far away to photograph without gigantic lenses that I don't have.











Tundra swans and Canada geese. Swans will be leaving soon to migrate north.



Bald eagle


Muskrat mounds. Didn't see any actual muskrats that day but these are their houses.



Eastern painted turtles





Speaking of squirrels, a couple ground squirrels. Groundhogs aka wood chucks aka whistle pigs.