Nature Photography (Formally Spring is in the Air)

[Pilkington]

You know it's spring where I live when you start to see the Turkey Vultures migrating.

Small group:


Close up:


Last month the bay was completely frozen over and there was a spot of open water where the ducks and gulls gathered to fish. 

Open water:


Blue Heron and some Red-breasted Merganser Ducks:


Blue Heron:


From last week

Canada Geese:


Tundra Swans:


The Wild Turkeys that roam my neighborhood:

I've seen the Turkeys a couple of times this year but never seem to have my camera with me, this one is from my phone so the quality isn't great.

A better picture of some of the Turkeys from two years ago:

This was taken while I was standing on my front porch. 

[Newt]

Nice bird shots, Pilkington!

This thread's getting a little too endoskeleton-y. Here are some big red paper wasps (Polistes spp., probably either P. carolina or P. rubiginosus). Apparently I interrupted some sort of menage a trois.


A handsome xystodesmid millipede out in the rain.

[Balaur]

Lovely pictures! I can't imagine how hard it must be to take such good pictures. And the fauna where I'm at consists of the occasional hummingbird and the always present house sparrow. 

[Gwangi]

Nice shots Pilkington, the heron walking on the ice in particular. Cool to see all those mergansers packed unto what little open water there is.

The xystodesmid millipede and paper wasps are beautiful Newt! The paper wasps almost look fake. I'll get some inverts in here too, once I find some more interesting ones.

[Newt]

Thanks Gwangi!

Balaur -

It's not so difficult if you have a decent camera and some patience. I, for one, barely know an f-stop from an F sharp, but my trusty Canon does most of the work. The beauty of digital cameras is that taking pictures costs nothing, so snap away. Some of them will be good! As you become more skilled, the percentage of good ones will go up.

As for finding your subjects, just keep your eyes open! It's amazing what you'll find if you look, even in urban wastelands. I was once walking through a thoroughly urban shopping district in Nashville when I found a huge, beautiful cecropia moth clinging to the wall of a drugstore!

[Gwangi]

Honestly the majority of my pictures look like crap, it's only because I take so many that I end up with at least a few good ones. And yeah, there is far more wildlife out there than you may realize. These spring peeper frogs I take pictures of are the size of my thumb nail, most people never even see one but I put forth the effort to track them down and that's half the fun anyway. There are a lot of cool critters out there, just most of them are secretive and want nothing to do with humans. Can't say I blame them!

[Newt]

Bessbug, AKA Patent-leather Beetle. This male was blundering around a rotten stump in my garden.


A congregation of fingernail-sized Eastern Tailed Blue butterflies near a small mud puddle.


Northern Zigzag Salamander, leadback phase, found under a rock in a gully.


Cave Salamander, from under a different rock in the same gully.

[Gwangi]

That cave salamander is stunning! I've been doing a ton of herping the last couple weeks, the vernal pools and small ponds have exploded! Needless to say I have a ton of pictures to share, I just have to upload them. Spring peepers, wood frogs, American toads, eastern newts, Jefferson salamanders, spotted salamanders, northern two-lined, dusky and red-backed salamanders. An orange crayfish, giant water bug, predaceous water beetle and some breeding garter and DeKay's brown snakes will all be posted, sooner than later I hope! 

[Gwangi]

The last few weeks have been intense in western NY. Tons of herp activity! Most of my spare time has been dedicated to seeking out vernal pools and snake hunting and I've come back with some stories to tell and a ton of pictures. I have too much to share at once so I'll start by posting frogs first.

Wood Frogs




Green Frog


Spring Peepers






American Toads




Northern Leopard Frog

[Doug Watson]

The last few weeks have been intense in western NY. Tons of herp activity! Most of my spare time has been dedicated to seeking out vernal pools and snake hunting and I've come back with some stories to tell and a ton of pictures. I have too much to share at once so I'll start by posting frogs first.

Great shots, are you still getting most of these at night? I am surprised the peepers keep peeping with a giant potential predator standing in front of them.
I am amazed how different our Leopard frogs are in colour. We get green and brown varieties but our greens are bright green and our browns are brown we don't get that olive colour you get.

[Doug Watson]

Bessbug, AKA Patent-leather Beetle. This male was blundering around a rotten stump in my garden.
A congregation of fingernail-sized Eastern Tailed Blue butterflies near a small mud puddle.
Northern Zigzag Salamander, leadback phase, found under a rock in a gully.
Cave Salamander, from under a different rock in the same gully.

Great bug and amphibian shots Newt. I agree with Gwangi that Cave Salamander is a pretty species, we don't get it up here.

[Gwangi]

The last few weeks have been intense in western NY. Tons of herp activity! Most of my spare time has been dedicated to seeking out vernal pools and snake hunting and I've come back with some stories to tell and a ton of pictures. I have too much to share at once so I'll start by posting frogs first.

Great shots, are you still getting most of these at night? I am surprised the peepers keep peeping with a giant potential predator standing in front of them.
I am amazed how different our Leopard frogs are in colour. We get green and brown varieties but our greens are bright green and our browns are brown we don't get that olive colour you get.

Yeah, most of the frog shots are at night. Most of the peepers have the sense to shut up but a few just keep on going. They only have one thing on their mind, come what may! And yes, the leopard frogs are extremely variable. I was having a hard time IDing this one because it looks very much like a pickerel frog too but it is indeed a leopard. Huge one too! A lot of large ones at this location. Most of the ones I see are small and bright green like this one I photographed last year...

[Gwangi]

Alright, now it's time for salamanders.

Northern Dusky






Northern Two-lined




Eastern Red-backed


Spotted Salamanders








Jefferson Salamanders








Eastern Newts

[Halichoeres]

Wow, what an embarrassment of salamanders! That's fantastic.

[Newt]

Wow, great shots Gwangi! Nice to see some northern critters we don't get down here.

The weather here's been very, very wet. The treefrogs, cricket frogs, and bullfrogs are already chorusing, but some of the early frogs - peepers, leopards, American toads - are still calling too. I'm surprised I haven't heard any spadefoots (spadefeet?); they love deluges.

[Doug Watson]

Wow, great shots Gwangi! Nice to see some northern critters we don't get down here.

The weather here's been very, very wet. The treefrogs, cricket frogs, and bullfrogs are already chorusing, but some of the early frogs - peepers, leopards, American toads - are still calling too. I'm surprised I haven't heard any spadefoots (spadefeet?); they love deluges.

It was warm last week, now it is raining and getting colder and we have snow in the forcast

[Newt]

I had to bring my tomato seedlings in last night, but thankfully no frost or snow for us.

There's a definite eastern North American bias in this thread. Come on, guys, I know this forum has members all over the world! Let's see some Old World wildlife! Neotropical! Heck, even western North American would do!

[Gwangi]

Wow, great shots Gwangi! Nice to see some northern critters we don't get down here.

The weather here's been very, very wet. The treefrogs, cricket frogs, and bullfrogs are already chorusing, but some of the early frogs - peepers, leopards, American toads - are still calling too. I'm surprised I haven't heard any spadefoots (spadefeet?); they love deluges.

It was warm last week, now it is raining and getting colder and we have snow in the forcast

We also have snow forcasted, but no accumulation predicted. Gonna slow down my herping though. Maybe I'll get the snake pictures up. I've had a lot of good fortune snake hunting the last few days.

[Gwangi]

I had to bring my tomato seedlings in last night, but thankfully no frost or snow for us.

There's a definite eastern North American bias in this thread. Come on, guys, I know this forum has members all over the world! Let's see some Old World wildlife! Neotropical! Heck, even western North American would do!

Agreed. Personally I've always found European wildlife interesting and I know we have a lot of European members on here. I'm calling you guys out! Why isn't anyone taking nature photos?

[Newt]

Well, while them furriners are getting their act together, I'll post some more faunae floraeque (that's Latin for "varmints 'n' weeds") from the limy, tree-infested interior of the mid-southern karstlands.

Clearwing sphinx moth, snoozing on leafcup


Thread-legged bug, lurking on fire pink


Juvenile eastern ribbon snake, intertwined with mouse-ear chickweed


Tiny juvenile ringneck snake amongst the leaf litter


All these were taken on a nice local trail. It's a "rails to trails" project, whereby old railroad grades are paved to serve as walking/biking trails. This particular one runs between a steep wooded slope with many rock outcrops, rock shelters, and little waterfalls on one side, and a low swampy slough on the other.