Nature Photography (Formally Spring is in the Air)

[Doug Watson]

That's funny. Similarly, I moved in with a roommate around 15 years back and as I was unpacking he saw my binoculars and said, "What the hell are those for?" I said, "Watching birds, of course!" and he nodded and said, "You're the only person in the world I'd believe that from." Of course, he didn't know you guys.

The last time I was a bit self conscious about this type of thing was back in 1986 when Halley's Comet was visible up here. I was walking around in my neighbourhood in the middle of the night with my binoculars trying not to look like a peeper.

[Doug Watson]

I'm nothing if not persistant so I finally got some Blue Jay shots.

Blue Jay, there are actually two in this shot.


Blue jay


American Goldfinch winter plumage.

[Gwangi]

Yay! Great shots you got there.

[Doug Watson]

Yay! Great shots you got there.

Thanks, and no police were called!

[Gwangi]

Yay! Great shots you got there.

Thanks, and no police were called!

That's always a good thing. Did you use a blind?

[Doug Watson]

That's always a good thing. Did you use a blind?

No, I just moved very slowly, I actually cranked off a few more shots but these were the best. You can see in that one shot the bird has noticed me and was just about to split.

[Gwangi]

That's always a good thing. Did you use a blind?

No, I just moved very slowly, I actually cranked off a few more shots but these were the best. You can see in that one shot the bird has noticed me and was just about to split.

Yes, it does look a little tensed up in that last picture.

[Halichoeres]

Envious of your photography skills, both of you! I'm garbage at taking pictures of birds. I got a few when I was in Colombia, but they don't really seem to be appropriate for the winter phase of this thread.

[Doug Watson]

Envious of your photography skills, both of you! I'm garbage at taking pictures of birds. I got a few when I was in Colombia, but they don't really seem to be appropriate for the winter phase of this thread.

I would like to see them!

[Viking Spawn]

Great work done on getting some beautiful shots of those elusive birds!   I never had any luck with them.  Quick little boogers! 

[Gwangi]

Envious of your photography skills, both of you! I'm garbage at taking pictures of birds. I got a few when I was in Colombia, but they don't really seem to be appropriate for the winter phase of this thread.

I would like to see them!

Likewise, some tropical birds might be nice to see actually.

[Newt]

Here are some photos from a recent hike in Big Hill Pond State Park, in the southern part of West Tennessee, very near the Mississippi border. I only had a couple of hours of daylight to spend here, but I had an enjoyable walk in the southern part of the park, across a boardwalk running through Dismal Swamp and up a hill with lots of sandstone boulders. It's always nice to get such different landforms in one short walk.

A bit of baldcypress swamp.


The swamp had some definite vegetation zones that were not noticeably dependent on hydrology - the wetness seemed pretty uniform throughout, but the baldcypress-dominated area was quite small, with other zones dominated by tupelo, cane, sweetgum, or various oaks.

Crossvine.


Cranefly orchid. If you look closely, you can see the brilliant purple underside of some of the leaves.


Greenbrier leaf with leaf mines.


Greenbrier fruit.


Old man's beard lichen.


Resurrection fern, in a tree...


...and on sandstone boulders.




This boulder-strewn hilltop with its gnarly trees seemed like it belonged in the Ozarks or the Cumberland Plateau, not the cotton-infested Coastal Plain...


An oddly-decayed sandstone outcrop.


Some lichens and mosses growing on the stones.






A native philomycid slug among the fruiting bodies of a false turkeytail fungus.


The real turkeytail fungus, in two of its many color phases.




At the top of the hill was a lookout tower, about 60 feet high. I happened to get there near dusk.

[Doug Watson]

Here are some photos from a recent hike in Big Hill Pond State Park, in the southern part of West Tennessee, very near the Mississippi border. I only had a couple of hours of daylight to spend here, but I had an enjoyable walk in the southern part of the park, across a boardwalk running through Dismal Swamp and up a hill with lots of sandstone boulders. It's always nice to get such different landforms in one short walk.

Great shots Newt, makes me wish for spring, supposedly another 15 cm of white stuff on the way.
I never get tired of bald cypress swamps the ones I have seen have been in South Carolina and Florida and I always get a kick out of seeing resurrection fern when we are down there.
That pic of those sandstone boulders could be right off of our ski trail here. I have taken a few shots of our dogs perched on similar boulders. They always have that beautifully contrasting moss growing on them. If I can't find them I'll take a shot this spring when the snow melts.

[tyrantqueen]

We had yet more flooding here. The lake had burst its banks quite severely.

The red arrow in this photo shows where the usual edge of the water is



Some of it spilled over the paths



Also, snowdrops

[Doug Watson]

Winter is still in the air. We just got over 19 inches of snow in one day yesterday. That is a lot even for us, the most since 1912 and takes third place overall in the record books. I spent the evening digging and pushing my wife's Mini out when she got stuck on our road trying to get home because the ploughs hadn't passed.
Seems our city road crews have forgotten we live in Canada. In all my years I have never seen such poor road clearing. In the past the ploughs would at least pass once during the day so people would have a shot at reaching their homes. A lot of cars are still stranded and of course that now makes it hard for the ploughs to pass. Its amazing I know we have more roads now but we also have more people paying higher taxes you would think they could buy a few more ploughs?

This is looking out my back door.

[laticauda]

Winter is still in the air. We just got over 19 inches of snow in one day yesterday. That is a lot even for us, the most since 1912 and takes third place overall in the record books. I spent the evening digging and pushing my wife's Mini out when she got stuck on our road trying to get home because the ploughs hadn't passed.
Seems our city road crews have forgotten we live in Canada. In all my years I have never seen such poor road clearing. In the past the ploughs would at least pass once during the day so people would have a shot at reaching their homes. A lot of cars are still stranded and of course that now makes it hard for the ploughs to pass. Its amazing I know we have more roads now but we also have more people paying higher taxes you would think they could buy a few more ploughs?

This is looking out my back door.


Great shot.  Looks like typical winter snow for me.  I live across from a school, and the plows only clear our road after all the main highways and routes are done.  Even then they do many other side streets before the ever get to my street, which I find surprising, since school buses pick up and drop off kids right in front of our house. 

[Gwangi]

We finally got snow too, but not even a fraction of that amount. Maybe 4"? But it was a mess on Tuesday. Warm weather along with snow, sleet, and rain led to a lot of slush on the roads and a lot of accidents. When I shoveled my driveway there was standing water under the snow. I was shoveling water! Naturally this all led to a lot of ice once the temperature dropped.

[Doug Watson]

Great shot.  Looks like typical winter snow for me.  I live across from a school, and the plows only clear our road after all the main highways and routes are done.  Even then they do many other side streets before the ever get to my street, which I find surprising, since school buses pick up and drop off kids right in front of our house. 

It has actually been a pretty easy winter this is only our second big storm the difference here is the amount we got in one day. Because they waited until the end of the day to plough the plough that finally showed up while I was still digging my wife out got stuck. He freed himself but he had a hard time. We got way more snow last year and have had even more in years past. We used to get way better road clearing service in years past

Here are a couple shots from 2007-2008 the most we have had since I moved from Quebec. We got even more once in Quebec back in the seventies.
I think this is the last year I shovelled my lane, after this I got a snow removal service. In the summer I would have to jump up to reach the lower branches on the tree behind me. I named this pile of snow Mt. Pushmore.


My wife standing on the road with our house behind us.

[Doug Watson]

We finally got snow too, but not even a fraction of that amount. Maybe 4"? But it was a mess on Tuesday. Warm weather along with snow, sleet, and rain led to a lot of slush on the roads and a lot of accidents. When I shoveled my driveway there was standing water under the snow. I was shoveling water! Naturally this all led to a lot of ice once the temperature dropped.

The wet stuff is the worst, like shovelling mixed cement. We were lucky that the snow stayed dry and fluffy so when the plough filled in the end of the lane with over three feet of snow it wasn't too hard to dig out so I could get her car in the lane. Luckily a neighbour let me park in his lane until the plough cleared the road.

[Gwangi]

Well I can't complain too much, it's the first time I've had to shovel this year and....

It was just enough snow to make everything pretty. Just got back from a 3 mile hike with the dog.