Monday in Nature Weekly Photo April 7, 2014

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<p ><strong >Basic Guidelines</strong>: Nature based subject matter. Please, declare captive subjects. Keep your image at/under 700 pixels on the long axis for in-line viewing and try to keep file size under 300kb. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site at Flicker, Photobucket, your own site, etc. Do you have a series of great shots to compliment your post? Please, tell us where they are so we can see them.</p>

<p ><em >In the strictest sense, nature photography should not include hand of man elements. Try to minimize man made features, keep the focus on nature, and let common sense be your guide. <strong >Let's make this a true Photo of the Week and only post 1 image per week.</strong></em></p>

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<p>Salutations,<br>

We spend time in nature because that's one place we love to be. We photograph nature for simple reasons. What happens to the images? What do they do? Sometimes we know what will happen with the days efforts and they go into calendars, slide shows, reports, desk top publishing of Favorite Waterfalls: 2013 Edition, trail guides for the park, an upcoming photo contest, or a new on line portfolio. When the pictures are in our possession they are our own private moments, but when we place them before the eyes of others they take on a life of their own. We don't know what response our images may evoke. We can't worry about it. Go back to the woods, walk softly with goodness in the heart and carry a sharp lens.</p>

<p>We go on the unexpected adventure with an image. It starts with an inquiry, "do you have pictures of flowers?" "Yeah, some, what's up?" So began the little journey of the opener for this week. It started on a pleasant Spring day in the woods with wild orchids a couple of years ago. The sojourn brought it to a very small and new publication about a native plant garden. The magazine is a lovely example of a guy with an idea tapping into the talents of those who wanted to participate and coming up with something to serve a greater good. It was worked hard and he brought his vision to life with a nice balance of text and photography. I'm gratified that a simple image from a nice day was chosen for the first cover of Native Notes. Who knows what good it may bring? Time to go back to the woods.</p>

<p>It's the first April Monday in Nature. Let's see your images spring to life.</p><div></div>

<p>Finally, flowers in the yard. OK... so they are itty-bitty spring ephemerals. But I have flowers in my yard.</p><div></div>

<p>Congratulations, Laura!<br>

Rick, those are tiny, but yes, they are flowers.</p>

<p>On a recent visit to a marshland NWR, I saw what I at first thought was a beaver swimming toward me in a canal. However, upon getting closer, I realized to my dismay, it was a Nutria (Coypu). These are natives of South America and were introduced into the US by fur traders. They are considered pests which cause serious damage to marshlands and other habitats. They pull up plants to eat the roots and convert marshland into open water thus destroying this habitat for the native population of wildlife.</p><div></div>

<p>Some stragglers still hanging around Middle Creek in PA for one reason or another, and I thought the implications of this scene somewhat humorous. It's amazing to see the place now after seeing it during the migration stop-over. Shot during the 'forbidden hours,' so not the greatest of exposures.</p><div></div>

<p>We still have about a foot of snow on the ground in upper Michigan. No flowers yet, but the birds are increasing in number and rumor has it that the robins are here. This female purple finch was in my yard Saturday...</p><div></div>

<p>View inside braincase of humpback whale shot through the foramen magnum. This skull has been on the shore for at least 2 decades.</p><div></div>

<p>We had warmer temps last week and the butterflies were out at Lady Bird Wildflower Center in Austin, </p><div></div>

<p>If you look close you will see the small black spider amongst the Crocuses.</p><div></div>

<p>Edwin - Really excellent image.</p>

<p>Mark, thanks. We used to see big fat Nutria when we lived in Louisiana. I was always surprised that the gators didn't keep their numbers more in check. Maybe they really do, and it's hard to see. There was a push to get people to eat them, but I don't know if it made any headway.<br>

Edwin, that's a view we don't normally see. What an interesting item to have on the shoreline.<br>

Bill J, there are still a few stragglers around this area also. I saw a small group at the bird sanctuary in Green Lane Park (northern Montgomery Co) a few days ago. One year a pair spent the entire year there.</p>

<p>Well the early Gulf migration has finally gotten into gear. White-tail Kites leading the raptor parade. These were shot on a VERY foggy morning.<br /><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nePRy8gP-f4/UvuOAT5oNGI/AAAAAAAABNU/PTjcTp1NvJI/s640/IMG_1901%2520White-tailed%2520Kites.JPG" alt="" width="640" height="501" /></p>

<p>Allen's Hummingbird</p><div></div>

<p>thru the back window</p><div></div>

<p>This little guy seemed quite happy to be alive and ready to sing his lungs out</p><div></div>

<p>Ah, to be in North Vancouver now the skunk cabbage are flowering...</p><div></div>

<p>Osprey with nesting materials, Potato Creek State Park, Indiana<img src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jburzynski68/13652336394/" alt="" /></p>

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<p>Three red diamondbacks in one pile means it must be spring! (the head of nr 3 is underneath rearing nr 1)</p>

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<p>Green sea turtle. Taken a couple of weeks ago while snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, Oahu. Now I am back home in Idaho where it snowed yesterday.</p><div></div>

<p>My image this week was taken yesterday afternoon in my front yard. He was a long ways off and I still cropped to about a 1/4 of the frame.</p><div></div>

<p>Haven't posted here for awhile; not many bugs to photograph over the winter, but they're starting to appear in the garden now. This is one of several Scarlet Tiger (<em>Callimorpha dominula</em>) larvae on the geraniums last week. In a couple of months time they'll be adult moths - rather handsome creatures with dark metallic green wings with white spots and a scarlet underwing.</p><div></div>

A “puget-sound white crowned sparrow”, 04-06-2014, landed on a blackberry-bramble while i was on my

morning walk through the winery vineyard. 1800x1600pxl crop from the original, attached to my i.d. border,

then downsized and converted to 695x695 jpeg.

 

Canon T3i, cr2, iso800, spot meter, Tv at 1/1250,f5.6, Tamron sp70-300, manual focus.<div></div>

<p><strong>Incoming</strong></p>

<p>Mallards on final approach:</p>

<p><a title="Incoming... (Explored) by David Stephens, on Flickr" href=" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5528/13650595414_54e2bae3fb_c.jpg" alt="Incoming... (Explored)" width="800" height="400" /></a></p>

<p>It's a couple of months from wild orchid season here. <br>

I'm very much looking forward to waking to the sounds of nesting pairs and feeder wars, hummers buzzing at my bedroom screens and... having screens at all!<br>

The sun has been shining and I have been actively breaking up the ice in my driveway, so the thaw is on! <br>

Here is how my local beaver dam appears right now. </p>

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<p>Paul De Lay<br>

Those are some healthy looking rattlers. Great shot. </p>

<p>Rick, Laura - Thanks. That skull is one of those things that I, like many of us with different places or things that particularly strike us, return to shoot over and over again.</p>