Monday in Nature Weekly Photo April 13, 2015

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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. Feel free to link your image to a larger version.<br>

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<p>Greetings,<br>

I hope you've had a great week getting out in nature with your camera. Hopefully signs of spring are working their way into northern latitudes. Maybe summer's grip is letting go for those down south. I recently found some of my feathered friends in pieces by the lake. One life gone, another nourished. It's nature's way.</p>

<p>Nature has many ways, and they all have a place at Monday in Nature. Which way are you going?</p><div></div>

<p>Very nice pic Laura.<br>

How not to take a picture of the natural world. 1. Use a telezoom at its longest, weakest focal length. 2. Don't use a tripod. 3. Crop massively. But you do get a sinking sun, with differential refraction on the top and bottom making it a strange shape. </p><div></div>

<p>Found this strange shape in the yard. Vascularization of grass raments. Stacked image.</p><div></div>

<p>Dead wood from this weekend's hike along the Appalachian Trail.</p><div></div>

<p>This is the 5th consecutive year that a Great Horned Owl has built her nest in the same location at Lady Bird Wildflower Center in Austin. Nest is located in a planter 10-feet directly above the entrance. Thousands of people walk under the nest every day and it does not bother the owl family. I have been watching the nest for weeks and this year there are 2 owlets. </p><div></div>

<p>This is from a walk through the dunes on Lake Michigan's western shore. Sun and rain will bring the green back to these grasses, and later we'll see flowers. But winter has left the water temperatures very cold.</p><div></div>

<p>From a spring walk in the woods.</p><div></div>

<p>It is always interesting to see what catches the attention in Nature. Some fascinating shots! Here is a hooded merganser who should by rights be north American only but seems to have got to the UK somehow.</p><div></div>

<p>This common loon turned up at our lake only to be consumed two days later by the newly arrived alligator - very sad. EOS 7D2 + EF 500mm f/4L IS II + x2 II; 1/400s at f/8 ISO 2000.</p><div></div>

<p>Middle of last week, the ice on the pond across the road was just beginning to melt when this heron stopped to look for a meal(pond is now ice free and the swallows are picking out nest boxes)</p><div></div>

<p>Wrong one</p><div></div>

<p><strong>Blue-winged Teal Pair In Flight</strong></p>

<p><a title="Blue-winged Teal Pair In Flight by David Stephens, on Flickr" href=" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8687/16451049124_483752de4e_c.jpg" alt="Blue-winged Teal Pair In Flight" width="800" height="800" /></a></p>

<p>Grasses in northern California and fun with my new macro lens. . .</p><div></div>

<p>Very nice Laura, and all of these images have transported me momentarily away from struggling with a nasty head/chest cold. HOM subtleties aside, I thought this conveyed the idea that when life passes it can still nourish. </p><div></div>

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18003862-md.jpg" alt="6D_venus 354" width="680" height="453" border="0" /></center>

<p>Allen's hummingbird (<em >Selasphorus sasin</em>) feeding on Grevillea at the University of California, Santa Cruz Arboretum. Nikon D7200 with 600mm lens. <br /></p>

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The UCSC Arboretum specializes in southern hemisphere plants, and grevillea is native to Australia. Of course hummingbirds presently only appear naturally in the Americas. Therefore, this is not a exactly an natural combination.

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<p>female robin looking for worms and nesting material in my backyard</p><div></div>

<p>Plenty of extraordinary shots this week!</p>

<p>Condolences for a snow goose and a loon who've rejoined the great cycle, and welcome to Bill's two owlets as well as Colin's adventurous traveler who's clearly eager to meet the locals. Down here in southern California, every winter eight or nine hooded mergansers stop over by a small water reservoir near work - but they are super wary and have always stayed far away from my hopeful lens.</p>

<p>David mega kudos for your bluewings in flight, you didn't just catch two of the nimblest fliers in the duck family, but even nailed focus spot on despite their heads-on approach!</p>

<p>From a lot further away and pretty fuzzy despite being far easier to track in flight, here's a red-throated loon crossing the levees at Bolsa Chica wetlands, where it has made its winter/spring home this year.</p>

<p>Fortunately for it, we have no 'gators on this side of the continent. But we did have a common loon fatality in these same wetlands a few months ago due to causes unknown ... could have been killed by bad weather? lost a fight with a bad-tempered rival? or swallowed a fish with a hook inside?</p><div></div>

<p>Canada geese, probably a nesting pair, Iowa.</p>

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<p>The Western Orangetip is a new butterfly to our garden. A real challenge, as it as it settles only briefly on a flower. Got the Nikon 80-400mm out for this skittish guy.</p><div></div>

<p>Here come the Pelicans. Over the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oregon.</p><div></div>

<p>a lacewing preparing to deposit an egg on a dried fern frond</p><div></div>

<p>A patient and tolerant iguana I met on the beach.</p><div></div>

<p>Foggy sunrise</p><div></div>

<p>What a surprise when I found that a hummingbird had built its nest in one of my backyard pear trees. This was a good time to try out an ultimate long lens rig that I'd been putting together. A number of years ago a used Questar 3.5" telescope came into my hands at a price I could afford. It's possible to remove a plug from these scopes and connect a camera for a 1400mm focal length, but only f/11. Got the rig together, mounted on top my old Tiltall tripod and was set. The camera used was a Nikon D3200, the scope only covers a crop sensor and it's not too heavy for the astro mount.<br>

It was very difficult even finding the nest in the finder from 25 feet away with such high magnification. This is a lens for stationary subjects only. Sharpness seems good, I'm seeing single strands of spider silk in the nest structure.<br>

Location, Southern Vancouver Island. Not sure if the bird is an Anna's or a Rufous. Lots of Anna's in the area so that's probably what it is.</p><div></div>