Monday in Nature, 17 August 2020

Basic Guidelines: In the strictest sense, nature photography should not include "hand of man elements". Please refrain from images with buildings or human made structures like roads, fences, walls. Pets are not permitted. Captive subjects in zoos, arboretums, or aquariums are permitted, but must be declared, and must focus on the subject, not the captivity. Images with obvious human made elements will likely be deleted from the thread, with an explanation to the photographer. Guidelines are based on PSA rules governing Nature photography which also cover the Nature Forum. Keep your image at/under 1000 pixels on the long axis for in-line viewing. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site at Flicker, Photobucket, your own site, etc.

Each member please post no more than just one image to this weekly thread per week.

Great Grey Owl, tightly cropped.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A family of river otters live on the Winchuck River where we were base camped in southern Oregon. Two pups would climb on these logs and wait for adults to bring food. The adults didn't like humans on river bank, making their displeasure known with snorts and splashes.The family was always around in the morning during coffee time and we saw then occasionally in the late afternoon. They are delightful creatures and I was happy to get a few decent photos while respecting their space.

http://gorga.org/blog/wp-content/gallery/2020-08-07/dsc7409.jpg

Meadowhawk (male)

Does anyone know the common name for this plant/flower?

When I saw bill J Boyd's Ladder-backed woodpecker I thought it was a Downy woodpecker, like this one, which is very common where I live. I've never seen the Ladder-backed before.

A family of river otters live on the Winchuck River where we were base camped in southern Oregon. Two pups would climb on these logs and wait for adults to bring food. The adults didn't like humans on river bank, making their displeasure known with snorts and splashes.The family was always around in the morning during coffee time and we saw then occasionally in the late afternoon. They are delightful creatures and I was happy to get a few decent photos while respecting their space.

 

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Otters are my favorite animal to see in the wild! They truly look like they are having fun.

River otter by Tom Yin, on Flickr

Taken during a wilderness canoe camping trip in northern Ontario in May, 1974. This one was part of a family that led us down the river for about 20 minutes. Quality of the slide and scan is not as memorable as the experience!

Sunflowers, one with what looks to me like a beetle, shortly after this morning's smoky sunrise. I live in southeast Idaho and the smoke may well have blown in from Northern California wildfires since there are no, more local, fires that line up with today's southwest wind pattern that extends from Northern California to Idaho and beyond. The sunflowers have not yet finished rotating to align with the sun, thereby maximizing photosynthesis. I read that stems of sunflowers grow more at night — but only on their west side, which is what allows their heads to bend eastward. During the day, the stems’ east side grows, and they bend west with the sun. Sunflowers are supposed to face east at night, but these three seem to be confused.