Monday in Nature, 13 January 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.

There's a very unusual geologic event occurring at the Great Salt Lake in the past few days. Some mineral springs have been exposed by unusually low water, and, combined with cold but not stormy weather, the conditions have been right for the development of some Mirabilite deposits. Expectations are that changes in the weather, waves due to storms, or some combination of other factors will result presently in dissolution of the deposits. Given the very ephemeral nature of the event we went out to Great Salt Lake State Park yesterday to witness and photograph the deposits. Sadly, there was heavy cloud cover, imminent snow, crowds of people, and careful management of access under the watchful eyes of park rangers. We had the foresight to bring along a powerful flashlight for some detail lighting, but otherwise the light was extremely flat. Still, the D810 + Micro-Nikkor 105mm/2.8 was able to capture some interesting images of the crystal structures. It's fascinating to consider that this mineral normally dissolves to dust in a matter of minutes when exposed to atmosphere, but these structures were, at least temporarily, sufficiently stable to allow extended observation and photography.

Burrowing Owl found in Austin, Texas. Shot with Nikon D850 using a Tamron 150-600mm (at 600mm)

Spring is approaching. It is nest-building season.

 

Canada Goose Flies Close In Morning Light by David Stephens, on Flickr

Dawn Patrol at Staten Island, CA

Barrow's Goldeneye, Sacramento County California