Monday in Nature Weekly Photo Feb. 10, 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>Good Monday Morning,<br>

There's this little gathering happening over in Russia......The Winter Olympics. For the most part it's got nothing to do with nature, though many events take place outdoors and athletes certainly have to deal with the elements. Russia is a big place full of nature that is inhabited by creatures both real, and mythological.</p>

<p>Leshii (numerous spellings) are woodland spirits of Slavic mythology, protectors of the forest and animals. They appear in many forms from pleasant peasant, an animal, contorted Green Man figure, and even as a large talking mushroom! What's not to love? They can be small or as tall as trees. Leshii have an affinity for wolves and Amanitas, and they appreciate offerings of foods like kashka, blinis, and cookies. They can be tricksters but they don't like folk coming into the forest doing harm. They will lead an antagonist around the forest in endless circles. On the humorous side, they can be warded off by placing shoes on the wrong feet and turning clothing inside out. They come in a demon flavor, with horrible cries and a willingness to tickle a wayward wanderer to death.....oh my. Fortunately for lovers of the forest, Leshii can befriend humans. Perhaps they like cameras and nature photographers, no matter what feet our shoes are on.</p>

<p>This Monday is full of skiing, skating, curling, and whatever good time you have with your camera in nature. It's been harsh out there for a lot of folks, so do take care.</p><div></div>

<p>That's a lovely intriguing shot, Laura - almost abstract. I look at it from various angles and with half closed eyes and I see different things each time! (Is that a leshii behind the tree to the left, or just a big brown bear? :-))</p>

<p>Back in the warm again: in New Zealand, many of the beaches are made of fine black sand, eroded from the volcanic terrain. It's quite a different look to the more usual white or golden sands.</p><div></div>

<p>I visited the Sylvan Heights Bird Park located in Scotland Neck, NC this past weekend. If you love ducks/birds of all types, do yourself a favor and go. They do have a website which you can easily find in a web search. Scotland Neck is in Eastern North Carolina and there's not much around in the way of urbanization. The only spirits here are the ones shared by nature lovers everywhere. </p>

<p>This is *I believe* a South Georgian Pintail, native of South Atlantic islands. There are so many varieties of ducks at Sylvan, I'm not positive of the identification. Nonetheless, it was a very willing participant for a portrait.</p><div></div>

<p>Our lakes are finally frozen over solidly enough to explore areas that are only accessible by boat for the rest of the year. While half the town (so it seemed) was ice fishing, I explored the frozen swamps.</p><div></div>

<p>Winter ... snow, Olympics ... gold, Monday ... MiN. Put the two together and ...</p><div></div>

<p>I am so tired of the cold and snow. So I'm dreaming of crab apples and blue sky.</p><div></div>

<p>American White Pelican in flight (North Texas area)</p><div></div>

<p>A couple of pine cones leaning against a maple caught my eye...</p><div></div>

<p>Mark Kissel, very nice duck! Just curious, is the lens the new Tamron 150-600?<br>

Thanks!<br>

Dick</p>

<p>Mark, I'm wondering the same thing...new lens?<br>

Geoff, that beach really feels warm this morning. One never knows what is lurking in these woods. ;-)</p>

<p>Laura, I like your image very much, especially the vine(?) climbing the one trunk. I can see this as a mural.<br>

Dick</p>

<p>Hi folks, yes, the lens is the new Tamron 150-600. I purchased this lens a week ago and this was the first opportunity I've had to really try it out. The photo was taken at 600mm on a most dreary day. The lighting was really, really poor. This was shot at ISO 1250 and wide open at f/6.3 (f/5-6.3 over the zoom range) giving a shutter speed of 1/640th sec. Post work in LR5.</p>

<p>I think the lens performs very well on static subjects (my normal fare), but I've heard some mixed reviews from the BIF crowd. At 600mm, the excellent VC really helps with handholding, but you'll need to put on your best technique hat to get the most from this lens.</p>

<p>John P, I agree fully....let the warm begin!</p><div></div>

<p>79% of the Great Lakes are frozen over as of yesterday and snow covers something like 25% of the country....so i'm guessing these guy's have had about enough of this snow and cold as well</p><div></div>

<p>More leshii environment</p>

<p>Here's the image -</p>

<p>Having some self-induced technical issues this morning</p><div></div>

<p>Got this from my backyard yesterday. Had to shoot handheld and full zoom.</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17677633-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="633" /></p>

<p><strong>Pre-dawn Sentry</strong></p>

<p><a title="Pre-dawn Sentry by dcstep, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3692/12390939295_fc7235aed3_c.jpg" alt="Pre-dawn Sentry" width="534" height="800" /></a></p>

<p>A blast from the past (aka I haven't been out much).<br>

This is a photo of two cowries (Humpbacked Cowrie, <em>Cypraea mauritana</em> and Reticulated Cowrie, <em>Cypraea maculifera</em>) in a tidal pool on the Big Island of Hawaii. In order to get the shoot I used an off camera flash and a polarizer on my lens. It was the middle of the night so I was juggling with a flashlight in my other hand.<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10900125-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="405" /><br>

Pentax K10D, Pentax F 50mm f2.8 macro</p>

<p>Wow David. Beautiful colors here. (Bird is nice touch too) AJ</p>

<p>Mark Kissel,<br />Thank you for the information on the Tamron 150-600 zoom. I've been considering it myself.<br />There is a nice review of it here for those who may be interested...<br>

<a href="http://dustinabbott.net/2014/01/tamron-sp-150-600mm-f5-6-3-di-vc-usd-review/">http://dustinabbott.net/2014/01/tamron-sp-150-600mm-f5-6-3-di-vc-usd-review/</a><br>

Dick</p>

<p>Greetings from the depths of northern Ontario.<br>

Here is some shale at the Gaspe peninsula in Sept.</p><div></div>

<p>I finally had some time and cooperative, but cold, weather to get some outdoor pictures. I liked the way these vines had braided themselves together.<br>

<img src="http://akgosdenphotos.smugmug.com/Nature/Winter-2014/February/i-47wgLvq/0/700x700/IMG_0360-700x700.jpg" alt="" /><br>

<strong>Canon XSi, Tamron 70-300 vc, f/5.6, 1/500s, iso 800</strong></p>

<p>Hi all,<br>

I haven't been able to be out much lately, but finally got out this weekend. Here is one of nature's least appreciated beauties, probably because of their unfortunate name - the Liverworts. Really, who wants to embrace something called a liverwort? Oh well. This is with my 60mm macro and an LED ringlight. </p><div></div>