Monday in Nature Weekly Photo July 14, 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. Feel free to link your image to a larger version.<br>

<strong><em>In the strictest sense, nature photography should not include hand of man elements. Please refrain from images with obvious buildings or large structures. A bird on the fence or bug on your finger is fine. Try to minimize man made features, keep the focus on nature, and let common sense be your guide. Let's post 1 image per week.</em> </strong>Guidelines details<em> are <a href="/nature-photography-forum/00cgtY">here</a>.</em><br>

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<p>Monday Morning Greetings,<br>

There have been surprises of all kinds while out enjoying nature this last week. Everything from the chance meeting of a nature photographer whose work I've admired to the mutually startling encounter with a Timber Rattler. Yikes! Nature is full of surprises and I hope you've all had your share of good ones. You had a camera with you, right? These are droplets of exuding from a thick mycelial mat in a very decayed log. A pretty surprise indeed.</p>

<p>What surprises do you have for Monday in Nature?</p><div></div>

<p>Saw this butterfly in Austin.</p><div></div>

<p>Nikkor 55mm Micro on Nikon F3; Kodak C-41 film @ EI 400.</p>

<p><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2930/14635884461_1f0f550215_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="432" /></p>

<p>Black-tailed Hare ("Jackrabbit"), Yolo County California</p>

<p><img src="http://www.wildlightphoto.com/mammals/leporidae/lepus/bthare06.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Despite deer being a common sight around here , I think we were both momentarily surprised when I walked out the basement door last week and found her grazing nearby.</p><div></div>

<p>Fantastic photo Douglas, love the back lighting on those ears.</p>

<p>Douglas - Gordon is right, great image<br>

Mine is somewhat of a panoramic image of a slime mold (<em>Hemitrichia calyculata</em>) about 2-3mm tall. The image is stacked using 10 images.</p><div></div>

<p>Beautiful and fascinating shots as ever. This shot was not really a surprise as Arctic Terns always attack anything near their nests and as this one's nest was near the path it duly dived on to us. So it is difficult to avoid getting pictures like this and hats are always a good idea around Arctic Terns.</p><div></div>

<p>Lovely exposures here this week.</p>

<p>No matter what, nature is perfect.</p><div></div>

<p>that is some cool looking fungi Matthew.....nice shot</p>

<p>this blackbird was pestering me while taking sunrise shots at the lake saturday morning....as colorful as the sunrise was this was one of the better shots of the morning......:)</p><div></div>

<p>A joy as always to begin the work week with a scroll through Nature. This one is from my archives -</p><div></div>

<p>Hummer in motion. Image was captured from my deck yesterday afternoon...</p><div></div>

<p>Last week strolling around Golden Gate Park in San Francisco I stumbled on the classic / stereotypical Robin with a worm in its beak</p><div></div>

<p>Bill, looks like a Gulf Fritillary. Beautiful creatures. I'm back to dragonflies this week, with an Eastern Pondhawk snacking on an Eastern Amberwing. This is some of the drama that takes place at a small pond in the middle of a park in the city, equally as exciting as the peregrine hunting in the marshes or the lion hunting its prey, only on a much smaller (and more accessible) scale.</p><div></div>

<p>No where near as spectacular as Matthew's fungi, a small white fungus on a decaying log.</p><div></div>

<P>I like Douglas' rabbit ears also; they look translucent.</P>

<p>Pelican landing</p><div></div>

<p><strong>Rodger,</strong><br>

Many thanks for the ID. It was taken at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. I am there almost every morning and always find interesting bits of Nature to photograph....bb</p>

<p>Bull frog.</p><div></div>

<p>Matthew Brennan, welcome to MiN. Nice shot of a very fine looking growth.<br>

I too like those ears on Douglas's hare.</p>

<p>Well, I got to snap some pictures of an insect I'd only seen in pictures till now. So that was a pleasant surprise for me. You can click on the image to see it larger.<a href="/photo/17812943&size=lg"><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17812943-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="680" /></a></p>

<h1>Peruvian Shield Mantis (Choeradodis rhombicollis)</h1>

<p>A visitor at my balcony;</p><div></div>

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17803968-md.jpg" alt="60D_150macro 745" width="680" height="453" border="0" /></center>

<p>Hello everyone, what wonderful nature shots this morning.<br>

Laura, what a beautiful shot. Reminds me of water drops :)<br>

Douglas, beautiful shot with fantastic detail<br>

Rick, can't believe I am going to say this but I love your slime mold !<br>

Siegfried, what a beautiful shot .<br>

I am still out shooting the hummers in my garden. I was so fortunate that this young male Ruby Throat stopped for an ever so brief moment in just in right spot. </p>

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<p>This was a surprise that I even got the shot....</p><div></div>

<p>Everybody's a little chary of the backyard deer, given attacks on students on campus by deer who may be suffering from chronic wasting disease (CWD)--transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)</p><div></div>