Monday in Nature Weekly Photo July 7, 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.</em></strong><em> 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></p>

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<p>Good Morning,<br>

"The Complete History of Guam" was first published in 1964. Animals of the island are covered in 3 pages. Birds are not mentioned. While the Norway Brown Rat and African Snails are mentioned, there is a statement that hints at the calamity already under way. "To prevent the introduction of dangerous reptiles to the island, special care is taken in the unloading of cargo from visiting vessels." Brown Tree Snakes made their way to the island in the '40s. With no natural enemies they eliminated most of the forest bird population. 7 of the islands native bird species are extinct. 2 are extirpated in the wild. 6 species are rare and 3 are uncommon. On the sidelines lizard species have been decimated. In the absence of birds, spiders have flourished.</p>

<p>Kudzu was introduced to parts of southeastern United States to help control soil erosion. It took to the climate and the fast growing vine became a bigger problem than erosion. Bushtail Possums were introduced to New Zealand from Australia to establish a fur trade. Burmese Pythons are a menace in the Everglades and south Florida. For varying reasons plants and animals leave the limits of predation, diet, and climate and make homes in new environments to the detriment of native species. Now what? There's no easy answer. Toxic mice for the snakes on Guam and gloves made in New Zealand from a Merino/Possum wool mix. Norway Maples are among the prettiest of autumn trees, but they are an invasive species in many places. Garlic Mustard, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry and Stiltgrass are common in our woods, yet are all invasives. What does it all mean for us as photographers? We're out there and we see the changes in nature. Many embrace the problems and try to document the effects as well as potential solutions. Education is visual. Photos show the difference between the similar Stiltgrass, Smartweed, and a native Virginia grass. Photography helps us see and photos help us understand what we're looking at.</p>

<p>The opener this week is of a small botanic battle between native and invasive species. Japanese Stiltgrass and <em>Impatiens</em> <em>Capensis</em> vie for position and dominance in a wet area where both can thrive. As a side note, I had planned this topic for awhile as I've been watching some efforts to deal with invasive plants at a nearby sanctuary. Last week's comments about noxious weeds were quite timely!</p>

<p>Welcome to another Monday in Nature. What's happening in your end of the natural world?</p><div></div>

<p>Well, ragwort is a spreading invasive unpleasant for stock in the UK - and here it is being heavily grazed by larvae of the cinnabar moth. Here it's in the middle of a nature reserve of fixed dunes which are just splendid for orchids around now.</p><div></div>

<p>Was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this rare creature at a recent Celtic festival. Was wondering if anyone could identify it. (Ok, I know I'm not technically within the guidelines of the forum, but it's kinda funny eh?)</p><div></div>

<p>Some say our honeybees are decreasing in numbers. Are pathogens responsible? Weather? Invasive species? I don't know, but I was glad to see an abundance yesterday during my outing.</p>

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<p>A hen and her ducklings going for an early morning swim.</p><div></div>

<p>A view from my patio in Austin. </p><div></div>

<p>John - Nice<br /> Bill - While I do have a sense of humor, I think No Words is for that type of image, not Monday in Nature<br /> Two slime molds from me. The white is <em>Stemonitis</em> forming its sporangia. The yellow is a color morph of <em>Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa.</em><br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>A rather strange gummy film from the Icelandic tundra that covers grass and moss that had emerged from deep snow within the past few days. Danish sugar cube for scale.</p><div></div>

<p>Nuts - Dislike glitches</p><div></div>

<p>Rick,<br>

No intent to offend anyone, and Laura can feel free to remove the image, but the humor for me at least was in including the image in the Nature forum given the individual pictured is apparently trying to portray some sort of animal. But I understand we don't all share the same tastes.<br>

Bill</p>

 

<p>Waiting for the bees. Canon VI-T and 3.5cm f3.5 Summaron; Kodak "Gold" C-41@EI 400, incident-metered.</p>

<p><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3911/14594781112_fcc79b0ce2_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="691" /></p>

<p>European Skippers taking a drink from the moss at the edge of the pond. The European Skipper was accidentally introduced through contaminated timothy seed in 1910. For about a week each year, the ground around here is orange with them.</p><div></div>

<p><img src="http://www.http//www.photo.net/photo/17808713" alt="" /></p><div></div>

<p>Mother Swan over looking her young</p><div></div>

<p>typical kid having it's picture taken</p><div></div>

<p>Ring-neck snake </p><div></div>

<p><strong>BUNNY BATTLE!</strong><br>

<strong> </strong></p>

<p><a title="First Strike by David Stephens, on Flickr" href=" src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2897/14608280353_1f23913a61_c.jpg" alt="First Strike" width="800" height="534" /></a></p>

<p>Great shots everyone. <br>

Especially liked Thom's Fawn<br>

Gordon's Snake shot<br>

David's Rabbits </p>

<p>An image from my week in Monterey.</p><div></div>

<p>Shy squirrel oberrving:</p><div></div>

<p>A rain dropped daisy</p><div></div>

<p>Great shots everyone and a second thumbs up for Thom's fawn!<br>

Laura- great topic and highly controversial. Indeed many species now considered "invasive" were introduced and encouraged by humans and their activities. You mentioned multi-flower rose - many times introduced for food and cover crops by wildlife agencies years ago and spread by the seeds passing thru birds. <br>

Bill, Your previous mention of Austin Tx. being over run with deer prompted a web search and found that Austin city council passed a "no feed ordinance" in 2009 and some areas ( Lakewood) are employing "trap and transfer". Other areas are considering controversial lethal means of using "sharp shooters" as has been done by National Park Service in Gettysburg Pa. in order to control over population in small areas. The local SUNY @ Binghamton proposed similar control measures for their adjoining wildlife preserve and met strong resistance and at this point is "under further review".<br>

Cayuga Lake- battling invasive aquatic plant, the Great Lakes and zebra mussels and Asian carp -the lists goes on and on ...<br>

Bob</p><div></div>

<p>Laura wrote:"Kudzu was introduced to parts of southeastern United States to help control soil erosion."<br>

The Brahma was introduced to the same area for two reasons. First its thick hide which resists stinging and biting insects, and secondly because the Brahma's rumen is smaller and thus produces less heat making the animal more comfortable in higher heat. That last is why you see Brahma cattle eating at all times when the European is lying in the shade.<br>

A Brahma cow in her natur(e)al setting? ;)<br>

<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bDQYcw4A-BI/U7g219LLQwI/AAAAAAAADRM/JNBHZql2ij4/s800/IMG_0229.JPG" alt="" /></p>

<p>Bill, I appreciate the humor, but this isn't the place. I do not have the ability to delete an image from the thread, but we all have the sense to know what is and isn't appropriate. I recently posted guidelines for this thread. The discussion about these guidelines will go to another thread in the nature forum. It can be discussed there.</p>

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one day on your walk you photo a turkey vulture with a 2 meter wingspan, next day on the same walk the

flyer you see is a wee tad smaller than that, i think they both belong here. Near as i can tell, the folks

who've been here the longest feel the most damaging invasive species to hit this island was european man,

so, who knows, as much as I thought images like the people-photo weren't allowed, maybe it fits after all<div></div>