Monday in Nature POTW 7-22-2013

[Laura Weishaupt]

<p><br>

</p>

<p >Basic Guidelines: 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. <em >In the strictest sense, nature photography should not include hand of man elements. Let common sense be your guide and we'll work out the details as we go forward.</em> Do you have a series of great shots to compliment your post? If they are in your portfolio or hosted off site, let us know where they are so we can see them.<em > <strong >Lets post 1 image per week.</strong></em></p>

<p ><em ><strong > </strong></em><br>

Good Morning Nature Lovers,<br>

This past week has really been quite a scorcher for many. The seasons give us ever changing conditions to deal with. Nature photographers are a creative bunch and the shutter masters here are no exception. Whether you're shooting in the heat or chill, we're all looking forward to seeing your flowers, sea dwellers, avians, trees, things that slither or crawl, roiling water, or quiet calm.</p>

<p>Around here the heat and oppressive humidity drove me away from the forest floor and right into the water. Being next to or in water just felt good. I wasn't the only life form seeking shade under this willow down at the bird sanctuary. I got some nice artsy looking reflection shots while these skeeters milled about. We left and headed to some faster moving water.</p>

<p>What came your way? Let's get Monday off to a good start.</p><div></div>

[mbkissel]

<p>New camera, Laura? We have had plenty of rain lately, so I'm sure there are plenty of mosquito breeding places around. Ugh!</p>

<div></div>

[Rick Bortnick]

<p>Mark, if you had turned around & looked at the Composites behind you, you would have seen this one.</p><div></div>

[colin carron]

<p>Hot here too, for the UK, anyway. As there are bees all over the garden I've been trying to get some shots of them in flight. This is a work in progress as I don't feel I have quite nailed it yet. Here is a shot of a bee landing on lavender - probably the best of the bunch so far.</p><div></div>

[DawsonPointers]

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

<div></div>

[Bill J Boyd]

<p>Bee gathering pollen at Lady Bird Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. </p><div></div>

[geoffm]

<p>Greeting from down under - where I am we have had the coldest and wettest week of the last few winters. We are shivering in temperatures as low as 5 or 6 degrees - and I mean Celsius!</p>

<p>Two weeks ago Anthea Scotte posted a beautiful study of decaying mushrooms that I liked very much. It reminded me of a picture that I took way back in 2008 in a part of the Murray mallee known as Gluepot Reserve. Sheoaks are small trees with long needle-like leaves and little cones that grow in poor soils, often providing a bit of shade where no other tree will. Sitting under one requires a bit of preparation, though, as the ground is covered with the remnants of the tubular leaves and the rather spiky cones. The characteristic sound of the wind blowing through a clump of sheoaks is well known to all Australian hikers and campers.<br>

Canon 350D, Tamron 90mm macro, 0.5sec, f/9. </p>

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

[daveinwilton]

<p>Unable to put the funds together to make the trip to south-east Asia, I headed to the local zoological gardens instead. Morning temperatures were bearable, and I found this very willing subject.</p><div></div>

[jonathan_parkhouse1]

<p>I wish I had a better guide to beetles. think this carabid must be <em>Leistus</em> species, probably <em>rufomarginatus. </em></p>

<div></div>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>New Growth</p><div></div>

[johnkenthill]

<p>Summer sunset</p><div></div>

[dcstep]

<p><strong>Downy Woodpecker Rips Into Thistle</strong><br>

<strong> </strong><br>

<a title="Downy woodpecker enjoys thistle by dcstep, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5471/9330698718_6aeae313f2_z.jpg" alt="Downy woodpecker enjoys thistle" width="427" height="640" /></a><br>

Click on the image to go to Flickr and see full-screen.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>This is Pine Creek Wilderness, a 16,000 acre wilderness area in the National Wilderness Preservation System, in east San Diego, County, California. It was my "office" for four years before we left California, and I miss it...</p><div></div>

[wazungi]

<p>Here's a bit of drama from the archives. She failed to catch the butterfly, although I did see her get a couple of honeybees. I don't like to lose honeybees, but everyone's got to eat.</p><div></div>

[philrichardson]

<p>Spotted Towhee</p><div></div>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Forster's tern feeding chick<br />Nikon D7100 with 600mm lens, f5.0, 1/3200 sec, and ISO 320</p><div></div>

[birdied]

<p>What a fantastic set of shots so far this morning ! <br>

The butterflies had a real hard time these past few days in my garden . In the time it took me to get and change my lens, I watched two wasps pick off the monarch caterpillars in my milkweed. No shots as I had the 24mm extension tube on the 60mm macro. The wasps were amazing efficient and quick. I know everything has to eat, but my monarch caterpillars , quite disturbing.<br>

Then I see the dragon eating the skipper. Did get a shot of it. </p>

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

[kts]

<p>those are two cool spider macro's Mark and Rick</p>

<p>mine is a GBH on the lookout for lunch......got a couple shots of it snagging a big ol' carp and it was funny watching as it tried to get it off it's beak and swallow it</p><div></div>

[sgust]

<p>I agree with Thom, nice spider shots Mark, Rick.<br>

Finally found who has been putting holes in my tomatoes. I adjusted the levels to make this Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) stand out a bit more. But in reality, you barely see these little guys because they are colored the same as the stems they are on and they hold their bodies so they look like a stem. I found 4 of them, who knows how many more are still there.</p>

[sgust]

<p>I agree with Thom, nice spider shots Mark, Rick.<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17470458-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="451" /><br>

Finally found who has been putting holes in my tomatoes. I adjusted the levels to make this Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) stand out a bit more. But in reality, you barely see these little guys because they are colored the same as the stems they are on and they hold their bodies so they look like a stem. I found 4 of them, who knows how many more are still there.</p>

[stemked]

<p>I took lots of images of this Grey Tree Frog, both portrait and landscape. I was surprised that this image struck me as the most provocative.<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17468042-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="450" />Grey Tree Frog. Kendall, Wisconsin. Pentax K5ii and Pentax 100 DA macro with 360FTZ flash (soft) </p>

[stemked]

<p>Great spider images Mark and Rick.<br /> Jonathon, I know little of European insects, but it sure looks right after a search. Nice capture.<br /> <br />David, I've never seen a Downy woodpecker in thistle before. I assume this is for nest lining, right?<br /> <br />Pretty dramatic capture, Young.Siegfried, after a week or so those Hornworms get huge (and your tomato plants will disappear). With a little luck a parasitic wasp will lay some eggs in it, then they look REALLY cool. </p>

 

[hanappa]

<p>So, following Siegfried's suggestion, I went ahead and took the 60mm macro out on the dragonfly hunt. I found for the most part the damselflies are much more forgiving of having a lens shoved within half an inch of their face, but this Blue Dasher was getting himself back in order (we had been catching them to get pictures of their mouth parts working) and relaxing on my jeans, and seemed to pose for the shot. It is still a little fuzzy at this level, as it was handheld and this is a 100 percent crop, but they really have an other-worldly look to their faces, and the whiskers are most unexpected.</p><div></div>

[sgust]

<p>Rodger, I'd say that's an exceptional image for a 100% crop handheld or otherwise. It's not easy getting the facets of their eyes so defined.<br>

Douglas, with any luck none of them will make it to adulthood. Getting tomatoes to do well is a pain here in Costa Rica, so I'm not ready to sacrifice them for the caterpillars. </p>

[wayne_wrights]

<p>Really like the close ups this week. Here is my dragon shot for the week.</p><div></div>