Laura Weishaupt

<p>Cool shot Robin.<br> Lupo, good to see you again.<br> <br />This is a young <em>Schizophyllum commune</em> with critters weaving in and out of the gills. It's quite common and widespread. It can cover large areas of a down tree or occupy a small stick, like this one. It's big enough to see naked eye.</p><div></div>

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<p>John Farrar, I'm a lumper through and through. I'm a big fan of the "species complex". The number came from the 10th edition of "The Dictionary of the Fungi". For real fungal numbers fun <a href="http://www.dbbe.fcen.uba.ar/contenido/objetos/Blackwell2011.pdf">read this paper</a> by Blackwell.</p> <p>Rick DuB., really nice. It can be a challenge, but at least the subjects are cooperative.</p>

<blockquote> <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> </blockquote> <p>Good Morning All,<br> How many times have you wondered how many of anything in nature exists? It seems like we should be able to look up the answer in a reference book at the library, or get a quick solution on the internet. And, fortunately, some "how many" inquiries are checked off the list just like that. Then there's the other 99.9% of the time. How many types of clouds are there? Simple question, and the answer only got mildly variable. NOAA organizes clouds one way, but the World Meteorological Org. has cloud taxonomy with families, genera, species and so on. They say 32 species of clouds. OK, it's not raining on the parade. How many Mountain Lions? Not so easy with data on this elusive cat spread about. Heeere kitty kitty kitty. How many mountains worldwide? They have names and they are everywhere, including the ocean floor. Better get to climbing. Rivers, how many of them are flowing, or at least have a bed to flow in? I did see a reference to 24,000. Jeez, better get paddling.</p> <p>Nature is an easy and hard place to quantify. It's ever changing and there's a lot of it. I'm opening with one of my prettiest finds lately, tiny <em>Lachnum virgineum</em>. While small in size at about 2mm high, it is one of 64,163 named Ascomycetes. I need to get busy.</p> <p>Fortunately there's only one Monday in Nature, and there's only 1 of each of you.</p><div></div>

<p>Mary, I've watched them graze algae from the tops of very old fungi on the sides of trees. They're pretty cool.</p>

<p>I'm late to the party. I'm continuing a fungal survey in a new area and it's pretty cool. Yesterday was rainy all around, but just barely drizzly all day for me. Perfect mushroom weather. This is a nice robust <em>Gymnopilus luteus</em>. Most of what I've looked at this year has been less than 1/4 inch tall, so this was a pleasant change.</p><div></div>

<p>What a great set of images so far this week. It's always nice to see folks who have been away for awhile. From Australia to North America, across the pond to UK, and around to Romania it's a real treat to see nature worldwide.</p> <p>Mark, I recently got a couple of new books, one being the new edition of The Dictionary of the Fungi. It can be quite a comedy routine with pronunciations. <em>Ooohyougottabekidding whattheheckiensis! </em></p>

<p>Stephen Lewis, what a cool shot. It looks like there are 4 other critters on top of its head. Is that the case?</p>

<p>Hi Jim,<br> You may want to look into Bidwell Park in Chico. This is on the eastern side of the valley between Sacramento and Red Bluff, on your way to or from Lassen. Part of the park is in town, but the bulk of it is east of town in the foothills. There is a large canyon where Chico Creek cuts through layers and bluffs of volcanic rock. It's interesting from a geologic perspective. There is good information on line about the park that is far more current than what I can offer. I used to live in the area and always enjoyed hiking in the canyon and looking for the ultimate swimming hole. Have a great trip.</p>

<blockquote> <p><br> </p> <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.</p> <p ><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> </blockquote> <p>Good Morning All,<br> I hope you've all had a great week. We'll just jump right in this morning. I'm opening with another slime mold. This is a pretty stage of<em> Lycogala epidendrum</em>. The surface will harden and eventually crack open, looking like tiny puff balls. They are extremely common. The pretty color stands out on logs and these are big enough to see unaided.</p> <p>What's nature bringing your way?Let's see here at Monday in Nature.</p><div></div>

<blockquote> <p>I'm pretty stoked to announce that, with just a few exceptions, Photo.net subscribers will not see ads on the site any more<br /> <br /> What are the exceptions:<br /> <br /> -The homepage<br /> -The Photo.net "<a href="/equipment/store/" rel="nofollow">partner store</a>"<br /> -The Pricegrabber camera product suggestions (if you aren't sure what these are, look directly to the right of this post).<br /> -Specific contest or event promotion. For example, we might have a contest that is sponsored by Canon.</p> </blockquote> <p>Glen, thanks for the reference to the original thread. It's a helpful reminder. Given the above statement from that thread, where do salad bowls or hand turned bowls from etsy fit into the overall picture? I'm not trying to be sarcastic here. If there are to be such ads, can they be limited to items that are "camera product suggestions"?</p>

<p>Kids are being carried to a remote site in the woods. They, and their nannies, are part of an invasive plant control project. During the 6 week long project many of these "porters" will camp out with the goats and pack in everything needed. The goats are contained in movable electrified pens. The camping trip won't be a vacation as the campers will be removing invasive shrubs in the area and mapping their progress. Gopro cameras will be used to document progress, though I think they will document a lot of fun also. Everyone involved in the day had a great time.</p><div></div>

<p>Paul, hmmm, bugs on fence.........check. ;-)<br> Siegfried, that's a cool orchid. <br> Rodger, WOW, what an amazing scene. <br> Rick, I would expect your woods to be exploding in Russulas now. They are parrots of the fungal world, coming in an array of bright colors and many sizes. More shades of red than a box of crayons.</p>

<p>Rick DuB, ah, a little red Russula. They are the bane of most myco-oriented people, except the mildly crazy ones. When I told a professional mycologist that I was interested in the genus Russula he looked at me with pity and said, "I feel sorry for you". Hmmmmmmmm. Well, I won't say for certain, but based on the information in the photo, <em>R. silvicola</em> is a fair guess. Take a look at a description and see if it matches up, including habitat. It's definitely a Russula, no doubt of that.</p> <p>Ed Hazera, welcome to MiN. You'll find the nature forum to be a place of flower power. Thanks for joining in.</p>

<p>The west coast of Florida works well if you want to be on the eastern side of U.S for an ocean sunset. Florida Keys work well also. The Chesapeake Bay offers a lot of water with west facing views. It depends on what you have in mind for the photo and what side of the country you really want to be on.</p>

<blockquote> <p><br> </p> <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.</p> <p ><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> </blockquote> <p>Good Morning,<br> As we start of another year of MiN it's a good time to revisit some of the guidelines. I wrote up something longer with photo examples and that may get posted in a separate thread. No one is being singled out or picked on, so don't anyone get yer knickers twisted or blow a fuse. Think more in terms of Jeff Foxworthy and substitute nature photo for redneck. If your image has a bird on a wire or fence or piece of wall, brick, wood, stone, or of other construction...... it's a nature photo. If your image has a bug on your finger.......it's a nature photo. If your image has large, obviously man made structures such as light houses, apartment buildings, Hadrian's Wall, Wall Street, The Great Wall...........it may NOT be a nature photo. If your image contains another Homo sapien enjoying the great outdoors........it may NOT be a nature photo. If your image contains a bear, alligator, wombat, wildebeest or other creature of interest climbing, jumping, eating, flying, cavorting and doing it's naturally animally thing in your yard......it's ok to call it a nature photo. OK, you get the picture.</p> <p>No image has been deleted from MiN and that's not likely to happen. We have and want a pleasant community and no one has any intention of being the nature photography enforcement squad. Common sense usually prevails around here, and will continue to do so. Folks deserve and get a lot of slack when conditions are harsh. Now and again an image comes in that's outside the definitions of what constitutes a nature photograph, though it's always with the best intentions. So, this is the about every 6 months nudgy niggle reminder to minimize some things and accentuate others. Oh yes, that image of me in the woods was out of bounds, no question about it. For those of you who don't know, Rick Bortnick is my husband. The post was an act of love, and thus, subject to forgiveness....... but it won't happen again. ;-)</p> <p>How 'bout some NATURE? There are phrases that, when said in a certain tone, garner immediate attention. A sense of urgency takes hold of the mind like a filter being screwed onto a lens. It doesn't matter if anyone else is present because these things happen in our own heads if we're alone. It usually starts out like, "ooooohhhhhhh..........WHOA!", followed by a numbers of phrases or excited explicatives. Such was the case with this weeks opener. This is <em>Odontoschisma prostratum</em>, a tiny liverwort. The leafy side is 4 images stacked at 4X. The capsules are a 50% crop of a single image at 1:1. Why no fungi this week? Oh, the pictures are there, but the ID's have proven difficult, so they wait.</p> <p>It's the first Monday in Nature for June. What are you getting excited about?</p><div></div>

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<p>Mark Mobley, good luck with the final year of med school. Thanks for taking the time to join the party.<br> Doug, nice one.<br> Siegfried, yikes! <br> Thom, aaawwww, you brought dinner! I'll get the butter. :-))<br> Christoph, sorry to hear about the computer. Hope that is resolved soon. Thanks for getting one posted under the circumstances. Wild Azaleas are always such a treat along eastern forest trails.</p>

<p>Mark, nice recovery.<br> We were at a waterfall in Delaware Water Gap enjoying the loud torrent from spring rains. A large troutish looking fish, about 18 inches, came up the falls as short way. It was pushed back down by the force of the water many times. The nice thing about fishing with a Canon is that they never get away.</p><div></div>

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<p>Hi Ed,<br /> It looks like a hybrid Azalea such as you'd find in a nursery or local garden center. They're bred for certain characteristics such as blossom color. This one looks like it has double flowers. Many orange and orange/red hybrids have the wild <em>Rhododendron calendulaceum</em> (Flame Azelea) in their breeding.</p>

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