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i recently went back home to new mexico for a family reunion. naturally, no trip to new mexico would be complete without my camera. in fact, clothes were a secondary consideration; as long as i had my camera with me, everything else would work itself out.
yes, i'm obsessed. i have a hard time leaving the house without my camera just to go check the mail. hey, you never know what you might see on the way to the mailbox…
anyway, this is the first of five posts featuring some birds one might see on a vist to the land of enchantment, which include steller's jay (this post), an unidentified hummingbird, an unidentified perching bird, an unidentified bird going to town on some dandelion seeds, and…well, you get the picture: i'm going to need some of my faithful readers to help me identify these ufos (unidentified feathered objects).
but on to the one bird i had no trouble identifying: steller's jay.
(click the picture for a larger version)
these aren't the greatest photos, as composing an ideal shot that morning — one where the jay actually stood still for more than a few seconds, was well-exposed, and where the background and foreground weren't so messy (or if i would have been able to dial in a shallow depth of field) — proved to be very difficult. but despite that, i liked the way the blue patch of sky matched perfectly with the color of the jay's feathers in this next pic.
(click the picture for a larger version)
like a lot of other jays, these guys can be quite noisy when they want to be. adept at mimicry, steller's jays can imitate the sounds of cats, dogs, squirrels, chickens, certain types of machinery, and, of course, other birds. in this particular instance, however, my jay preferred not to break the peaceful morning silence while he hopped around looking for items on the breakfast menu, which can include insects, seeds, nuts, and berries. and like others in the jay family, they also rob other birds' nests for eggs and/or hatchlings.
(click the picture for a larger version)
while that's all very impressive, i just like their "mohawk." in fact, that's one of the first dead giveaways that it's a steller's jay. since their coloring and markings can vary by region, this rebellious hairstyle makes identification pretty fool-proof.
okay! the observationist is back online!
for the time being, anyway.
i'll spare you the details of my computer resurrection adventure — i have a lot of catching up to do, so i'll just cut to the chase…
this post is not for the squeamish. or for people who really like cute little squirrels. but a hawk's gotta eat, and, lacking the shirt and shoes to gain service at subway, panera, pita delight, or other similar fine dining establishments, he opted for a fur-covered, bushy tailed, slow-off-the-draw squirrel instead.
this is not to say i enjoy dead squirrels, but this is nature — what was done was done — and i just captured it. my role of the observer keeps me detached.
squirrels always provide a source of amusement for me, put a smile on my face, and even instill a sense of wonder. i recently watched two of them chase each other up and down and around a tree in what i believe to be a courting ritual. (not that i can tell the difference between male and female squirrels. i just project human traits and behavior patterns on animals until said projections are proven to be wrong or just plain silly, at which point i retract my opinions in favor of cold, hard fact.) one would chase the other up and around a tree trunk, then they would stop, tails held at attention, ears pricked, listening for the tell-tale sounds of claws against bark, then it was off to the races again. they would always pause on opposite sides of the tree, so that at any given moment, neither squirrel could see the other. in essence, they were playing hide-and-seek. this went on for some time, and i never got tired of watching it.
yeah, yeah, the squirrels…amusing. so what about the hawk?
oh yes, the hawk. i'm too easily distracted…
as i've stated in previous posts, i rarely look ahead of me when i'm walking, opting instead to whip my head about as though it is operating on a completely different set of instructions than that of my body, constantly scanning left, right, up, and down while my body continues on, straight ahead, undeterred. this habit has ensured that my neck is left feeling as though i'd been in several consecutive car accidents, rear-ended each time. it has also ensured that i occasionally step off the trail, tripping over roots and crashing through underbrush like a drunk ox. but it has also yielded some great opportunities, as well: the barred owl (featured in a couple of previous posts), a female wolf spider carrying her egg sac (featured later on in this post), a black rat snake draped over some tree branches (he was dead, so he kind of fit in with this post, too), and, of course, the squirrel-eating red-tailed hawk.
finally, the hawk.
i know…thanks for your patience.
not-for-the-squeamish, part I
here is the red-tailed, perched on the branch. at this point, i had not noticed that he was sitting down at — or more accurately, standing on — a meal.
apparently, their eyesight is astounding, because, like most of the other birds i try to photograph, they see me and/or my camera coming, and they bolt. this one was what seemed like a mile away, but sure enough, he spotted me spotting him, and away he went. but first he picked up the meal that i had been unaware of all this time.
cool! another opportunity for a flying sequence with an added bonus!
(click the picture for a larger version)
poor little squirrel. awesome little photo op.
not-for-the-squeamish, part II
i love wolf spiders. they can get quite large and scary looking, but i love the fact that they take such good care of their young. like, for instance, they don't eat them. at least, not readily.
and they will fight to the death to defend their eggs.
when the young have made it past the larval stage, the female bites open the egg sac and the little guys crawl out and onto her back, clinging for dear life to the tiny, bristly hairs that are found there. then they proceed to try not to fall off as the mother resumes her hunting duties. wolf spiders are predatory hunters, chasing down their prey “on foot” rather than building webs, thus the “wolf” part of their name. though i don't believe they hunt in packs.
not-for-the-squeamish, part III
i smelled it before i saw it. i was on the gibson park greenway, having taken a left where the trail splits, rather than my usual right. i take it all in when i'm outdoors: the sights, the sounds…and the smells. on this particular day, i was enjoying the smell of the crisp, cool forest air when it hit me. it was like running into a wall of foul odor, having an almost physical effect on my body upon “impact.” a couple more steps and i was out of it. the smell was immediately recognizable as decaying flesh, so why i turned back to investigate the source of that stench remains a mystery to me, but that's exactly what i did. and that's how i found this guy:
he smelled worse than he looked. in fact, for a minute there, i wondered if he was actually alive and that the smell belonged to something else close by. but his lack of response to my tromping around in the dead leaves next to the tree he was in pretty much convinced me that this was the source.
i had to wonder how he ended up here. my first thought was that he got plucked up by a hawk, then dropped in flight for some reason — maybe he whipped up and bit the hawk, and the hawk dropped him out of surprise? i don't know, but whatever happened, it wasn't a messy death. i noticed one scratch midway between his head and his midsection, but that was it for wounds…and it wasn't a life-threatening wound, at that. i took a few shots, but felt a little weird about it after a few minutes. this was kind of undignified end to his life, me taking pictures of him frozen in his final moment of consciousness on this earth, hanging from a tree. thus, only one picture posted.
well, that wraps up the “squeamish” post. from this point on, my posts will be about creatures that are still actively breathing, flying, leaping, slithering, and/or walking. i guess i was just in a mood with this post. my apologies to those who were expecting something more…lively.
nobody seems very interested in my last two posts.
not that i blame them. i'm not very interested either. i find them quite…lacking. missing something. something that would liven them up… ah, yes… photos!
so much going on this time of year, and i've been capturing a lot of it. i'm dying to post the action, but i like to include those colorful things called photos in my posts. not only does it provide a visual reference to what i'm talking about, but it helps break up the long, boring lines of text.
along the greenway at gibson park, there is an observation deck (which is right smack dab in the middle of that map i just provided a link to). there are some tall trees off to the right (which would be down and to the left on the map), and a great blue heron has decided to make a home and raise a family in the top of one of them.
took lots of pictures of that, and will continue to visit so i can document the progress on the construction of said home.
i've seen some canada geese sitting on eggs, and documented one of them after incubation, hatching, and apparently fledging, although i thought they fledged for about a month. maybe i'm wrong. there are three or four cracked open egg shells around the nest area. i hope that a fox or something didn't get them. i was kind of wondering why the eggs were so far from the nest…
i went out on randleman lake last sunday morning at 9am, and saw an osprey. it flew right over my head. did i get a picture?
of course not. i was too busy sitting in the canoe with my mouth open, not really believing that an osprey was flying directly over my head giving me a perfect photo opportunity. and he was flying slowly, too. as if giving me a chance to put the paddle down, dry my hands, reach for my bag, unzip it, remove my camera, turn it on, get the settings in order, dial the lens to 500mm, and press the shutter release. it sounds like a lot to do while a bird (a life bird, at that) is flying over your head, but as i mentioned earlier, but probably not with enough emphasis, that he was flying s-l-o-w-l-y. and i blew it.
i drove the paddle back into the water with a small measure of annoyance, spun the canoe around, and paddled my butt after that bird. he made another pass — not as close this time, but another pass, nonetheless — and…
i missed that shot, too.
boy, i'm glad i don't shoot nature photos for a living. i'd be homeless, naked, and starving.
i did get a few keepers of some double-crested cormorants perched on the branch of a submerged tree that morning. (that is to say, the cormorants were on the part of the branch that was above the surface, not perched underwater. just thought i should clear that up.)
and later, on the greenway again, i shot some striking mallard specimens. contrary to how it usually works with birds, the female mallard is as beautiful as the male, if not more so. sure, she lacks the iridescent green head and the cool, curled feathers above the tail. but what she lacks in color and style, she makes up for in pattern and contrast. who knew that brown could look so good? the tight consistency of the brown-white feather arrangement had me staring at her intently, hypnotized, as though looking for a hidden 3-d picture in one of those magic eye books.
moths, too. the moths are out and about, and while i don't know moths like i do birds, it doesn't stop me from marveling at their unique and intricate beauty, as well.
well, this concludes today's long, boring, no-photos post. i know how much you were looking forward to it.
at least there was a link to a satellite image to break up the monotony…
that is to say, nothing. day after day of nothing. no working on photos. no updating my blog (with the exception of these nothing posts). no photoshop. no firefox. no facebook, twitter, or email. no hulu…no internet. computer's still dead, with no real concrete solution in the works. two month's worth of great photos, possibly lost forever. i'm trying not to think about it, though.
it's weird not having a computer. or rather, it's weird the way i realized i feel about not having a computer. i don't like to admit it, but there is a sense of freedom, of bliss, a certain elation in being liberated from the shackles of technology, emancipated from the enslaving bonds of aluminum and silicon and blinking lights and whirring fans and the glow of lcd screens.
there is more time to read. to think. to cook. to get outdoors and enjoy the life that awaits outside the four walls. i still take pictures; that won't stop. can't stop. well, at least until i run out of space on my memory card. then i'll need to download them onto a comp…
but i said i was going to try not to think about that.
i guess that's the point of this post (aside from whining about my predicament): that i realized how much time i actually spend in front of my computer. my blog heralds me as an observer of nature. how's that possible if my butt is parked in my chair and my eyes are glued to a couple of monitors? sure, i get out, but in hindsight, my excursions have been nothing more than a quick hit — hit the trails; get to the destination; snap some pictures; okay, cool; now back home to download them and look at them on my… com… pu…
i'm not saying i can do without a computer. no…can't go there. but i think i'll approach my time in front of it from a little different perspective — a perspective that will leave me outdoors a little longer. where an observer of nature belongs.
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