Merigoldded

posted by Andy

Flower from a friend's garden. Desktop wallpaper sized, or larger. Very huge.

Common Moorhen Chick

posted by Andy

Wild common moorhen chick following it's parent near Walt Disney World's EPCOT park.

Mallard Duckling

posted by Andy

Wild mallard duckling crossing the road near Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom.

Anhinga

posted by Andy

Wild anhinga air drying its wings near Walt Disney World's downtown area.

Tiger Beetle

posted by Andy

One of many tiger beetles found along a sandy river bank. From a distance they look like flies buzzing around.

Toad Bug

posted by Andy

Toad bug found along the river shore. These are little hopping insects about the size of your pinkie nail.

Photo: Anna's Hummer

posted by Andy

Anyone know what's up with the feathers on this little guy head? Is he just molting or could it be something more serious?

Photo: Wet Feather

posted by Andy

I photoed this dew covered feather a few weeks ago, but never got around to editing the image. After masking out each and every drop, some colorizing and blending, here's the finished result. The original feather is a dark blue-gray. Not sure what bird it came from.

Photo: Baby Newt

posted by Andy

The newts were out in force yesterday. They're pretty well camouflaged so I had to watch were I stepped. There seemed to be one or two every 10 feet or so. Must be the rain. This one was just a baby.

Photos: Burying Beetle

posted by Andy

During my last weekend walk and I noticed some beetles nosing around a roadkill garter snake. Usually these are nocturnal bugs which haul smaller carcases off to bury them for their babies. I think this one was a female - there was another one with orange markings that had apparently also been mortally wounded by a car.

This one has mites that I'd read about when looking up the identity of the first burying beetle I'd found last year. The mites jump off and eat fly eggs on the carcase, ensuring the survival of the beetle's offspring.

Photos: Dove and Wren

posted by Andy

Took an early morning walk through the William Finley wetland refuge on Friday. Not too many cooperative birds, but I did spot a pileated woodpecker, some flickers, stellers jay, bunch of chickadees squawking at me (probably black-capped, not positive), some grebes and mallard ducks.

The mourning dove in the first image was right beside the road. Photo taken out the car window with a 200mm zoom. The Winter Wren was one of several bopping about the path, pretty oblivious to my presence.

Photos: Garter Snake

posted by Andy

This little guy was trying to cross a gravel road, but having no where to go he decided to curl up and sniff with his tongue until I went away. His head is only about 1/2 inch long - a pretty tiny garter snake.

The first shot was taken with a 50mm lens plus some stacked macro filters +1, +2, +4. Speed 1/250, aperture f22, ISO 100. The extreme close-up was taken with a zoom lens with a reversed 35mm lens (attached backwards via reverse mount ring) and a diffused fill flash. Speed 1/125, aperture f32, ISO 200.

Photo: Dumb Bunny

posted by Andy

A not-so-bright rabbit that stayed around striking cute poses while his friends ran into the bushes, leaving him as bait. Colors have been edited - removed the greens to give it a bit of a sepia toned effect.

Photos: Finley Wildlife

posted by Andy

To decompress from a long working weekend I took an early morning hike yesterday before going into the office. I had heard that the elk were in the area and the bulls were fighting. I didn't see the males, but while looking at a woolly bear caterpillar crossing the path I noticed several fresh drops of blood and could hear the elks bugling within a few hundred yards off in the woods. I did run across a mother elk and her large calf.

Also, spotted a downy woodpecker and a brown creeper near the Finley quarry.

Photos: Wetland Birds

posted by Andy

(1) Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron fishing for tadpoles in the muck. (2) Great Blue Heron in a tree screeching at me to go away. (3) American Bittern

Photos: For the Birds

posted by Andy

Here are a few more bird images. The hummer is a Rufus buzzing around our backyard Bee Balm, which they seem to love. Staking it out for 30 minutes resulted in several nice shots, but I had to use manual focus.

The woodpecker is a juvenile Downey that was hopping around an apple tree. My wife spotted it. But, so did the scrub jays which chased it off.

Last image is a daddy quail and his brood. Shot out the car window as they skittered away into the sunset.

Photos: Quit Bugging Me!

posted by Andy

Some recent insect photos: Grasshopper, dady long leggs (harvestman), Ichneumon, and a shy firefly.

Photo: Wabbit!

posted by Andy

Bandon Beach Seals

posted by Andy

Green Dragon

posted by Andy

I found this guy in some tall grass. My guess is that he had just emerged since it seemed softer than the other dragons and it's wings were a little wrinkled. First shot was taken with stacked macro filters. The second shot is a cropped portion taken with a reversed camera lens.

Canon 300D/Rebel. Aperture at f/22 (smallest hole) for greater range in focus, diffused flash (speedlite 420ex) to compensate for the low light from the aperture, 1/200 shutter speed so I can shoot hand held without motion blur, 200 ISO (film speed) a decent speed without too much noise to offset the shutter speed.

Oregon Coast Aquarium

posted by Andy

Petting Pool: Here are a few images taken at the indoor petting tide pool. The color and tone of the green anemone was heavily edited. The abalone tone was done using the virtual photographer plug-in for Photoshop. And the 3rd shot is an urchin close up.





Tufted Puffin: One of many types of birds in the avary. This guy's massive eyebrows are breeding plumage to impress the chickie-poos. This guy was holding still so the image turned out pretty sharp, and using a monopod doesn't hurt.


Catterpillar: guess the aquarium ain't just of fish and fowl.


Oregon Trail ends here. A funny sign along Hwy 34, near the Toleto turn off.