Camera Critters #202

Lucky for me, I have a lot of critter photos I haven’t used here yet, so when the weather is bad and I can’t shoot, or my lens is being repaired, I have something I can use.

The day after I arrived in San Antonio, I was on my brother’s deck enjoying a cup of coffee.  At some point, I noticed a hummingbird land in a tree on the other side of the deck.  I lifted my camera and before I could get the little critter in the frame, it disappeared. 

I lowered the camera, glanced around and in a tree right near where I was sitting, the bird landed on the perfect branch for a photo.

This Black-chinned Hummingbird wasn’t the first one I had seen (they are found in my area), but it was the best look I have ever had of one.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over. Go to the homepage here to see more. Then join the fun and add your own.

Camera Critters #201

About five years ago, I visited my brother in Texas. The visit was a good one, as I met an old friend, got lots of photos of cool critters, and found a great place to carry a camera.

However, one dingy, gray morning, I was sitting on my brother’s back deck, camera at my side, when a caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye.

Scanning the area I thought was the place the movement ended, I saw the head of a bird peek around the trunk of a tree. I made sure my camera settings were set for the light conditions, lifted it and snapped off a few images of the head of the bird.

The bird then flew to a nearby branch giving me a nice view of it before it flew off to parts unknown.

I didn’t know what the bird was at the time, but I found out it was a female Golden-fronted Woodpecker…the first I had ever seen.

A close look at the area just above the base of the bill will give you a clue as to why it is called what it is called. The male of the species has a bright red cap. I wish I had seen one of them also.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over. Go to the homepage here to see more. Then join the fun and add your own.

Camera Critters #191

Several years ago, when I was visiting my brother in Texas, I had a list of things I wanted to see and image while there.  Though I only crossed a few off my list, I did come across a few things which weren’t on my list.

On one of my early trips out and about, I came across a blue bird playing in a bush.  I could see flashes of blue, but had no idea what it was.  A week or so later, during one of my final ‘out and abouts',

This time I was thrilled to see it, as it was the first time I had seen that species of bird.

If you don’t recognize the birds…they are male (top) and female Blue Grosbeaks.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over. Go to the homepage here to see more. Then join the fun and add your own.

Camera Critter #126

A little more than three years ago, I spent some time in San Antonio visiting my brother and friends.

I had lived in San Antonio for four years or so during my Air Force career and one of the things I remember most from those days were the lizards. Not knowing what they were, I called them chameleons.

However, on my last trip there, I knew they were actually called Green Anoles. One of the reasons I called them chameleons, was they had color-changing abilities. I only remember two colors and those two colors are shown below.

Both critters are Green Anoles, but they are also known as the Carolina Anole, American Anole and Red-throated Anole…though I wasn’t able to photograph the critter flashing its red throat.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters the world over. Go to the homepage here to see more. Then join the fun and add your own.

Camera Critter #75

Not long ago, I got an email from a woman who works for the Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos (Nature and Forest Agency) in Belgium. She was asking if she could use a photo of mine in a planned exhibition regarding bats.

The exhibition is planned for early next year in Brussels, Belgium. For the showing, they require a file capable of printing at A3 size, or about 16x20 inches. I was glad to supply the agency the file, as at the same time, my father took ill and was being treated in a hospital in Brussels. He is home now and feeling fine, and my way of saying thanks to the good people of Belgium was to provide them the image.

So, if you're in Brussels, Belgium in early 2010 and hear about an exhibition developed for a program called, "Bat Action," drop by and check out my image being shown. If you want to know which images is being used, here it is.

Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #60

When I was young kid growing up in the Chicago area, I would look forward to our family's trip south to my grandparents. Farm life was so different from life in the big city. But there was something else farm life presented me, city life didn't.

Rain Crows...at least that's what my grandmother called them. She called them that because whenever she heard them "cooing" she would say, "Rain tomorrow."

Rain Crows were nothing more than Mourning Doves, but for a good part of my life, I only knew them as gramma did. Mourning Doves were also the only doves I knew for a long time.

Mourning Dove

Then I moved to central Oregon and took up birding. I learned there were other types of doves, such as the Rock Dove, or Pigeon. I learned of different types of doves elsewhere in the country. These included several types, including Mourning Doves, found in Texas.

When I went there several years ago to visit my brother and his family, I was looking forward to some new birds. Right away, I started critters I didn't see in Oregon. Such as the White-winged Dove and Inca Dove. I made it goal to get good images of both.

White-winged Dove

Inca Doves

The more I learned about the birds around me, the more I realized there were birds I might never see.

However, on Memorial Day, I was at my house getting ready to head out on a safari when I heard a strange sounding bird outside. I walked to my screen door and didn't see anything right away. Then I caught movement on a telephone pole nearby and saw a couple of birds on the cross beams. They looked like Mourning Doves to me and I was just about ready to return to my preparations when one of the birds flew and I knew immediately it wasn't a Mourning Dove.

I quickly got my camera and walked outside. Both birds were again on the pole, so I lifted my camera and fired off several shots. When I went back inside, I uploaded the photos to my computer to verify my identification. Sure enough, the birds were Eurasian Collared Doves.

I had been hearing about these birds in this area for a while now. There were rare reports last Autumn, and a few more this Spring. When I looked on range maps for the bird, it is shown mostly in the southeast, Florida to be specific, but has been seen sporadically around a lot of the eastern half of the country.

However, they seem to be well settled in central Oregon now.

Eurasian Collared Doves

Misty Dawn's Camera Critter Meme is a great way to see critters of all types. Go to the Meme homepage here and check out more entries. Then join the fun and let the world see your critters!

Camera Critters #55

When I was a kid growing up in a southside of Chicago suburb, myself and friends of mine would go to nearby open fields and catch insects. A special treat for us was a caterpillar. We would put them in a jar, watch them spin a cocoon then later, turn into a butterfly.

We basically knew which caterpillars turned into which butterfly and traded them like baseball cards. You could get two Monarch caterpillars for one Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar. But the real fun was watching them change.

I have since forgotten everything I knew from youth about caterpillars, but I still photograph then when I come across one. Below are some of the caterpillar photos I have taken in the past couple of years. I don't have good reference on them, some day I hope to find a good reference. But for now, I'll let you imagine what they eventually turned into. In my opinion, most of these are probably moth caterpillars.









I hope you enjoyed my post this week. If you would like to see more Camera Critters, just drop by the website here run by Misty Dawn and then join in the fun with an entry of your own.

Camera Critters #54

I have a vague memory from when I was a young kid of being really afraid of a Ladybug Beetle. Don't ask me why, I just remember being afraid of them.

However, these days, I can't pass by a Ladybug Beetle without lowering my camera and snapping away. And, I have come to learn there are many different types of Ladybug Beetles. There are Seven-spotted Ladybugs, Asian Multi-colored Ladybugs, Two-spotted Ladybugs, Convergent Ladybugs and Brown Ladybug Beetles.

There are many more of these small colorful creatures and I have only photographed a small number of them. They come in a variety of colors and shapes. Some are circular, some are elongated. Some are red, others orange and spotted. I have even seen white with rose colored patch ladybugs. No matter what they look like, they are worth my time to photograph.

Below are images I have shot of ladybugs in Oregon and Texas. The one problem I have with Ladybug Beetles, is they are just as afraid of my approach as anything else is...they either start running down the plant they are on, or take to the wing before I can raise my camera. But I still manage to get shots now and then.

Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle

Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle

Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle

Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle

Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle

Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle

Spotless Ladybug Beetle

Asian Multi-colored Ladybug Beetle

Asian Multi-colored Ladybug Beetle

I can't say all my IDs are correct with these small insects, but I do know calling them Ladybug Beetles will work...unless of course, you have gotten to know these bugs as Ladybird Beetles.

I hope you enjoyed my post this week. If you would like to see more Camera Critters, just drop by the website here run by Misty Dawn and then join in the fun with an entry of your own.

Camera Critters #51

Years ago, I was a Staff Writer for the newspaper at the Air Force base I was assigned to. One of the first jobs I was given was to do a story on the Dive School at the base. To illustrate the article, I wanted a photo which showed what they did.

So told one of the instructors to get in the training pool with his gear on and to swim around. I shot a number of photos looking into the pool and through the viewfinder, but wasn't pleased with what I saw. So I borrowed a dive mask from one of the other instructors, put it in the water, had the instructor in pool start from the bottom and swim up towards me. Using the glass front of the mask as a window, I got on my belly and put the camera on the glass plate and began shooting. One of those photos was used to illustrate the article.

It was the first time I photographed something underwater...but not the last time.

While walking the edge of Fireman's Pond in Redmond, Oregon several years ago, I was surprised to see this huge tadpole sunning itself in a rocky area. I had never seen a tadpole this large. This big boy was at least seven inches long.

Then last year, family from Illinois came to Oregon for a visit. One of the places I took them was to Cline Falls State Park along the Deschutes River west of Redmond. While others were off checking something elsewhere in the park, I was sitting with my aunt and cousin telling them of some of the geology of the area. My aunt suddenly got a puzzled look on her face and asked what something in the water was.

We were a good 30 feet from the river, on a slight rise and had a good view of the shallow shoreline. I looked towards the river and found I was unsure what I was looking at. At first I thought it was a rock in the river. However, I could see it was moving at a slow pace. I walked to the edge and there I found the largest crayfish I have ever seen.

This big guy was at least eight inches in length.

Well, both critters above were under the water when I took their photo. However, the critter below was seen and photographed at the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center south of San Antonio, Texas several years ago.

I was walking along the shore of Bird Pond and would stop once in a while to check trees and bushes near me. When I stopped at one spot, I was scanning the weeds at the shoreline when I caught out of the corner of my eye, something moving between my legs. Looking down, I immediately thought, "Water Moccasin!" and then watched as the creature slithered down into the water in front of me. I quickly fired off a couple of shots and then got this image as it turned and moved parallel to shoreline.

When I got back to the lake headquarters, I showed one of the volunteers the image in the small LCD screen on the back of my camera and he said he couldn't be sure, but thought I might be correct. However, once I returned home and had time to research the snake, I found out it was actually a harmless Diamondback Water Snake.

Although he wasn't under the water, he was in it. Overall, this guy was probably a little more than three feet long.

I hope you enjoyed my post this week. If you would like to see more Camera Critters, just drop by the website here run by Misty Dawn and then join in the fun with an entry of your own.

Camera Critters #43

I have a love-hate relationship with this week's featured critter.

It's spiders!

Yes, those eight-legged freaks also known as arachnids.

You see, I love it when I come across one outside.  But hate it when I come across one inside...especially in my house.  I do everything I can to remove the critters presence from my dwelling.

This desire to remove any and all from my home, comes from waking several times with a spider walking across my body.  One time, even, the spider was tickling my lips as I slept, and this was in Honduras.  I have no idea what kind it was, or whether it was poisonous or not.  I didn't like where I found it and flicked it somewhere else in my room with my finger.  

Several weeks after that incident, I was participating in an training exercise crawling around under hootches where the nastiest of Honduran spiders resided and they weren't bothering me at all.

So, several years ago when I was visiting my sister, I noticed an Orb Weaver web high in a Juniper tree and added the creatures to my list of photo subjects.  If you look closely on the right hand side of this photo, you can see the web owner sitting in wait for its next victim.  

Also at my sister's, I came across another Orb Weaver spinning a home in the eaves of their garage.  I guess this little fella didn't like me getting as close as I did and took off for its hidey-hole moments after the image below was taken.

However, the best place for me to find an arachnid of any type is on the High Desert.  I don't often come across them, but when I do, I find their variety, size and look very interesting as the next two Orb Weavers show.

I was actually looking for a flying insect which landed somewhere on the spider side of the plant, when I noticed this large creature.  I thought the markings on it were fantastic and fired off a couple of shots.

On another trip into the desert areas around town, I came across the Orb Weaver below.  It was extremely busy at the time building its web and I watched it for several minutes as I snapped shot after shot of it.  The differences between the critter below and the one above is easily seen.  There are more than 2,800 different species of Orb Weavers worldwide and approximately 180 species in North America.

During a trip to San Antonio a couple of years ago, I was wandering around the Mitchell Lake area when I noticed a Jumping Spider scurrying down the stalk of a nearby weed.  This one being different from most of the spiders I had previously seen, I couldn't help but get a photo.  And "a" photo is all I got, as it leaped into the low weeds and disappeared as quick as it appeared.

Finally, one of the more interesting arachnid species is the Daddy-long-legs spiders, also known as Cellar Spiders.  I crossed paths with the one below at a wildlife refuge near Braidwood, Illinois.  I was surprised to see one in the middle of a marshy area, as I had always thought of this species being the type which hide in dark areas such as basements and attics.  But I learned something new that day.

Whether or not any of the above arachnids have more specific common names, I don't know.  My reference material on spiders is limited, and it is slow searching the net for additional information.  Similar looking spiders can be two different species based on the number of bands on the legs, or the number of eyes in clusters, or the design of the critter's mouth.  But I am always doing what I can to improve my knowledge of what I see and shoot in what I like to call, Ashrunner's World.

If you enjoyed (really...I enjoyed bringing it to you) my installment of Misty Dawn's Camera Critters Meme this week, go to her page located here.  There you'll find other players.  And, if you're inspired, join in the fun.

Camera Critter Meme #39

It's 2009 and that means a new year of nature photography for me.

I always look forward to a new season of shooting, as I am always trying to get that perfect shot.

But I have had good shots in the past, and for Camera Critters this week, I present my top 10 shots from, not 2008, but 2007. I selected 2007 as that is the year I really began to get serious about my photography.

Next week I'll present my best of 2008, but for now, check out my top 10 favorites from 2007.

You might ask why I like this Yellow Warbler photo. Well, the simple fact is, I like it because the critter is framed nicely in the branches and is looking off to the side, giving me a nice profile of his head.

This Roseate Skimmer was the first one I had seen during a trip to Texas that year. It was gorgeous and I had to get a good shot of it. I followed it around and when it landed on a weed with a small stream as a background, I knew I would get a good shot of it.

I was seeing Flame Skimmers throughout the area where I took this shot. But most of them were too far away and to get closer meant trudging through some mucky ground cover which I wasn't keen to do. But then this one landed 10 feet away and gave me not only a nice profile, but a nice background also.

These Flower Beetles are nothing special, and the photo is nothing special, but I like it. The yellow of the Cactus Flower, the darkness of the background and the bugs combine to make it something special in my mind.

This Gulf Fritillary was sunning in the perfect shaft of sunlight for a photo. The upper wing surface was well lit, while the background ranged from green to dark, highlighting the subtle colors of the critter.

I was leaving my yard, heading off on another photo safari when this Juba Skipper landed on one of the dark Irises in our garden. I couldn't help being struck by the color contrast and took this photo. I still pause and smile at it every time I see it.

I had just arrived at my favorite spot of Fireman's Pond when I noticed something strange happening to one of the cattails near the water's edge. As I approached, this green Sweat Bee came around the side, digging like crazy, tossing particles everywhere. I tried to capture the moment as it was happening and even though this photo doesn't do it justice, I like the shot.

I had seen large Thread-waisted Wasps in the Dry Canyon of Redmond, Oregon many times, but was never able to get a good shot of one. So one day, I decided I would go in search of this elusive creature and found a patch of sage where six or seven of the critters were working over. Though not the best shot, I like it mainly for the way the wasp stands out from the background.

I was walking along the badlands between a road and the old golf course in Redmond, when I noticed this Tule Bluet flying nearby. It suddenly streak in near me, made a quick course change and darted off to the end of nearby dead twig. As I approached, I saw the reason for the critter's rapid movement as it was enjoying a meal it captured near me. I was able to get a lot of shots of the bluet eating and this is one my favorites.

Finally, this Braconid Wasp looked out of place in this golden field of sage...so much so, I had to prove it by shooting the scene.

If you liked my critter photos, head to Misty Dawn's Camera Critter page and check out some of the other entries. And if you have the time, join in on the fun!

Camera Critter Meme #32

I've mentioned many times how much I enjoyed my time in Texas in April of 2007. I saw many critters I don't see in central Oregon and a few I do see in the high desert.

However, it was the damselflies of Texas which puzzled me the most. The prettier the odonata, the easier it was to identify. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to ID all of them. Below are some of the shots of the damselflies of Texas I was able to acquire.

Unidentified

Unidentified

Unidentified

Variable Dancer

Rambur's Forktail - female

Rambur's Forktail - male

Variable Dancer

Double-striped Bluet

Powdered Dancer

Variable Dancer

If you enjoyed my Camera Critter entry this week, go to Misty's Dawn Camera Critter Meme here and check out some of the other entries. And then...join the fun and upload your own.