Clouds

More photos of clouds.

This one is a "moose" cloud:




Always fun to get the moon in the clouds:

Moon

Full moon in the morning western sky.
I was playing around with different effects in Paint Shop Pro and liked this softborder effect.
It looks like it could be water in the background.
Or it could be looking out a window.

The Harvest

Lined up, ready to go:


Trying to come up with something different for the typical field bales photo. I like it. Gold morning sunlight.

Clouds

Falling Wolf Cloud:


Hot Air Balloon Cloud:


Those birds in the clouds are pigeons(?):



These next ones were tone mapped (psp9 clarify) at maximum once in Paint Shop Pro X3 which greatly increases cloud definition.
I like the nifty dramatic texture this creates on clouds sometimes. More realistic at lower settings though.

Surprise Under The Bridge

The big event this weekend was discovering a great horned owl sitting high up under a bridge.



Closeup:


We found him about 8am during a morning walk and took a bunch of photos with my S3 Canon.
Then we came back with all three of my cameras about 11am.
Still there.
None of my/our photos turned out very well (poor close up detail) because of the lighting, angle, distance, etc.
I think that's the first time in nature that I thought "tripod" because my subject actually stayed put.
My arms, neck, shoulders ached from holding a camera high up in the air, taking pictures, but also just plain gawking at him thru the viewer. I tried a video on him also.

He had his eyes closed a lot of the time, but if there was noise, he would open them.
Besides observing his eyes open and close, which is quite fascinating to watch on an owl, we also saw him turn his head way around, lift his huge clawed foot, ruffle feathers, and mostly just sit there and tolerate us humans.



Here's a size comparison with a pigeon, because there were lots of those perched up there as well.



What a privilege to observe!
Before we left, I thanked Mr. Magnificent for the photo shoot.

Dragonfly - Darners Family

Talk about blending in, huh.

Here's a closeup crop:


I just spent hours trying to ID this dragonfly.
Family Aeshnidae - Darners maybe?

This pic is close (green form female darner):
greennature

More Links:
odesforbeginners
Dragon or Damsel
GOOD visuals here.
Eyes and wing spread are Dragon.
Abdomen looks more like a Damsel, though?

bugguide
npwrc

1986 New York

The year was 1986.
I was leaving Manhattan on the Staten Island Ferry:


I was at the World Trade Center
107th floor Observation deck:

9-11 At The Newseum

I thought it would be interesting to see what the newspaper front pages look like today.

newseum

I like uncluttered presentations the best.

Winners (of the ones I looked at):



Sun-Times
Chicago, Illinois

Sioux City Journal
Sioux City, Iowa

Foggy Sunrise Road

I LOVE that I was able to capture this moment in nature.
The road was thick with fog in this one spot and I stopped the car and took the shot.

Pooh Graffiti

The quote is attributed to:
Gary Snyder
from "Little Poems for Gaia,"
in the book, "Axe Handles."

I Love Yellow Sports Cars

350Z Nissan.
I think it's a 2005.
Just happened to be in a nice setting for a photo during my photo walk.

google images

Pretty Leaf Colors

I like the tree trunk background.


I like the blue sky showing through the leaf holes.

Yellow Woolly Bear

Possibly a yellow woolly bear.
Wooly, wolly, woolly, woolley, wollybear, yellow bear, lol.
I see different spellings.
Autumn/late summer must be the time for caterpillars.

butterfliesandmoths
Virginian Tiger Moth or Yellow Woolybear Moth
Spilosoma virginica (Fabricius, 1798)

bugguide

google images

The black and orange woolly bear that I
posted earlier was an:
Isabella Tiger Moth (Isia isabella)

More Kaleidoscope Images

I love blue with orange/yellow and red with green/gold/yellow.

Fence Post Boots

There's probably a story behind this, but I don't know what it is.
I've seen it before elsewhere.
Is it a cowboy thing?
Good photography subject, I thought. Liked the background hills.

Note: I gave these photos a little bit of a color and contrast boost with blend layers in Paint Shop Pro.

Flax

Flax fields are a pretty rusty brown blanket this time of year.

I tried different compositions on this field with the wind turbines background.


I love this one where I crouched down so the flax balls popped up:



It's the only one I got like that. Wish I would have gotten more.
You can squish the dry crispy flax balls/capsules between your fingers to see the seeds inside.
The seeds taste about like what you expect a raw seed to taste like.
These seeds were brown.

Closeup:


Here's one showing more of the wind turbines. I think there are more out there than there used to be.


Note: Contrast and Colors were pumped up a little with blend layers in Paint Shop Pro.

Woolly Bear Climbing up Jeans

Love the colors.
They are so cute.
"Woolly Bear" - isn't that a wonderful and fitting name for it too.

google images

Woolly Bear Caterpillar becomes an
Isabella Tiger Moth (Isia isabella)
google images

stages pic
larva, adult, cocoon stages image
Link referred to in post is dead. (Dated 9/30/2009.)
2009 Archives here but post no longer exists.
Is it woolly or wooly?

enchantedlearning
enature

Sage

I love this stuff.
Some kind of sage, I think.
Russian sage maybe?
I want some.
Take picture.

Curlycup Gumweed

Native August/September plant Curlycup gumweed always looks so yummy cheerful.
Bugs and butterflies love the stuff.
4 butterflies on a plant:



Clouded sulphurs or Orange sulphurs?

Previously:
sulphurs
gumweed

Meadow Fritillary

I think this is a Meadow Fritillary.



butterfliesandmoths
Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
Wing Span: 1 3/8 - 2 inches (3.5 - 5.1 cm).

North Dakota Butterflies

bugguide

npwrc
Atlas of North Dakota Butterflies

npwrc - Meadow Fritillary

ndsu

The Long Flooded Summer

Previously:
Minot Souris Flood
Bismarck Missouri Flood

So Minot Souris river area went down fairly quickly:


But for the Bismarck area, it was a l-o-n-g flooded summer:


The stench, the bugs, blocked roads, closed off areas, people canoeing to their flooded houses.
I wonder what is going to happen to all those old cottonwoods that were standing in water for months.



Some of them must be over a 100 years old.
They look stressed.
I feel so sad for those trees.
The leaves are a dull gray green color. It looks similar to when it freezes before the trees have shed their leaves. The leaves turn an ugly color and fall off.
Later I found out that the area cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) in general have a fungus (septoria leaf spot, rust).

Note: Garrison Dam Spillway was closed 17 Aug 11. Releases were 85,000 cfs at that time.
Normal for this time of year (Sep) is 21,300 cfs and river elevation just under 6 feet.

Charts are mine.
Data is here:
Bismarck Missouri
Minot Souris

Free Magazine

I discovered a free magazine download online.

Diet & Nutrition Magazine

I was reading the July 2011 issue.
Kathy Smith, well known fitness guru, is 60 years old now, wow.
Food pyramids current and past.
Corn info - how to choose it, store it, cook it, recipes.
Dance DVDs.

There are recipes online too.
Overnight Cherry Almond Oatmeal
Sounds good.