Bandit Baby

It must be my week for finding babies (more to come). This lil guy had 2 other siblings who were much more shy than him. They foraged around the forest edge as I went by at 2 different times, nevering seeing mom around. I wonder if they might just be orphaned. I will go by tonight to check on them, and hopefully find mom.

Turkey Babies!

Another post about turkeys, since I can't find much else lately...

Still quite exciting, I found a bunch of baby turkeys with location advice from Rattlin Antler

I was pretty lucky, because this lil one was too curious to duck into the brush for cover. I'm sure his mom was none too happy either...



On a sunrise shoot the next day, I found them again, and just like my last post, they were on the wrong side photographically, but backlighting can be interesting.

Redneck

The Wild Turkey was a very important food animal to Native Americans, but it was eliminated from much of its range by the early 1900s. Introduction programs have successfully established it in most of its original range, and even into areas where it never occurred before.



A flock of 7 hens just happened to be crossing a country road when I spotted them. I quickly scanned the group for babies but saw none. Being on the wrong side of them for photographic purposes, I found their brightly lit red necks interesting and took some shots, highlighting plenty of features I wouldn't call attractive.

Saddle Bags Full of Pollen

Bumble bees are important pollinators of many plants. Both queens and workers collect pollen and transport it back to the colony in pollen baskets on their hind legs.



Seen here are the "saddle bags" of pollen!





Milkweeds have a unique and fascinating pollination mechanism in which the plant relies on butterflies, moths, bees, ants, and wasps for pollination. Hundreds of pollen grains are packaged into two connected sacs, which is collectively referred to as the pollinarium. When a foraging insect lands on a flower, the pollinarium can easily attach itself to its leg. Once removed from the flower, the pollinia actually re-orient as the translator arms bend as they dry. Upon landing on another flower, the properly oriented pollinarium is deposited into a receptive stigmatic groove where the pollinia breaks down and the pollen germinates, growing pollen tubes through the stigma to the ovules in the ovary.



The milkweed fruit is a follicle, commonly referred to as a pod, which splits at one suture to release many seeds, sometimes hundreds, depending on the species.

Macro Monarch

Birding has been quite slow, so insects have been the focus lately. The milkweed blooms are still producing plenty of food for butterflies. This time of the year is great for Monarchs, which are starting to hatch from their cocoons.

Click for a close up inspection!

A Good and Grainy Day Nuking It!

Nothing too fancy today, but I wanted to show that you can even have a good day when it's a bit overcast and gloomy.

I was disappointed when I got off work yesterday, as the skies were blanketed in a thick cloud layer. It's been that way for a few days now, and it's building up a frustration in me. I haven't been on a "good" shoot in a while, so every cloudy day adds up. This day had just enough light to tease... So, I set my course despite the less-than-perfect conditions because I have been checking on a few sights that have chicks yet to be born. As I am doing that, I notice a lot of seagull activity near the "nuke plant" lake shore.

I see plenty of Caspian Terns, a rogue American White Pelican and a few Great Blue Herons in a matter of minutes. My hopes increase...

The local birding hotline has had sightings of a Laughing Gull at this location, so I sit in the parking lot for a few minutes. A few Caspian Terns go by, and as I follow their route, I see a great place to park my behind and wait for them to come to me. As I am trailing a tern, a shadow from above hints at a flyover I didn't see coming, and as I look, I see it's the (notorious) Laughing Gull. Damn! I am walking and my hands are full with my camera, water, phone, and monopod! Oh well, I can wait him out when I get to my spot. I get set up and wait, and as I am waiting, a few photo ops go by and I take a few close up fly by shots.






A few fishermen walk by, we chat about the crappy weather, and I lose my vantage point with their arrival. The gulls shy away even farther down the shore, so I end up calling it a day. I never did see the Laughing Gull again, but today looks promising, weather-wise...

Buck Portrait

Exploring a new back road produced this buck who was kind enough to stay put as I backed up with my car to get the shots. He's a cute fella, but not yet wise enough to know that I am a potential threat. He stood there eating the whole time with out much care other than chewing on some tasty weeds. I hope he finds a mentor soon!

(Click on photo for a close up look at the velvet rack.)