My Morning Conversationalists

The Canadian tourists have flown away with the melting of the pond ice. The Residents remain.

24 hr short in 1 minute 50 seconds

Still annoyed at color differences from hdmi out to .mov to vimeo .mp4 to playback with "Standard" setting. It doesn't matter how much calibration is used. Every monitor looks different.

Meaning, this looks a bit less saturated than the way it was graded to look on the "calibrated" monitor. At least when played back in either the "Standard" or the "Movie" settings on an older Dell monitor.

Not that anybody cares...

ice

       

       

       

Drooping pines on this morning's walk.

king corn

another decade

click 'er for biggerAt last there is some thaw from the past few weeks of freezing temps. Enough that the ice on the Loftlands pond has mostly disappeared. A gorgeous gray day reveals the intensity of the colors of the landscape.

This may be the first image out of the 7d that I'd like to see printed on paper, but instead I'm using it as a sketchpad for what else it might be: yesterday I took the Linhof out and used film to record the same location. Although another day of warmer temperatures has melted the ice almost completely. And of course the light was quite different, so it's hardly the same photograph. This is good enough for now.

f-o-r-d pt. 212

What does happen to road kill? No doubt some have wondered what became of Mephitis mephitis. It doesn't go to waste, that's for certain.

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The day after taking this photo, when I passed by again, there was nothing left. The system was doing it's part to clean up the remains. The only evidence of the demise of this animal is an odor that lingers in the area, not from any body parts, but from residual oil deposited on the pavement at the time of death.

being neighborly

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As flat as this composition might seem, there is a density to it that reallty draws me in. It says a lot about where we live. The four man made objects in the man made landscape attempt to exert their presence over the surrounding vegetation. But there is little doubt that those four objects and the infrastructure they represent have a limited lifespan that will require constant maintanence.

beware

click 'er for biggerObviously this one didn't make it. Unfortunately, a common end for these ancient reptiles.

At this time of year, these guys - Terrapene carolina - are occasionally seen crossing the thoroughfares. Since their habitats are usually only 200 m. in diameter and have become so fragmented, it's not surprising that they may be seen trying to cross a road. And since they mostly live in the grass and forest leaves and dead trees, it's not likely we'll see them anywhere but on the roads. They don't stand much of a chance against vehicular challengers, so I make a point of lifting them out of the way and helping them on their journey. It's best to move them across the road, because removal from their locale will spur them to engage their homing instincts to return to their natal grounds, possibly searching unsystematically for the rest of their long lives. A thirty or forty year life span is not uncommon for this species, and it's believed some have survived to 80. But long term survival prospects look dim due to habitat destruction, slow growth rates for individuals, as well as slow reproduction (a female may lay 100 eggs in a lifetime, but it's estimated only 2 - 3 will reach maturity.)

Read more about Eastern Box Turtles here.

Here's one I moved out of the way recently while walking in Loftlands.

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