Shadows

Something new for my shadow collection. It's a tiger bee fly. It gets the three-word name because it is a fly that looks like a bee, with patterns on its wings that resemble tiger stripes. No surprise that it is casting its shadow on dry untreated unpainted wood of the kind that carpenter bees make nests in. The tiger bee fly preys on carpenter bees, leaving eggs at the entrance to carpenter bee nests -- the fly larvae enter the bee nest and attach to and consume pupae.

Here's another noteworthy shadow photo of perched turkey vultures. 

 

And a fence lizard with a shadow that seems like a second head.

Fly details. 

And the shadow of a great blue heron that seems to be hunting while the bird rests. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Creature of the Year Award

Competition was stiff for the 2020 Urban Wildlife Guide Creature of the Year Award. Congratulations to Turkey Vulture for first prize! It's not all about looks -- the vulture scored high on design. Visit the June 28 2020 blog by clicking here to read its story.

In the event that the vulture is unable to fulfill duties as Creature of the Year, the first runner up Raccoon Family will step in. See more in the August 9 blog by clicking here.

Happy New Year! Click me.

Turkey Vulture

A turkey vulture showing off its good side.

The other side is pretty much the same. Notice how you can see right through the nose. It has no septum! The big nostrils plus a big olfactory lobe contribute to the turkey vulture's good sense of smell, which is uncommon among birds; it helps them locate the carrion they eat. Click to enlarge.

Grooming a feather. Keeping clean.

The red featherless face might not look great to us, but it makes it easier to clean up after sticking one's head inside carrion.

The turkey vulture. Well designed.

A Warm Day in January

It was 57F around here on Friday and I went for a walk in the South Jersey pine barrens. One of the first things I saw was this sign on the dam works machinery at Atsion Lake.       No need to tell me to keep out of there.

Then there was this abandoned cabin near the lake. Looks like a setting for a scary movie, right? I cam almost hear ominous background music rising.

There are lots of abandoned buildings scattered around the pines with lots of ghost house windows to look into. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Here are the remains of the furnace of an old mill. One of the things I like about the pine barrens are the hints it offers of untold stories, unfinished, and forgotten.

And even on winter days there's lovely nature all around like this old sycamore tree in its winter grandeur.

It rained all day on Saturday. I was inside with photos and time on my hands and I ended up photo-shopping the tree picture into this lacy sky-filled kaleidoscopic image.

It rained ALL day, so I made tiles out of that to produce this geometric image with pretty blue sky background with interlaced tree branch finger filigree. 

I also took a picture of an eddy of foam that was floating on this pine barrens creek. 

Then cut and copied and pasted and flipped it into this pretty lace doily.

It makes an interesting tiled image, too, right?

It was not very birdy out on Friday, but the turkey vultures were well represented and willing to pose for portraits. The reliable abundance of vultures adds to the unique atmosphere of the pine barrens.