'Images' (2 Viewers)

username · Apr 1, 2010

And inevitably....with my mind wandering thru dry and wet seasons...how could i not include this most bizarre of creatures...?

As unusually early rains had fallen across the parched Cuban landscape this year...terrestrial red crabs had begun there annual 'marching'..!
From the forest floors...so long remained hidden...they reacted to overnight rains and began their exodus...females carrying their eggs to the ocean...and running...as always..the gauntlet of man-made roads and their high speeding vehicles thereupon.
They appeared in their hundreds...soon to become hundreds and many many thousands as the wet season increases.
We tried to avoid their waving claws as they defiantly stood their ground against our cars...but inevitably...many perished. One crab in particular tho at least managed to stop us in our tracks on one particular evening as the following day we had to have a 'claw' removed from a flat tyre...:smoke:

Despite the carnage and blood on the roads..the next day..all had gone...scavenged by turkey vultures...and scavenged by their own kind...

Nature does not appreciate 'waste'.....

ps...this is obviously an altered image but i think it represents their macabre appearance....[i'll post a normal pic if you like]...

nickderry · Apr 1, 2010

no, you can keep it as it is! Very cool pic!

username · Apr 1, 2010

nickderry said:
no, you can keep it as it is! Very cool pic!

Aren't they strange..? Now i am not usually 'freaked out' by much...i like spiders..snakes etc...but there was something about these crabs i found rather disturbing...don't know quite why...!

ps....by the way...i liked 'those' words very much Nick and understood...no problem!...[i think you are quite correct and i view myself..[if i take the time to do so]...as a conduit of sorts....:t:

pps...of course...i could be just be an over-indulgent deluded prat...[chuckle]...!

timwootton · Apr 2, 2010

username said:
....i might as well stick a few images of wet wood that i took today....[birding was rubbish...but i thought this woodpile looked good]...

.!

Rubbish Birding? - I thought you went for the lesser kes! - some people take a bit of pleasing

Wonderful images again User - the crabs are one of nature's true wonders (of which, She has many of course). I wonder if your feelings toward them has something to do with them eing 'out of place' - ie. we expect crabs to be in seas or lagoons and here they are taking on the might of the internal combustion engine! I remember having similarly eerie feelings about the Patagonian Orcas - coming out of their natural habitat and onto a terrestrial one (albeit briefly) to snatch young sealions - a thing of nightmares.

username · Apr 2, 2010

timwootton said:
Rubbish Birding? - I thought you went for the lesser kes! - some people take a bit of pleasing

Wonderful images again User - the crabs are one of nature's true wonders (of which, She has many of course). I wonder if your feelings toward them has something to do with them eing 'out of place' - ie. we expect crabs to be in seas or lagoons and here they are taking on the might of the internal combustion engine! I remember having similarly eerie feelings about the Patagonian Orcas - coming out of their natural habitat and onto a terrestrial one (albeit briefly) to snatch young sealions - a thing of nightmares.

Wednesdays birding was good Tim..[lesserK day]...but yesterday was fairly pants! A typical uk Spring like day...cold...windy..wet...with the usual hirundines trying to eak out a few insect morsels over rutty water...etc.

Re the crabs.....i'm not sure what it is about them that makes me feel a tad uneasy. Goodness knows how 'yukkee' i'd feel if these creatures were in 'full flow'. Millions of em crawling over walls...the roads covered...etc. It is an amazing sight...but..!! Perhaps it reminds me of a plague of rats or something...not really certain. I like to think that i'm fairly 'hardy' when it comes to the typical 'things' that repulse folk. My mate freaks out at large insects/moths....but they don't really bother me. Snakes and spiders actually attract me...i go after them...[i've even slept in places with tarantula's living above my bed in rafters]! Maybe it's the color combination on those crabs...too garish..toxic? [the crabs are inedible to humans]....

As i seem to be in woffle mode again...i might as well mention my fascination with how other creatures 'see things'. Do some birds...for instance...actually see magnetic fields? I sometimes even try to imagine how...say...a peregrine views objects. Just think how good birding would be if a humans could 'zoom in' on a target...!! No optics required..:eek!:

ps...am really...[how they say]...'gripped' by the orca's you mentioned....and i have to confess that i've never seen this fabulous creature!...[well...i have seen a dorsal fin but i can't say i've 'really' seen an orca]...it's all about views...!

pps...yes...i am hard to please....

username · Apr 2, 2010

As my mate seems a bit reluctant to post some of his pix...[modest bloke]

...i'm gonna do it for him as i love these photo's and think that they deserve a wider audience....!

Bee Hummingbird...Cuban tody...and a dragon....[not sure what species...but maybe Mosca might know]...?

All beautiful creatures......

solitaryVSong · Apr 2, 2010

Nice to see them all, username. I think my favorites might be the woodpile group.

username · Apr 2, 2010

solitaryVSong said:
Nice to see them all, username. I think my favorites might be the woodpile group.

I am glad that you enjoy my 'woody' images SolitaryV...i find endless fascination in natures designs...here's a few more....

ps..[bimey...i hope you all don't get too bored with these]...!

colleenc · Apr 2, 2010

I've lurked through all this thread. Esp at first the PS manipulations were just not for me. But I kept following your posts, and began to understand eventually something was being communicated. Othesr have put in to words appreciation of the various images, but I'd like to say thanks for something else.....your pics have "woken up my eye" to the things all around me. Now when I go out to see the birds in my favorite places, I see things, I might have missed, and think "username" would like this or that. I used to see these things more when I was younger and the world was newer to me, and I'm so glad your thread has reminded me to look again....

My fav of the recent is the dry palm fronds...all those greys are right up my alley...and the photos of your friend are stunning, tell him to share more

Woody · Apr 2, 2010

There sure are some wierd and wonderful things in the world. I'll bet the crab thing isn't about the individuals, it's about the mass of 'alien' creatures moving as one with absolute determination and an unstoppable single mindedness. That's what would give me the heebie jeebies!

Mike

username · Apr 2, 2010

colleenc said:
I've lurked through all this thread. Esp at first the PS manipulations were just not for me. But I kept following your posts, and began to understand eventually something was being communicated. Othesr have put in to words appreciation of the various images, but I'd like to say thanks for something else.....your pics have "woken up my eye" to the things all around me. Now when I go out to see the birds in my favorite places, I see things, I might have missed, and think "username" would like this or that. I used to see these things more when I was younger and the world was newer to me, and I'm so glad your thread has reminded me to look again....

My fav of the recent is the dry palm fronds...all those greys are right up my alley...and the photos of your friend are stunning, tell him to share more

You are very kind Colleen...and i'm glad that you've been 'lurking' throughout this thread!
You make a very interesting point alluding to 'open eyes' and the fact that younger folk see the natural world with an innocence and amazement. It relates to my feelings about how 'others'...[and not just humans]...see the world....

Despite my middle aged years i do confess that i am still a child at heart...and i do try to keep myself unfettered..[best i can]..from the cluttered mind of an adult....[and as you can imagine...this is not always easy]...!

ps....the palm fronds image is one of my favorites too...[when i took this picture we were searching for Fernandina's Woodpecker...and i kept getting distracted by the beauty of these forms]....palm trees have so many amazing textures i just couldn't resist 'snapping away'..when i should have been in full bird-hunting mode....:smoke:

pps...my friend will be very pleased that you like his bird photos...he does have some great stuff...! [I think my favorite bird of the whole trip was the Stygian Owl...it was everything an owl should be..[sublime creatures]....mysterious and beautiful...and in the case of Stygian Owl..understated....which i like...

username · Apr 2, 2010

Woody said:
There sure are some wierd and wonderful things in the world. I'll bet the crab thing isn't about the individuals, it's about the mass of 'alien' creatures moving as one with absolute determination and an unstoppable single mindedness. That's what would give me the heebie jeebies!

Mike

I'm sure that that is part of my 'uneasiness' about the crabs Mike...tho even on an individual level they still freaked me out a little. And having thought about this further....[like i do]!..i also think that part of my uneasiness was due to the fact that they obviously 'saw me'...[as oppose to other crab species that don't tend to look right at you and wave their claws around defiantly]! I wonder how 'they' see things?...do they just respond to movement?...i think not...as they actually look right up into your eyes! Strange and interesting species.....hhmmmmm!

colleenc · Apr 3, 2010

I still wonder about how others, human or other life see......one time in a store I put on a pair of glasses supposed to give one a fly eye view of the world, it was quite strange, but manageable. But I think we can't really tell, birds see ultraviolet, and colors we can't, and more the "brain" is what sees, so how that is organizied, what parts of the visible light goes where and how is it reassembled to give meaning, kinda leaves out some one answer of what can be "seen"..........even so simple a thing as color blindness ( around 20% of men are in some part ) alters how our world appears.....but it is worthwhile to wonder and let the mind expand in to what it might be, and for me, looking in the eyes of any other species looking back at me, I can't help but wonder what they see.

username · Apr 3, 2010

Still trying to adjust to English weather...and realizing that there is not a lot about...bird-wise...!
So...in order to get out of 'Cuba mode'...[just for a while]...thought i'd post just a few images from a couple of hours in the field today...

One of my local patches includes a small airfield...[which should have held wheatears bounding everywhere...but it didn't]....there were some interesting 'things' about tho....

username · Apr 3, 2010

Okay...a few more...

username · Apr 3, 2010

Nearly over....B

ps...i tinkered a bit with this final lot....last image here has...[i think]...a 'comet' like quality to it...[or maybe not...depends how you look at things i guess]....

username · Apr 4, 2010

Noticed that i repeated an image in the last couple of posts....i really must get my filing sorted out!

Today i feel in a black and white mood...so here's just a few renderings from yesterday...

username · Apr 4, 2010

Nearby the airfield where i took these pix a there is a mixed little patch of conifers and deciduous.....

ps...i liked the bramble strand in this image for some reason....:smoke:

pps...weather update for Leicestershire...[not that anyones interested]..tis bloody cool damp and windy....yippee...not!!!...still...i guess that i won't be able to resist getting out into the field later on...[surely there's got to be at least one wheatear on my airfield 'patch']...!

username · Apr 5, 2010

Just a few reflections on the Easters birding...

Still awaiting the colors of Spring...[maybe that's why i'm still in monochrome mode...'ish']....

username · Apr 6, 2010

My local airfield actually produced what i was searching for today...an hour or so in the field revealed 2 male Wheatears in immaculate plumage...[i am a happy man]..! The air even felt warmer today and i could almost sense 'my' Hobbies returning from their winter quarters...

ps...just a few observational images attached...[none of wheatear i'm afraid]..

pps..second pic i just liked the contrast between the old grasses swept against barbed wire...set against new growth in background. Third image was just newspaper rubbish fluttering in hedge...:smoke:

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