Articles submitted to Nature

From a recent walkabout the neighborhood, this pine bough glows with late afternoon low sun. Strange to go through March with almost no snow here in Denver.

office

This particular front angle of the butterfly makes me giggle because of its comical effect. :D

Green Valley Ranch Golf Course grounds crew predictably water the fairways of the course at the same time every day. Here the early morning sunlight shines through the sprinkler rooster tail and creates a sharp silhouette and shadows from trees along the fairway. Like the pastel rings around the rising sun, which are the result of applying the "Posterize" function to the basic image.

A butterfly seems to be crashing a party. You can see one of the tongues is coiled, while the ones on the ground are sipping from whatever they found tasty. Shot with a telephoto lens from a kayak. Taken near Ottawa, Canada

This is a young bird. As they grow older, the nice pattern on the wings is replaced with a dull grey. I prefer this pattern though. Shot from a kayak yesterday near Ottawa, Canada

The Egret has a seven foot wingspan and flies with it's neck curved. They visit my area of Canada only for a couple of months late each summer.

An Eastern Kingbird takes flight, as it still stands on one foot on a branch.

A Great Blue Heron takes to flight, unwrapping its huge wings. (six feet from tip to tip)

A robin eats some berries as a bug flies past. (photo-bomber)

The duckling tried to lay low and sort of play dead. It was great to be able to get the photo, then he took off, running across the water.

Love this green seaweed, the gull trying to get a meal from the head.

Title: Taking a Break
Country: Canada
Exif: 1/2000 sec, f10, ISO1250, 300mm

A dragonfly has a rest on a blade of grass.

Title: Waiting for Fish
Country: Canada
Exif: 1/2000 sec, f5.6, ISO200, 300mm

A great blue heron waits in the water for fish to catch.
This was the heron I was sneaking up on when I bumped the huge turtle. (Yesterday's photo)

What looks like a bird balancing on it's beak is actually an Arctic Tern diving into the water.

Title: Balancing Act
Country: Canada
Exif: Canon 7D, 1/2000sec, f10, IOS640, 300mm

Title: Bumped into a dinosaur
Country: Canada
Exif: Canon 7D, f10, 1/2000 sec, ISO 300, 300mm

Kayaking to get a photo of a Great Blue Heron and my kayak bumped into this old guy. They can live up to 100 years and weigh up to 75 pounds. This guy was a big one. After my little encounter, he went under to walk along the bottom. I'm glad I wasn't wading barefoot in that area. Oh, and snapping turtles were around when the dinosaurs were here. They don't seem to have changed, judging by their ancient appearance.

Shot from one kayak to the other, where the moth had landed in a very obscure location. The sun happened to be reaching where it sat, and I was able to capture this photo.

A (mostly) black and white image of a white birch, shot in 2008. I left the 'eye' the natural color in which it appeared in the original untouched photo.

Some bulrush leaves blowing in the wind.

A dragonfly enjoying the sunshine.

A Common Whitetail Dragonfly rests in the sunshine before patrolling his territory and finding food.

A great blue heron appears to be deep in thought. Actually he was fishing and now is contemplating the wisdom in staying so close to an approaching kayak. (me) The wind blew me silently closer until I was quite close.

A great blue heron caught in the act of taking off, with water drops flying.

I found this guy flying over the lake, a foot caught on some long grass which was wet and dragging him down. He fell to the water once or twice, but got up again, flying with the extra weight hanging from his foot. I caught him, and carefully held him while untangling the grass from his foot. When I released him, he flew in a big circle around my kayak, as if to thank me, and it was then when I was able to take his photo.

I submitted a photo of this same bird (a tern) on the same piece of wood yesterday. Of course, I don't really know if it's the same bird, but considering he is the only tern in the area, it seems like he sits here waiting to catch fish. I was surprised to see him again, and once more, I was able to get very close without him flying away.

The shadow of the Rocky Mountains cloaks the houses of Green Valley Ranch while a building hailstorm in the distance is brightly lit above the horizon shadow line.

I found this rather tricky as it was slightly windy and the rain droplets were so tiny, I could only just make out there was some pink in one of them and hoped for the best. The refracted image is of a potted azalea plant about 4 metres away sitting on the patio with foliage behind it. Every tiny movement I made, along with the wind blowing, meant it was difficult to maintain focus. I know I really should use a tripod but I like shooting freehand, I was therefore really thrilled with this. :D

Blooming fruit branch along walkway to Great Wall, Beijing, China, stands out against the front wood paneling of a tourist shop near the front entrance.

I noticed this little beetle glinting when I was keeping a close watch on the bumble bee.

I noticed this bee wasn't very energetic so I kept an eye on it to see whether it would fly away. When it didn't, I thought that perhaps it was really tired and lacking in energy so I went and got some sugared water. I went amongst the plants and tried not to trample them, then carefully spooned some water next to it. I tried to get the water as close as possible without getting it onto the bee for risk of hurting it. It still didn't move for the few minutes I kept watch over it so I smoothed the water over as close as I could. At last, the bee managed to draw enough energy to make a little lunge into the water. I then left it alone and just been to take a look and it's flown away! :D

I've never looked at sunflowers close up before. From studying this image, I now understand where exactly sunflower seeds come from. :)

(image)

(image)

(image)

(image)

(image)

(image)

Was able to get up real close to this huge animal..actually scratched his nose.

(image)

(image)

(image)