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Photo of the Day August 2020
- Thread starter oblomow
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I learned yesterday the way to tell the difference between male and female monarchs. The males have two black dots on their stripes near the bottom of their wings and the females do not. The one on the left here is a male and the one on the right is a female.
Also this is in slight violation of the rules, but a very kind MR photographer sent me a message last night in relation to the wing close up I posted yesterday. Photographer thought my photo looked a bit pixely and not quite up to my normal sharpness standards and wondered if I had missed focus or had uploaded it at too low of a quality. Although I admit I did raise shadows quite a bit and shot at ISO 4000, the pixely look is really the actual texture of the wings. Butterfly wings are almost like little square feathers. My close up came from the butterfly on the right above. You can see she does look a bit fuzzier than her brother. But that pixely look is just because that is her actual patterning. Here is a 100% crop of yesterday's photo showing the texture. She has a few extra darker patches interspersed with her orange, so that when you view it at anything other than 100% it does tend to look fuzzy. But that's just the way she happened to come. 🙂
I also really appreciate MR photographers looking out for each other in the event that our photos just don't look quite right. 🙂
Also this is in slight violation of the rules, but a very kind MR photographer sent me a message last night in relation to the wing close up I posted yesterday. Photographer thought my photo looked a bit pixely and not quite up to my normal sharpness standards and wondered if I had missed focus or had uploaded it at too low of a quality. Although I admit I did raise shadows quite a bit and shot at ISO 4000, the pixely look is really the actual texture of the wings. Butterfly wings are almost like little square feathers. My close up came from the butterfly on the right above. You can see she does look a bit fuzzier than her brother. But that pixely look is just because that is her actual patterning. Here is a 100% crop of yesterday's photo showing the texture. She has a few extra darker patches interspersed with her orange, so that when you view it at anything other than 100% it does tend to look fuzzy. But that's just the way she happened to come. 🙂
I also really appreciate MR photographers looking out for each other in the event that our photos just don't look quite right. 🙂
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Fascinating. You’ve really got your monies worth from the caterpillars you ordered.
You learn so much through photography and not all f stops and shutter speeds.
Oh we didn't order any of these guys. We found them all in the garden. I bought milkweed this spring thinking I'd attract some monarchs to visit so I could take photos of them. I never expecte them to lay eleventy billion eggs and that we'd start raising them!
Yes, who would have thought that nature used pixels?
I will say, your hatchlings do have a lot more black in them than the ones I see here. I almost wonder if your region’s monarchs migrate to a different destination that the ones here. That, or yours just have a little more maturing to do and they will show more orange as they become active.
You may want to try this:
Monarch Watch Monarch Tagging Program
monarchwatch.org
We did this with our kids back in the '90s. You catch a monarch, ID it as male or female and note the general condition where it was caught etc., rub some wing scales (pixels lol) off and affix the sticky label to it. I see they've changed how you physically attach the tags since we did it and you no longer rub off some scales to attach tags. If someone finds your tagged Monarch, you can see where and when. We already have some Monarchs migrating through Ohio and a smaller than usual local population that's still living the local dream of laying eggs. It's only the last seasonal generation that migrates South for the Winter.
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Yesterday I was startled to realize that we actually have TWO juvenile cormorants in the lake! One is larger and already progressing well towards the final adult look, whereas the other is obviously younger, still a growing boy! (Or girl, maybe?)
I had fun watching the two of them swimming around the lake and then the smaller one made himself comfy on the submerged log -- everybody's favorite spot, it seems! -- while the other continued to swim, but then eventually the older one decided it was time to take a break, too, and he joined his little brother or sister on the log.
Wings needed a bit of drying-off, so he did the "displaying" thing while the younger one obligingly moved over a bit to give him more space:
I had fun watching the two of them swimming around the lake and then the smaller one made himself comfy on the submerged log -- everybody's favorite spot, it seems! -- while the other continued to swim, but then eventually the older one decided it was time to take a break, too, and he joined his little brother or sister on the log.
Wings needed a bit of drying-off, so he did the "displaying" thing while the younger one obligingly moved over a bit to give him more space:
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Awesome! Thank you so much. It is probably too late for us to get tags for this year but my daughter and I will definitely do this next year! 🦋
Took this a couple years ago, I miss photo meetups
A water pump-house in the hills, which was the scene of a revisit last night for some astrophotography. The entry walkway is full of water currently and makes a great reflection pool. This region was devastated by the bushfires at the beginning of the year, hence the charred trees in the foreground. Regeneration is happening in a nice way, but it is going to take many years for the thickness of trees to come back into being again and meanwhile so many animals have disappeared from these devastated areas totally. That was eerie last night, the absolute dead quiet, when normally all manner of critters would have been active.
Nice light orb! Did you spin it? I have a range of these in a variety of colour finishes, but am still learning to throw them as mine more often than not look like pumpkins!
Sun-Flower garden
X100T f2.8 - Lightroom - listening to Max Richter - soundtrack from the movie Ad Astra
X100T f2.8 - Lightroom - listening to Max Richter - soundtrack from the movie Ad Astra
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Beautiful light. Sort of place I like to go.
From the archive as can't travel. Eating lunch at sidewalk cafe in Gruyere. Don't know which was more ironic. Having the traditional raclette over potatoes...but in Gruyere, or suddenly seeing 4 cars (tomorrows photo) driving down a street converted to pedestrians only. Obviously a car club that had special permission.
Haven't been able to get as much photography in lately. Crazy summer, super busy work schedule, our garden keeping us busy what with the very high heat, Japanese Beetles chomping through our roses, vines, Hawthornes and the like. From the archive.
USA_CO_NIKON D300S_1109 by Ray Harrison, on Flickr
USA_CO_NIKON D300S_1109 by Ray Harrison, on Flickr
That partly-submerged log really is everybody's favorite place to hang out! I really wish they'd pick a different spot, though, as the background is always so messy and busy! Later in the day yesterday I looked out and saw Alfred relaxing there, preening himself, and then a young Mallard duck came along and, unfazed by Alfred standing there, got up on the log too, a safe social distance away and the two of them did their own thing, ignoring each other.
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This picture literally reminded me off one of my own shots from a couple of days ago.
Thanks for the comment. LOL @ pumpkins.....I did not spin it, but looked pretty easy, so keep trying. Maybe you should try it at one of the abandoned sites you visit.
the unknown
X100T f2.0 - Lightroom lite
X100T f2.0 - Lightroom lite
Monarch butterfly porn @ Purangi, Coromandel Peninsula, NZ
Fujifilm X20: ISO 200, f 3.6 @ 1/300 sec
'Twas brutal...... After a brief fluttering courtship he forced her down to have his wicked way, in a spot that was not so convenient for photography. I thought it would all be done in an instant, so left them to it. I have since learned that monarch mating takes a while, and the male lives to mate several times with other females.
Fujifilm X20: ISO 200, f 3.6 @ 1/300 sec
'Twas brutal...... After a brief fluttering courtship he forced her down to have his wicked way, in a spot that was not so convenient for photography. I thought it would all be done in an instant, so left them to it. I have since learned that monarch mating takes a while, and the male lives to mate several times with other females.
I’ve witnessed one being carried by the other (facing backward) flying through the air. I’m assuming it’s some show of strength that helps win the female? Or maybe it’s the female lugging the male around. Ah the circle of life!
Xs, lunch break walk to the park
