The Nature Photography Thread

[ConcinusMan]

Uhhh... yeah. I'll try to watch my step, and not eat that. They grow under trees around Vancouver Lake too. I know some people who have eaten them in very small amounts for the hallucinogenic affect, and didn't get sick. Myself, I'll pass. There's plenty of unmistakable and safer psilocybe semilanceata around if that's what you're into.

amanita phalloides, bisporigera, virosa, verna, also grow on my own front lawn. Never fails, every year mushroom hunters in the Northwest die from eating them. Often because they mistake the young bulbs for edible truffles Langermannia gigantea. Stupid. I myself have collected truffles, Morchella elata group (black morels), chanterelles, and Boletus edulis. All of which have deadly look-alikes in my area. Common sense, education, and caution can distinguish the deadlies from the good ones. Deaths occur when people get careless.

My absolute favorite is coprinus comatis: The Shaggy Mane. Man they taste good. Like medium rare prime rib beef. However, if you're one day late in finding a clump, it's too late. They are only good for one day. On top of that, they almost never grow in the same place two years in a row.

[mustang]

yeah, jumping spiders are the coolest. Occasionally i find one about the size of a dime. Jet black with red spots and really hairy. They're like mini tarantulas! The dead hawk is definitely a coopers. Very common in my area. Poor little guy.

Good news is that peregrine falcon and bald eagle sightings in my area are on the rise. A peregrine swooped down the other day and tried to snatch some mourning doves that were feeding at my bird feeders. Scared the crap out of me. I'm used to kestrels doing that, but when the much larger peregrine did it, i darn near crapped myself.

Also saw 8, yes, 8 adult bald eagles flying fairly low overhead. Looked to me like they were headed for the ridgefield wildlife refuge just north of my location.

Here's a pic of mourning doves below my feeder, along with a eastern grey squirrel (introduced to the west. Our native western grey squirrel is nearly extinct)

doves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bang bang bang mmmm mmm mm delicious!

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, just try it buddy. Besides that, shoot them with anything that goes BANG and there won't be anything left to eat. These guys are puny.

[mustang]

Yeah, just try it buddy. Besides that, shoot them with anything that goes BANG and there won't be anything left to eat. These guys are puny.

nope 12 guage will do it ....hell iv done it with a 20gauge mmm mm winged one and it was about to run BANG i dropped the sucker apparentle i leveled it head ...Birds EYEhahaah (bulls eye joke)

[ConcinusMan]

Yup, that'll do it alright. If you're into bird patee.

[mustang]

Yup, that'll do it alright. If you're into bird patee.

nope a dove breast cabob with a jalapeno

[ConcinusMan]

Grrrr..^^^ don't mess with my friends or I'll get creative and come up with a cabob of my own. Horse cabob perhaps.

I got a special Niger seed (thistle) feeder I put out in summer. I get American Goldfinches, and I plant cornflower to attract lesser goldfinches. Took many years before I started getting doves. Always running the neighbors cat off.

Here's a Anna's hummingbird at the hummingbird feeder in my yard. They are inquisitive little birds. Sometimes, they'll let me walk right up to them, within arm's length. Other times, when it's time to change the feeder, they get mad and cuss me out, and follow me all the way to the house. It's funny. (image is a little blurry, I know. I got too close) These birds show up even in the dead of winter, last year, they showed up when it was 18 degrees and a foot of snow on the ground!

[mustang]

Grrrr..^^^ don't mess with my friends or I'll get creative and come up with a cabob of my own. Horse cabob perhaps.

I got a special Niger seed (thistle) feeder I put out in summer. I get American Goldfinches, and I plant cornflower to attract lesser goldfinches. Took many years before I started getting doves. Always running the neighbors cat off.

Here's a Anna's hummingbird at the hummingbird feeder in my yard. They are inquisitive little birds. Sometimes, they'll let me walk right up to them, within arm's length. Other times, when it's time to change the feeder, they get mad and cuss me out, and follow me all the way to the house. It's funny. (image is a little blurry, I know. I got too close) These birds show up even in the dead of winter, last year, they showed up when it was 18 degrees and a foot of snow on the ground!

well wild horses are gettn to be a prob. since its illegal to kill em or send em to slaughter and when people cant afford them anymore they letem go in the wild...and hunting CONSERVS the population for many reasons do u want a list!

[ConcinusMan]

I used to live in Reno, NV. Same problem except these wild horses have been wild for many generations. Every now and then, the population get's too high for the land to support them, and too many horses begin to suffer, so they have authorized culls every few years, to thin out the population.

[CelestiHel]

This series is the pride of my winter shots so far. This sweet thing is only just about 3 years old, I'd say, given that she's so fearless. She's eating something, probably something that fell out of the bowl on the way to the compost heap.











No snake pictures in the winter, they're denning in the ceiling out of sight. Happy New Year!

Helen