Sweep out the amphibians

I’ve got a minor backlog of images to work through – nothing breathtaking, just the various things found around the property that aren’t really Estate Finds, but I’ve been getting plenty of pics and you might as well see some of them. So we’re going to start with the amphibians.

either American toad Anaxyrus americanus or southern toad Anaxyrus terrestris peeking from burrow
This one – the same exact individual – was featured before, peeking from the same exact burrow, but I might have misidentified it then. I called it an American toad (Anaxyrus americanus,) but there’s a chance that it’s actually a southern toad (Anaxyrus terrestris); the distinguishing difference are the large knobs sitting on the back of the head, behind and inwards from the eyes, and none of my photos are adequate to determine if they’re present or not. Southern toads did not really reach as far inland as we used to live, so I got used to knowing it was always American toads there, but now things are different. Which also includes this species:

Fowler's toad Anaxyrus fowleri sitting on concrete pad
The pale stripe that’s visible down the middle of the back of this high-contrast specimen indicates that this is a Fowler’s toad (Anaxyrus fowleri,) – I think, anyway, because it also has some bulges on the back of the head. I’ve long held the view that too many of the sources of identification of species fail to have adequate images to illustrate what they mean by “less pronounced cranial crests that are flush with the parotoid glands,” and it occurs to me that I can actually be someone that corrects that. I’m often inclined to take photos in situ and not in studio or while handling, but in these cases that’s simply the best way to see those identifying characteristics clearly. And of course I’m thinking this now that none of them are immediately available.

Meanwhile, I will show you the shamelessly posed one, though all I did was place the toad in a different location – this seductive expression is all on the toad:

likely Fowler's toad Anaxyrus fowleri posed stoically under unidentified flower
The flower pales in comparison, doesn’t it?

Okay, now things get interesting, because right here, I stopped this post as lightning was moving into the area and I went out to try for pics. This was completely unsuccessful (I have noticed that lightning strike plotters are notoriously inaccurate for this region, often off by kilometers,) but on returning, I found a toad right alongside the car, recognizing it as a southern toad. Since I had just typed that bit above about doing my own identification images, I snatched this toad up for a photo session.

southern toad Anaxyrus terrestris clearly showing cranial knobs
Only a hair away from a ‘wild’ shot, I simply set her down on the front walk, because she was pretty complacent, and I could light those cranial knobs distinctly. She was a little less complacent about the hind leg shots…

hindleg of southern toad Anaxyrus terrestris
… even though there are no identifying characteristics here, yet the Fowler’s toad does, so this is for comparison. Relax – she was being held gently, even though she didn’t like having her leg held out. And then the belly shot…

belly view of southern toad Anaxyrus terrestris
… which primarily shows the lack of a dark spot, once again indicating that this is not a Fowler’s, and the pale throat, which indicates that this is a female. Seriously, trying to be even a little knowledgeable about the species found in any area can take a fair amount of internet research.

It gets worse, though. I went through older images to demonstrate the difference with the American toad, and found that more than a few of my toad images were indeed of southern toads, like that below from four years ago.

Southern toad Anaxyrus terrestris calling
edited map of southern toad range from herpsofnc.org However, the map at Herps of NC.org showing the southern toad’s range specifically excludes the two counties I was photographing them within, highlighted in pale blue at right. Which goes to show you that online sources can be out of date or simply incomplete, so trusting them implicitly isn’t perhaps the best move. Anyway, I do still have a comparison image of a true American toad, also from four years ago:

small American toad Anaxyrus americanus depending on camouflage
All that was a sidetrack from what I’d already planned to write about, and while getting those images, I got another that’s on topic and even a little fartsy, so we’ll throw it in here:

Copes grey treefrog Dryophytes chrysoscelis perched on wind spinner after rain
This is a very tiny Copes grey treefrog (Dryophytes chrysoscelis) perched on one of our decorative wind spinners, this one on the back deck. It had moved from its initial position as I tried for a good angle, but allowed me to get this one instead, so we’re good.

And now, back to our fun with identification. These were from a few weeks back.

likely southern leopard frog Lithobates sphenocephalus in profile
So, there are two species of frog that look about like this: the pickerel frog, and the southern leopard frog. While I believe I heard the calls of the latter earlier this year, I can often hear the calls of the former, so no real help there. The distinguishing characteristics for the leopard frog are more ‘squarish’ spots long the side and a white spot on the tympanum, the external eardrum, while the pickerel frog has yellow or orange on the concealed parts of the hind legs, which of course you cannot see in any normal conditions.

likely southern leopard frog Lithobates sphenocephalus in profile
While this one was nice enough to let me get both sides, the spots are pretty inconclusive, aren’t they? And that’s not a ‘white’ spot on the tympanum, but certainly paler. Except, the example images provided at that same website show specimens without the spot at all.

likely southern leopard frog Lithobates sphenocephalus in profile
However, based on this specimen found a few days ago in almost the exact location, I’m going to go with these being southern leopard frogs (Lithobates sphenocephalus) and have done with it. The pale spot on the tympanum being missing doesn’t necessary rule one out as a leopard frog, but if I see it there, even faintly, I’m ruling that this is enough to count. Unless the call sounds wrong, but I never see one when they’re calling. In fact, there are a couple of different species in the pond that are calling as I’m standing there with the headlamp, and I can never spot them even though I know they’re right there.

No questions about this one, though:

American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus
Just the size would have been enough, since nothing else grows this big, about the size of my closed fist; this is an American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus.) The coloration is also a clue, but more distinct is the ‘vein’ running from the back edge of the eye.

American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus from the back showing dorsal 'vein'
On the green frog, the only other species around here that appears close, the ridge from the back side of the eye runs all the way down the back, but for the bullfrog, it only curls down behind the tympanum and ends there. The call of the bullfrog is also quite distinctive, though I have yet to hear them calling here at the new place.

Copes grey treefrog Dryophytes chrysoscelis perched on stem of potted ginkgo Ginkgo biloba tree
No problems with this one either, as it’s another Copes grey treefrog, this time perched on the potted ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) tree on the deck, almost immediately under the spinner seen earlier, though this one is three times the size of the previously pictured specimen. That pale spot under the eye seems to develop, even very faintly, before any other markings, and I’ve identified some very young specimens from that little spot. Now, these are identical to the common grey treefrog, distinguishable in the field only by their call, but North Carolina seems to host only the Copes for some reason. Though now I don’t trust that as much.

eastern spadefoot Scaphiopus holbrookii sitting in mouth of burrow
Another appearance of the eastern spadefoot (Scaphiopus holbrookii,) whose coloration seems to almost entirely lack any of the browns that the other toads typically have; the last few specimens have been primarily grey-olive, but the pale green hue to the irises are also a telltale. I have yet to hear any calling, but I’ll endeavor to get recordings of it when it happens. This one is doing the species’ typical hunting practice, which is to sit in the mouth of its burrow and wait for crickets to wander past, though to be honest, I’ve found them outside of the burrow more often than within. As I changed angle for another frame, it drew back down into the burrow further.

eastern spadefoot Scaphiopus holbrookii backing down into mouth of burrow
By the way, I’ve examined all of those that I’ve come across, save for this one, and have seen no sign of the one with the injured hindleg. Did it heal? Did it not survive? Can’t say.

And finally,

very small green treefrog Dryophytes cinereus perched on possible pickerelweed Pontederia leaf
This very young green treefrog (Dryophytes cinereus) was splayed out rather lankily on this large leaf last night, drawing in a little before I got close enough to get the photograph. It was aware of my presence and a little anxious, but I managed to get around for a better portrait angle before it leapt off elsewhere.

portrait angle of very small green treefrog Dryophytes cinereus perched on possible pickerelweed Pontederia leaf
Isn’t that a much cooler angle? I thought so, anyway – I’ve done hundreds of images of the species, but I’m always up for something dynamic.

Anyway, that got a few images out of the folder, though I ended up adding seven to the post from the initial plans. I still have more subjects to tackle though.

Podcast: Guest speakers

It’s been a while since the last podcast, but you knew I’d return, and this time, it’s with some guest speakers. This was recorded less than an hour ago, and not quite in Walkabout Studios:

Walkabout podcast – Guest speakers

Okay, not much of a podcast, I admit it, but I had to pass that clip along because I’ve never gotten one clearer than that. Those are barred owls of course (Strix varia,) a mated pair that’s been hanging around and is heard frequently in the surrounding area – these are the ‘monkey calls’ that mated pairs use to communicate, though what they’re communicating, I couldn’t tell you since this is a family blog*. Now, with hearing them dozens of times since we moved here, at varying distances and even during the day, not once have we even gotten a glimpse of one. The previous residents mentioned watching them through the kitchen windows, which only rubs it in. In fact, I have so few photos of barred owls, even though they’re easily the most common owl in both of the Walkabout Estates locations, that it’s a little disturbing – the best (and not exactly good) ones can be found here. But I’ll keep working on it.

* Oh fuck no.

Estate Find XVII

juvenile eastern kingsnake Lampropeltis getula stretched across brick walk
Okay, yes, we had one of these last year, but that was before the Estate Finds were active, plus I haven’t found anything too compelling this week. And in fact, I had missed this juvenile eastern kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula) entirely as I marched past, but The Girlfriend spotted it and directed me to where it had disappeared under the leaf litter; her snake identification skills are not developed at all, since she’s not at all fond of them, but her description of it being “black and white” was enough to know that it was harmless. Since we were busy doing yard work (mostly eliminating examples of last week’s Estate Find,) I simply popped this one into a small terrarium until I had a chance to dedicate some time to it, which unfortunately fell after darkness had.

juvenile eastern kingsnake Lampropeltis getula in author's hand showing belly coloration
But I was able to pursue several different perspectives in doing so, including some fartsy ones, and showing off the belly coloration and scale. The species can easily get much larger than this, as much as two meters, while this one is only a little larger than the first found on the property. It was docile and very cooperative as well.

juvenile eastern kingsnake Lampropeltis getula with tongue extended on lemon tree
Since it now appears that we’re past the temperature dropping below 10°c at night, we finally emptied out the greenhouse, and so I used a couple of those plants as stages for the pics – in this case it’s one of the lemon trees. The snake took to them very well, nosing curiously among the leaves and branches and climbing just a little higher, rather than attempting to bolt for cover. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve had a snake this easy to photograph – I just wish I’d tackled it during the day. And no, this wasn’t lethargy from the night, either; this species, among many, hunts at night and it was more than warm enough.

juvenile eastern kingsnake Lampropeltis getula extending vertically from Pink Panther foxglove Digitalis x ‘Pink Panther’
This shows one of the reasons why I regretted waiting, since it loses definition against the darkness, and you can barely make out that the tongue is extended. I often have this as a goal when photographing snakes, because it looks cool and is almost expected, but most times the snake only extends its tongue infrequently and very briefly, making the timing quite tricky. But you’ll notice that four of the five featured images show this, including the last one.

juvenile eastern kingsnake Lampropeltis getula coiled within blossoms of Pink Panther foxglove Digitalis x ‘Pink Panther’
Yes, I purposefully positioned myself so that the tongue would be backed by that one blossom of the ‘Pink Panther’ foxglove (Digitalis x ‘Pink Panther’.) Like I said, the snake was quite cooperative, and sampled the air almost constantly (that’s what the tongue is for.) This is full-frame, by the one, one of the few that I found seemed well-enough framed that no cropping was necessary, and the focus was clear on the head. Kingsnakes really are nicely-colored, and it sets off well against the flowers – let me know how many prints you want…

Ha! Take that!

Yet another holiday has approached and nearly passed now, and it wasn’t clear if I was going to be able to celebrate it or not. This is going to take some setting up, so bear with me (he says, to all the nonexistent readers.)

Some time back, I was reaching for something that had fallen on the floor and fell out of my chair, mostly because the floor in Walkabout Studios is tile and the chair skids too easily. I was fine, no broken hips or anything, but I found out a little later on that I’d crashed into the front of the computer (full mini-tower unit in a cubby under the desk,) and had broken my right-angle headphone adapter. Soon afterward, I discovered that I’d also damaged the socket itself, set into the face of the computer, and the right channel (ear) no longer worked. Crud.

I took the faceplate off and examined it, but nothing was visibly wrong, which meant that the damage was within the socket assembly itself. This was soldered onto a circuit board that screwed onto the back of the faceplate. No choice but to replace the socket.

Now, this is a simple and fairly common part, a 3.5mm female stereo jack. Except this one was soldered vertically to the board, which is rarer, and had five connections, also rare – both together are actually hard to find. I eventually located one from Aliexpress, a Chinese company, and let me stop you right there; I know that this is of questionable quality and somewhat risky, but it was a few bucks and the only other place I’d found it from was many times the price with the same apparent lead time, to say nothing of the fact that they were probably just a reseller and obtained their parts from the same damn place – these things aren’t ever made in the US. I’d ordered countless parts and upgrades for the 3D printer, as well as many other electronics, through Aliexpress and it always went fine. I placed the order, knowing it would likely be two weeks or so.

Or, not. Tracking the package found that, a few days after the order, it made it to a ‘sorting center’ in China and then stalled. For 20 days. I figured it was something to do with tariffs, but at least tell me something. However, it finally started moving again, and I was notified that, as of today, it was out for delivery, just shy of a month after placing the order. Sheesh.

But okay – I had another repair to do, to a remote release for the camera, and so I semi-scheduled them together. That repair went quite well, including printing a new stress-relief on the 3D printer out of TPU, a flexible material that I’d been unable to print successfully before. Cool! Finished that, and awaited the mail delivery. By early afternoon I finally had my package in hand.

Only to find that it contained a crushed, empty box inside a sealed delivery envelope. Lovely. You know, all they had to do was inform me that the order was lost or damaged and had been re-shipped, but apparently they were counting on me never bothering to try and get a refund or something (that’s already been applied for.)

But, what to do about the headphones? I’m handy, but there was no reasonable way to use a different jack, such as a side-mounted one, because there was no space and you needed the solid mount to push against when inserting the plug anyway. However, the board also had a microphone jack right alongside it, which I never used because they suck and my kickass microphone is a USB model. So could I simply swap the jacks out?

Easier typed than done. When items are soldered to a circuit board, it’s a quick thing, a mere touch with the hot solder, but de-soldering them takes a lot more time and heat, plus the fact that the hot solder doesn’t just fall away helpfully, but remains in contact (even with a solder vacuum tool) and re-hardens almost immediately. Ideally, you want all of the connections heated simultaneously so the socket can be drawn away while the solder is fluid, but this is next to impossible. Meanwhile, repeated heating transfers into the plastic housing for the socket, and it’s very easy to melt the damn thing enough to wreck it.

Which is what happened to the old headphone socket – it was already damaged, so no loss, but it told me that I’d have to be extra-careful with the one I was removing from the microphone side. So I took my time, cycling around the five pins to give each time to cool, wiggling it out a tiny bit at a time until it was free. Switching over a few millimeters and soldering it back in place took no time at all, and as noted, only a momentary touch of hot solder to the fluxed contacts re-affixed it.

And it works perfectly, so time well spent (and it was damn near an hour,) which means that I have celebrated, rather than ignored, today’s holiday, which is Overcome Absurd Obstacles Day. How about you?

Blameless

Yes, we’re back on the wood ducks again, but let’s be real – they’re the coolest birds and right here on the property; not even god is gonna blame me for posting about them *

mother wood duck Aix sponsa with two of her brood peeking out  from under her wings at night
Anyway, after doing the nighttime photos of the mother and ducklings on Turtle Island, I kept watching for them, getting some more shots and then, one evening, spotting the mother just after sunset, realizing that she’d come onto the island while it was still light enough to see. That’s all the encouragement that I need.

There’s a significant difference in the perspectives, naturally, because the night stills done with the flash meant that I was approaching with the spotlight of the headlamp trained on her, preventing her from seeing me (unless I turned around and silhouetted myself against the light falling on the yard,) as long as I approached as stealthily as possible. But while it was still twilight, she could see me easily and so I had to work at a much greater distance from up on the back deck, which did admittedly allow a better view through the pond plants. We’re talking a difference of six or seven meters versus thirty-five though.

Since this video, I’ve tried three more times but they haven’t showed, so whether momma’s found a quieter nighttime roost or is simply cycling her spots around to avoid creating a pattern that predators might figure out, I can’t say, though I’ll keep watching. This pond really is a great spot for them, since it’s too shallow to have largemouth bass or snapping turtles, both significant predators of ducklings, and close enough to the house to discourage foxes a little, and simply chock-full of both food sources and great hiding places, especially with those huge leaves now.

While the Canada geese and mallards are reasonably habituated to us, the wood ducks remain quite wary – the most progress we’ve made is that they only scoot over into thicker cover when we show ourselves out back, though incautious moves will still send them flying down to The Bayou for safety. One pair is semi-mellow and occasionally hangs around in sight, like on the evening that I shot the video:

slightly more mellow wood duck Aix sponsa pair on edge of pond
That’s the railing of the back deck peeking in at the bottom there, but I had no doubt that they could see me easily. Meanwhile, I have never seen a male in the vicinity of the mother duck at any time, so presumably they don’t maintain a protective pairing? I don’t now enough about their habits yet to speak authoritatively on this.

We did obtain some duckling starter food and have been distributing it in likely spots, and one set of locations, visible crossover paths between the pond and the creek at the east side of the property, gets picked clean routinely. By what, we’re not sure, though it’s an encouraging sign, especially when other locations on the pond edge have been untouched, so less likely that it’s by sparrows or something. But yeah, this certainly isn’t the last you’ll see of the wood ducks here.

* Should go without saying, really…

Your April reminders

I mean, you can simply look at the posts from previous years on the sidebar, there, to get these, and I can save myself the typing effort, but you’re not gonna do that, are you?

So once again, I’ll remind you that the Lyrids meteor shower is going on right now, but will peak on the night of April 21st, or more accurately, the morning of April 22nd, and I could be outside right now firing off time exposures instead of telling you this again, so since I’m making the sacrifice for you, you should go out some time in the next few nights and do some night sky exposures – chances are you’ll do better than I ever have in all my years of attempting to get a decent meteor trail or fireball.

Earth Day is April 22nd, and you should have big plans for that. My suggestion is, plant something for every post you’ve ever made on Twitter, or whatever it’s called this week. And no, grass seed doesn’t count.

And April 24th is the 35th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, still going strong despite the contributions from the James Webb Space Telescope. Eventually, it will be de-commissioned and you’re going to regret not appreciating it when you could have, so get on that.

You can thank me through that Tip Jar thingy on the sidebar, there. I’m going to go shoot the night sky while it’s nice.

'Mystic Mountain' in Carina Nebula by HST
Hubble Captures View of Mystic Mountain
NASA Hubble Space Telescope captures the chaotic activity atop a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars in a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Estate Find XVI

A little bit weak this week, mostly because I’ve been doing many other things (among them throwing up, but that’s passed now,) but also because not too much new has crossed my plate. I have some video clips that should be along shortly though.

The property is home to several groves of bamboo, mostly out onto the island on the back side of the pond, but also encroaching into the upper part of the yard. At some point in the past, bamboo became popular as an ornamental plant before people understood how unstoppable it is, and this property was one of the victims. We have no intention of eradicating it entirely, which would take a couple of days with a bulldozer I believe, but we (meaning me) are intending to keep it in check, and this past week was apparently sprouting season.

two large sprouts of unidentified bamboo species displaying nighttime 'dew'
These sprouts are roughly 30-35mm in diameter and 150-200mm in height, but for that, they’re still unsubstantial and easy to break off, though I imagine that this state lasts not more than two weeks, if only a few days. I also know that it isn’t the sprouts that you want to kill, but the roots, though I didn’t have a spade or hatchet with me while getting these pics, so I simply kicked them down after I was done.

sprout of unidentified bamboo species showing 'dew'
Like the hosta that served as last month’s abstract, I don’t believe this is dew at all, but moisture that the bamboo exudes at night instead. At some point, I’ll pick one to observe and perhaps do a time-lapse series to show how fast they grow – it appears I’ll have plenty of opportunities. We’ve noticed that there are, at least, two varieties growing here: the thick ones like this that can get very tall (at least five meters) but are easy to break off at this stage, and thin, spindly ones that remain roughly the diameter of a pencil and grow slower, but are much tougher for that.

Out in the greenhouse, things are developing apace.

‘Pink Panther’ foxglove Digitalis x ‘Pink Panther’ blooming in greenhouse
This is the ‘Pink Panther’ variety of foxglove (Digitalis x ‘Pink Panther’) that we obtained a few years ago, which is definitely pleased with spending the winters in the greenhouse. As far as I’m concerned it should have been moved out by now, but every time I think the weather is amenable, I check the forecasts, and within the week the temperatures are predicted to drop below 10°c overnight again, and so I put it off for another week – that’s been going on for at least a month now. This frame isn’t half-bad for being shot totally blind, you must admit, holding the camera down below waist level because the crowding in the greenhouse wouldn’t allow me to crouch into proper position.

This one, however, was from out in the yard:

likely 'Palibin' Syringa meyeri variety of lilacs in bloom
When growing up in central New York, we had several huge lilac bushes on the farm, and I wanted to have some down here but those varieties won’t grow this far south. This is one that will, though I did not get the particulars from the nursery that recommended it – based on the appearance of the blossoms, I’m going to brashly call this the ‘Palibin’ (Syringa meyeri) variety – certainly a much weaker color than what we had in NY, but they smell the same. This bush got transplanted last fall right after we moved in, hoping to get it established early, and since this is the first that it’s blossomed, I’m going to say that it worked. To all appearances, the soil here is much better than at the old place.

And I just reminded myself of another, from several days back.

blossom clusters of black locust Robinia pseudoacacia
This is a tree growing at the edge of the property, and because of the lighting conditions and the number of other trees around it, the blossoms went unnoticed until I was checking out the yard by headlamp one night. This is a black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia,) which also explained the seed pods that I’d been finding, believing they were from a mimosa tree that I hadn’t yet located. That’s vaguely disappointing, because I would like to get a mimosa established, but the scent of these flowers is fabulous, just about like candy; immediately after smelling them that one night, I went in to get The Girlfriend to check them out, and she agreed.

There are several magnolia trees here that are getting ready to blossom, and the buds from the pond lilies are developing, plus some kind of a water iris I believe, so more will be along eventually. The cardinal flowers that I planted in the fall (or was it winter?) have made no sign of appearing though, which is annoying yet par for the course.

But how? Part 31: What game is this?

First off, we’re not really answering any religious questions with this one, but asking a lot of them instead. Second, while I have tried (with varying success) to avoid going on the offensive with posts within this topic, this one is disregarding that restriction entirely, because we’re going hard on the offensive now. I’ve broached aspects of this in one form or another several times before, but now it’s time to get as many of them together into one place. So let’s ask, What kind of game is being played here?

We’ll start with a basic tenet of the abrahamic religions, that only applies in related ways to a few of the others: the concept of eternal reward or punishment – heaven and hell. On the face of it, these seem to make sense: any individual is rewarded for good behavior and punished for bad, until you ask why these are useful and implemented, which always comes down to, it influences future behavior. You cleaned your room when asked, you get a new videogame, or you hit your brother with a pinecone, you lose internet privileges for two days. Whatever. The idea is to promote future behavior that’s beneficial. But let’s face it: if you don’t want something to happen again, boom, kill the child. Done deal. Horrifying, right? Not even a fraction as horrifying as tormenting someone eternally for whatever misdeeds they might have done. What purpose could that possibly serve? And isn’t it enormously sadistic, I mean, really sicko behavior? Further, what use is a perpetually expanding realm of either ultimately happy or ultimately miserable souls? Are they currency of some kind, and for what? Is the supreme being trying to score certain points?

There’s also the bare fact that we only recognize ‘good’ and ‘bad’ living conditions or circumstances in relation to those that aren’t. Is it even possible to be perpetually happy, and if so, how would you know? Is it, like, a constant orgasm? What do you do all day, anyway? Is there any longer such a thing as anticipation or dread? Are there goals? Are there, to be blunt, any of the aspects that we view as ‘life’ in the first place? If you think about it, everything that we experience right now (provided that you’re living while reading this, and not a ghost or something,) reflects on not just the biological needs and desires of a living organism, but a social and finite one at that. We try to get along, we try to perpetuate our genes, we strive to accomplish things and/or be remembered, we even enjoy food that fulfills the evolved desires for proper sustenance. None of those apply to perpetual souls, or indeed have any meaning to such. Even people that have retired from their careers, successful at the primary goal of their survival, end up finding ways to occupy their time – new hobbies, new goals, new challenges, because that’s how our minds work. Does traveling the world or carving more elaborate statues have any meaning in heaven? How about regretting taking the lord’s name in vain, or planting two different crops in the same furrow, while burning in hell?

Oh, the afterlife isn’t actually perpetual, but temporary, a stage before the rebirth cycle, like in hinduism? Sure, whatever; what was it you did in the past life that you now know you shouldn’t do again? You don’t remember? Well, that’s certainly functional. Worse, if you follow the ‘greater/lesser beings’ idea and are reborn a cockroach or something, what, exactly are your choices for behavior now? “I probably shouldn’t have robbed all those people – I’ll be sure to be a good little cockroach now and – “… um, do what? Plant fucking trees? Maybe avoid eating or infecting human food? Sure, I’ll buy that; show me the reborn cockroaches that refuse to get into the breakfast cereal. Or perhaps the ones that recall just enough about their previous existences to hold still and let the shoe slam them back into the cycle to be reborn a step higher…

Which also leads to the question of what point a rebirth cycle has. I mean, it makes slightly more sense than the idea of perpetual good/bad afterlife – but only slightly. Again, where are we going with this – what’s the goal? Ultimate enlightenment, like in buddhism? Sure, what’s that? Does it mean omniscience? Fantastic – and what do we do with that? Knowledge is great, when it can be applied to improve something in our lives. But just to have it? And imagine trying to have a conversation between two omniscient people…

Underlying all of this is the basic tenet that religion overall is intended to guide us towards good behavior, which is fine and commendable, but ultimately unnecessary – we’re actually quite capable of determining what’s beneficial and detrimental, because it’s not actually hard at all. The biggest stumbling block is that we’re too often conflicted between what’s personally beneficial (or desirable) and what’s socially beneficial, or short-term versus long-term benefits, or the fact that winning some form of competition, real or imagined, usually does not actually equate with benefit in any form. It would be far easier if we couldn’t become this confused, since it’s mostly emotional/glandular, but again, that’s the way we were made, right? Though at least, the acceptance and active practice of religion is so adept at thwarting most of these ills, which is why we never, ever hear that religious people commit crimes, or take advantage of others, or engage in bloodshed, or [absolutely fucking huge list of social ills from a long history of religious persecution and abuse.] This is also why the cultures and countries that are the most religious are also the happiest and the most advanced. I’m sorry – did that sound like sarcasm? I do so try to avoid using that…

At this point, by the way, there’s never any shortage of people who protest that none of these heinous acts were committed by those who were really religious, but the nasty question is, could you tell that before they committed these acts? Because, you know, a hell of a lot of people could have used that guidance before the thefts, abuses, and murders occurred…

I’ve covered the inherent flaws in omniscience and omnipotence before, because they’re mutually exclusive (if you know everything, you already know what you’re about to do and thus have no power to do anything else,) but if we admit that maybe the scriptural chroniclers got that bit wrong and the supreme being isn’t ultimately knowledgeable or powerful, we still come back to the idea that we were created to be exactly this way – including our ability to make mistakes. Now, the idea of any master plan thwarts our behavior entirely and eradicates the very concept of free will, because we’re only players in this plan, automatons. Or, okay, said supreme being is only watching to see what we do, because, why? What’s the point? They could create what they wanted, do anything they wanted, with or without our participation, so…? What could possibly motivate a being – a perpetual being, mind you – to accomplish anything? Can they be bored? Can they gain any kind of fulfillment when it’s virtually guaranteed that they’ll succeed in everything because they can make it so instantaneously? Not to mention that there’s evidence in nearly every form of scripture that said being is capricious and capable of changing their mind, but also (much more alarmingly,) often quite emotional and petulant when its creation performs as it was created to be! What kind of a mental case would I be if I made a toaster that could also blow the roof off, by design, and then get mad when it happens? I mean, we know why we have emotions, and still don’t have very good control of them, but why would an infinite being have or need such a thing?

Not to mention that, while this supreme being loves us, it sure has a wicked history of being quite vicious about it. Pardon me for referring once again to the abrahamic scriptures, since I’m far more familiar with those, but we have lots of accounts of god playing obvious favorites when it comes to conflicts and wars, including stopping the sun in the sky (and not the planet from turning,) to provide enough daylight hours for the chosen portions of its creation to slaughter the unchosen bits. Lovingly, of course. Or we have the expulsion from the garden of eden, because this being planted a tree right there and said, “Don’t eat the fruit,” (all-knowing, of course, that it was going to happen anyway,) and then in retribution, made its creation susceptible to sinning. Like they weren’t susceptible to it beforehand when they were tempted by the fruit? And what was the tree, we ask? The tree of knowledge, often given as the knowledge of good and evil. Seriously, what’s the scattered and nonsensical message here?

Notice, too, that all of the animals (in this case meaning non-human) were expelled too, and then learned to prey on one another, because, um, they were complicit in this act? Because god doesn’t love them and so they might as well suffer the consequences too? Because god just likes burdening mankind with guilt? This plays out again in the noachian flood, when the vast majority of the world population (human and non) gets slaughtered too, save for a breeding set, because I guess the act of creating the entire universe made god too tired to do something millions of times easier and target simply the sinners.

We’ll broaden our scope now, and point out that not one of the creation stories, from any of the hundreds of different religions that have peppered the Earth, manages to fit in even slightly with all of the evidence that we have (intermeshing and corroborating as well,) of how the sun and planets started, of how life evolved, how old things are, and so on and so on. Now, the trait of studying cause-and-effect, of figuring out just about every mystery that comes in front of our eyes, is deeply ingrained – and has proven to be enormously useful as well, responsible for every last advancement we’ve ever made as a species. But, this fails when it comes to understanding our origins? It’s, as countless religious pundits have maintained over the centuries, all misleading, “testing our faith,” as it is so often put? First off, why? Seems like a hell of a lot of trouble to go through for a simple test, not to mention that the supreme being already knows what’s in our heads, not to mention that it already knows how it will all play out (oh, wait, we have to ignore that omniscience angle.) And correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this make it all a huge lie? I thought that was one of those bad things, but I suppose only for us to do, and not the perfect being. So what else is it lying about? I mean, we read or hear about scripture through the same eyes and ears that tell us about fossils and geological deposition and atomic forces, so where does that leave us?

The especially amusing bit about all of this is, religion is repeatedly claimed to provide “all of the answers,” and I cannot count the times that I’ve heard that science can tell us how, but religion tells us why. Feel free to pose any of the above questions to any religious authority that you like and see what kind of answers you actually receive. I’ve been on enough forums to see what they consist of, which is always a dodge along the lines of, “we’re not meant to know,” making the claim of providing answers rather hypocritical of course. I’ve also been on enough forums to hear the countless stories of people who, in their youth, posed such questions honestly and earnestly to their religious instructors, only to be chastised or punished for even asking (which naturally started that distrust and resentment rolling.) Even the explanation of what jesus’ sacrifice (is it a sacrifice if it was all planned, and he went to heaven afterward?) was supposed to provide for mankind somehow isn’t agreed upon by the devout; I’ve heard at least seven different variations personally, none of which made any sense.

Now, I can easily accept that cultures long past were attempting to provide answers, and that’s what most scripture (of any kind) consists of. It is, in fact, the only way that any of this makes sense at all. But to claim that this is how any supernatural being(s) communicated with mankind in order to guide, or inform, or enlighten us? It’s remarkably inept and pathetic, really, hardly the efforts of even average intelligence, much less an enormous intellect, or even one that created the game in the first place.

It’s often maintained that science doesn’t have all of the answers either, but this ignores the bare fact that it never proposed to in the first place, or even proposed anything at all; science is only a methodical process of learning, not any form of pronouncement nor any attempt to guide mankind. That said, using science to understand the origins of this planet and life thereon, as well as the odd and seemingly conflicting emotions that form our motivations, has produced thousands of times more answers than all religious ‘information’ put together, even as our understanding remains incomplete. Yet, this is a misleading comparison, since it’s not an “either/or” situation, a competition between two choices. Even without what science has demonstrated for us, religion does not serve to move us forward or explain our origins or actions or how to behave properly, especially if we take the myriad examples provided within scripture. The moment that anyone feels the motivation for it to make sense and “fit,” it is revealed as sorely lacking in such regards, and the only thing that can be obtained from it is self-indulgence – provided, of course, that one purposefully ignores all of the portions that fail to support such indulgence, or openly contradict it. But answers? Don’t be foolish.

Estate Find XV

All week I wasn’t finding a whole lot of new things to photograph, and Thursday was busy all day, so I ended up trying to find something late Thursday night/early Friday morning. I was out with the night rig, and indeed got a glimpse of beavers, twice, but never could get focus before they slipped out of sight, and my attempt to out-patience them failed; I saw some ripples and heard a plop, and I’m vaguely suspicious there’s another lodge that I hadn’t known about, but that was it.

Returning, I was still looking around by the headlamp when I thought that the shapes on Turtle Island didn’t look quite right, and got the lens and focusing light on it.

female wood duck Aix sponsa on Turtle Island
Yep, that’s a female wood duck, which I was pleased to find because there’s been no evidence that they were remaining on the pond overnight – every time I watched in the evening, everyone seemed to head out for the lower part of the pond, dubbed The Bayou. Naturally I zoomed in as much as possible, and Turtle Island really isn’t far from the bank, so I could close in pretty well for a single frame before she slipped into the water. Framing, that’s another matter.

female wood duck Aix sponsa on Turtle Island with wings dropping
It was this shot that made me go out to try again later on, after she’d returned to this roost, because I was annoyed with myself that the one sharp, closeup image was framed so badly. She wasn’t copacetic with the attention and soon slipped almost silently into the water, before I could nail focus, but I had a couple of frames that made me pause, and the drooping wing up there was suddenly explained. It took two more tries to finally get what I was after, and by this time it was beginning to rain seriously.

female wood duck Aix sponsa shielding ducklings from rain on Turtle Island
Ducklings! This was definitely a surprise, because first of all, I had seen no evidence of nesting at all, and second, I would have confidently told you this was too early for ducklings – so much for my judgment. This wasn’t too far from the nest box, either; had she used it, or something else? I have no idea. No male was in evidence in the slightest, by the way, any of the four times I was trying for shots.

By the way, if you go back to the second pic and look right in front of her breast, you’ll see the first confirmation – I hadn’t actually found it until subsequent tries when the rippling I was seeing in the focusing light (which was much less effective than the flash, many times dimmer) made me suspect the ducklings.

But almost immediately after the above frame, the brood shifted and gave me an excellent family portrait:

female wood duck Aix sponsa with several ducklings in rain on Turtle Island
Well, if you’re all going to be that cooperative, I’m amenable. By this point it was raining seriously, and between the risk to the camera equipment and the risk to the ducklings from getting too wet, I abandoned further efforts – the risk to the ducklings wasn’t that high, since it remains 16°c out there and they were exposed to the rain for about 10 seconds before I let them be. Considering that only a couple hours ago I was thinking I’d have to punt the Estate Find, though, this works pretty damn well.

Just because, part 55

A few photos sitting largely by themselves, just gotta clear some of the folder out.

full resolution inset of waxing crescent showing Theophilus crater prominently
Out the other night with the long lens attached, I fired off a few frames handheld at the waxing crescent (nearly half, or first quarter) moon high in the sky, adjusting focus manually each time. This one came out the sharpest, and this is a full-resolution crop from the center – that’s Theophilus crater so prominent near the terminator, and yes, it has multiple peaks in the center. It’s 100km in diameter and about 4.2km deep.

Only now realized that the last ‘Just Because’ was also a moon shot, but it was a couple of months ago so it’s okay. Plus we have other subjects.

dusky Canada goose Branta canadensis occidentalis swimming through disappearing open water on pond
Canada geese have several different subspecies, and this appears to be a dusky Canada goose (Branta canadensis occidentalis,) easy to spot because their breast coloration is almost the same as their backs, plus they’re a little smaller. We have a pair that visits semi-regularly now, upsetting another male (probably the most-common Atlantic Canada goose) because he believes this should be his territory. This results in squabbles and lots of honking at times – I’ll have some recordings and video later on. Right now, we look at that pond and recognize that the pond lilies are taking over – no surprise, since the water is quite shallow, but soon it won’t look like water at all.

And finally,

pair of Carolina anoles Anolis carolinensis sleeping stacked above one another in top of thick weed
Out the other night looking for snakes and beavers – yes, I’m biphotographic – I was in one section of the property that had been crawling with green treefrogs just two nights previously, but now was hosting countless Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis) asleep in the weeds, grasses, and trees – I could stand in any given spot and find at least three in the light of the headlamp, in any direction, with little effort. But these two demanded that I get their picture, because who could pass this up? It’s actually taken from a moderate distance off with the 150-600mm and Vivitar 285HV, since that’s what I had mounted.

There’s more to come, but these required little exposition, so I could throw this post down easier. You’ll see more shortly.

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