November, your mother and I think you should move out

We’re just a tad late, but not too much, and so we’ll see November out on its own (but always welcome to visit, as long as it’s not overnight) with the month-end abstracts. And this month, we have two (urk!) smutphone examples, because that’s what I had in hand at the times.


Nice textures, but probably not too confusing or mysterious. We were transplanting read more

Just once, part 48


When first/last I featured this duo, I said that I wasn’t sure where it was taken – the obvious choice was the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro, given how long ago it was taken and the negative film used. Except I didn’t recall ever seeing mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) there. Since that time, I found several more examples in my negative pages, read more

Further along those lines…

Just a follow-up to yesterday’s post, from early this morning. Because I opened the blinds in the bedroom and found the female red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) standing in the lawn right outside the window, but she noticed the movement and decided it wasn’t kosher, that close and with her down that low. I realized, many years ago while doing wildlife rehabilitation, that read more

Defying expectations

So yesterday I determined that there were a few shots that I wanted to capture today, and had them scheduled in. The weather, however, had other ideas, and most of the day was rainy, not at all conditions for what I had planned (which, successful or not, I’ll reveal eventually – just not in this post.) Thus I resigned myself to skipping photography for the day and working on other tasks read more

Just once, part 47


This week we have an American coot (Fulica americana,) found in the ponds of Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. I’d photographed one once before this, in Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, Florida – not a very good shot, but it showed their semi-webbed feet well – but as for being featured on the blog, this only read more

Just once, part 46


We have a double this week, a cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) and thistle flowers (Asteraceae.) The thistle is not so surprising, since while it is abundant in central New York where I took this, I haven’t yet seen it in North Carolina where I spend the vast majority of my time, and truth be told, I don’t seek out thistle flowers as photo subjects read more

Clear ’em out (only momentarily)

All right, the anole pics are piling up, though I’ve been trying to do posts on other things to break it up a little, but now it’s time to clean ’em out, for the brief period that this will last. We’ll start with a few from just this morning.

Going out to the greenhouse to open it up for the day, I found this little scene etched on one panel:


That’s condensation read more

Today’s surprise


Well, okay, this one wasn’t a surprise – it’s just evidence that I’m still trying to get really nice pics of the pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus) that keep visiting the property, despite their penchant for appearing through a thicket of foliage. I was busy with other tasks as this one was flitting around, so I couldn’t dedicate read more

Just once, part 45

I decided to do this one, since it was just a couple days past a year ago that I snagged this shot.


Okay, yes, I’ve featured Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis) here a billion times, and there will be more before the end of the week even. But I’ve only featured, and seen, one with a forked tail just once in my life, so this counts. And believe me, read more

Intermission, unnumbered

Way too many numbered posts in here…

Anyway, a couple of recent pics to break things up slightly, with little exposition.


I was out exploring around the edges of the pond out back several days ago and found this guy, who was nice enough not to move while I held the camera down to its level and shot blind. This is a pickerel frog (Lithobates palustris,) that I would read more

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