Before the deadline

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Today is World Turtle Day, and I’m prepared, having in fact obtained a few images the day before, because I’ve got it going on. What “it” is and what “going on” means is up for interpretation, and I doubt we’ll be in agreement over those. Regardless, some World Turtles.

The explosion of both foliage in the many trees around the pond and large lily leaves within it took away many of the basking spots that existed all throughout the fall and winter, and so the turtles aren’t seen anywhere near as much. One of the few spots that remain sun-drenched is quite small, a mere fallen branch that barely clears the water, but it regularly receives its share of users, and then some.

five turtles all vying to use the same snag in the pond for basking
That’s five of them in there, though one is only peeking from the water, and none of them are large. From the markings that I can see and the shape of the carapace, I’m going to claim that all of them are yellow-bellied sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta,) one of four species that are proven to exist in the pond and easily the most common one. This is with the long lens of course, but it’s still closer than they normally allow me to get; I came up through the wooded area and peeked between some trees to get this. A short while later, I did the side angle from further off:

five yellow-bellied sliders Trachemys scripta scripta covered in duckweed attempting to bask
As you can see, the pond has been taken over by the duckweed quite thickly; it really could stand more flow, but even the creek alongside the property doesn’t flow very well – we’re only a couple meters, if that, above the typical level of the Pamlico River/Sound, so there’s no downhill to work with. And while we have ducks that will indeed take down some of this vegetation, it would take several hundred to make a serious dent in it, I think.

Back on the creek, there’s a large fallen trunk that’s a favorite basking spot of the turtles there, but they’re typically very spooky and drop into the water at the faintest hint of peoplefolk. Yesterday, however, one ignored its brethren and remained in place, even as I approached pretty damn close. I initially thought it might be the one with the bad eye on one side, and it simply couldn’t see me, but subsequent examination of the frames showed that both eyes appeared fine – it just wasn’t that concerned.

very large yellow-bellied slider Trachemys scripta scripta blocking path across trunk
I have occasionally assigned a sort of psychology to behavior among the larger, older examples of turtles, later realizing it was unwarranted as I compared my evaluation of different individuals: I’d both supposed that they were unwary because they were large enough that little could threaten them, and (for other specimens) that they got to be that old by being especially wary and quick to take cover. It’s too easy to build a supposition from little evidence, and even more easy to be dead wrong.

closer profile of yellow-bellied slider Trachemmys scripta scripta on trunk
But I still took advantage of the behavior for some closer portraits, and as you can see, this eye looks fine at least.

There are presently three spots in the yard with known turtle nests, and who knows how many more that I didn’t find or that went a bit further off the property – I’m going to be absolutely paranoid in about two months on, because the newborns will track back to the pond after hatching, right across the yards. This one was found just after closing on the house last year, to give an example of the size.

unidentified newly hatched turtle held in author's hands, taken by The Girlfriend
I said, “just after closing” – we’d been painting for two days straight, and I found it as I was cleaning the brushes and trays, so hush. And don’t ask me what species it is, because a lot of them look alike at this age, though I suspect it’s a painted turtle.

This one is definitely an eastern painted turtle (Chrysemys picta picta,) though:

likely female eastern painted turtle Chrysemys picta picta head-on, found in yard after rain, likely seeking a spot to lay eggs
Found in the yard several days back, not long after a good soaking rain, it was likely out to take advantage of the softer ground to find a nest spot, but it’s been so long since I’ve gotten decent pics of a painted turtle that I did several frames from different perspectives to have the detail shots, and then put her back where I found her. A few minutes later, she was nowhere to be seen, having already made tracks.

profile shot of eastern painted turtle Chrysemys picta picta held in author's hand
So there’s a few examples for the holiday. It’s also Endangered Species Day, but while I considered trying to have something for that, time and opportunity weren’t going to let it happen, to say nothing of how difficult it might be to actually get photos of any of the endangered species that can be found anyplace close – there aren’t many, and I don’t believe I have ever gotten photos of any of them, save for manatees and a couple of crappy images of green sea turtles, taken in Florida. Now, if someone were paying for such images, we’ll see what kind of effort can actually be put into this…

Estate Find XXI

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Credit for this one – at least, part one – goes to The Girlfriend, who was the first to spot and photograph it three days ago, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I was successful myself. I was out specifically to pick an Estate Find, hopefully this one. and wasn’t having a lot of luck – I was on my way back when I caught movement at the pond edge. Visibility was horrendous, and it took a bit of careful sidling to even get the first shots.

green heron Butorides virescens peering past intervening foliage
A green heron (Butorides virescens) naturally, the first for the year and the first on Walkabout Estates – but this needs a qualifier. During the property inspection, I spotted one, not at all surprised because the pond is ideal for them, but it wasn’t ours then. And I’ve been waiting to see when they might return, since it’s about the same time of the year as I was first finding them at the old neighborhood pond – they seem to migrate in rather late, for some reason. I would put this down to breeding elsewhere and then migrating in afterward, except that I had witnessed a few new broods and fledglings at that pond, so it doesn’t seem to be the case.

green heron Butorides virescens semi-obscured by foliage
To say that I was having a hell of a time trying to obtain a clear shot is putting it mildly; while the heron was on the pond edge, I was inland several meters with countless bamboo plants, vines, and whatnot in between, and I would shift sideways to clear some only for more to obscure my view. Meanwhile, the heron is right there and I’m endeavoring not to spook it before I get my portraits.

green heron Butorides virescens tinted green by intervening foliage and reflected light
I was sticking to manual focus, because AF would have simply tried to nail the leaves in-between us; this one is tinted green mostly by shooting past/through too many leaves, but likely also has some help from the fact that everything in the immediate vicinity was green, and this was the light that was getting reflected onto the heron. Meanwhile, it is now suspicious that someone is watching it, and moments after this, it flew a short distance off to another edge of the pond – not far enough, though.

green heron Butorides virescens now out in the open
Even though I was now clear of the damn foliage, this frame was still a bit too green from the duckweed-reflected light, and so I tweaked it back to neutral. In direct sunlight, green herons actually look closer to dark slate blue as their base color, but in shadow (where they tend to hunt,) it appears like shadowed green foliage, and works very well.

Now, this is also an ideal habitat for a nest, so we’ll just have to see what happens. Fingers crossed, offerings made to the minor deities and all that…

Later that afternoon, I got part two. Sitting in Walkabout Studios with the door to the outside open, I heard the derisive call and slipped outside with the long lens, locating my subject surprisingly quickly, but even more surprising was how many frames I managed to get.

juvenile pileated woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus semi-obscured by foliage
Not my day for obscuring foliage, was it? This is full-frame and my initial view, a pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) foraging exuberantly on a dead limb. Again, manual focus was engaged and I started creeping forward, knowing that at any second I’d be spotted and the woodpecker would take flight because while the woodpecker was in deep shadow, I was out in the middle of the sunlit yard. Still, I could improve my vantage.

juvenile pileated woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus barely discernible through leaves
Slightly better, and a hint of the markings, but not good enough.

juvenile pileated woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus mostly silhouetted against sky
Now we have enough of a view for two observations: that this was a female, and that it likely was a juvenile, this year’s brood, determined by the lanky proportions and faintly threadbare appearance along the neck. I also made a mistake that it took me too long to recognize, because while I had dialed in exposure compensation for the bright sky in the background, I was forgetting that the woodpecker was itself in deep shadow, and the compensation should have been twice what I was using (so, 2 stops overexposed instead of the 1 full stop that I’d set.) Silly me, and I tweaked this slightly afterward, but the shadow detail simply hadn’t been captured and so I didn’t try pushing it too far and making it look weird. Yes, I’d thought to try and get to the sunny side of the woodpecker, but that would have required being several meters out into the pond – it wasn’t happening.

juvenile pileated woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus providing pose on dead limb
I also had to once again adjust for the green light, the cypress needles and grape leaves surrounding the woodpecker were what was illuminating the shadowed side. And at this point, the woodpecker is now suspicious of this guy down below.

juvenile pileated woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus eyeballing photographer
Couldn’t pass on featuring this one, even though, with the eyes set on either side of the skull, most birds can be looking directly at you with only one eye while their beak is pointing off to the side – we just assume that this kind of perspective now means that it’s looking right at us. Maybe yes, maybe no, but birds typically don’t need the binocular vision to determine if danger’s present; that’s usually saved for hunting instead, where the depth perception is crucial.

But there you go: one targeted Estate Find, and one happenstance. I can dig it.

Down four aquatic

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

While I made a significant dent in the backlog of photos to be posted, there are still too many in the queue, some of which just don’t fit into any decent category. We’ll get a handful more out right now.

The layout of the property, especially the water sources, is weird and hard to describe. The eastern border is a creek, but at one spot there’s a channel that leads into a small pool on the property, that drains into another pool, that eventually dumps into The Bayou. I suspected that at the mouth of this channel sat a beaver lodge, but it’s on the other side of the channel without any easy way to cross, and thus I haven’t tackled it yet. Over the past few weeks, however, I have determined that this is a lodge, an active one, and while the occupants aren’t being outgoing enough to see very often, much less photograph, it happens occasionally.

North American beaver Castor canadensis in small hidden pool on property
This one was spotted, rather suddenly, in that small pool that the channel drains into, and when I say, “small,” I mean I could almost take a running start and jump across it (that’s if I managed not to catch any of the dozens of cypress knees that decorate the landscape around about the ankles and lay myself out flat, which is almost guaranteed actually.) So when I saw something move in the headlamp, I wasn’t really expecting an adult North American beaver (Castor canadensis.) I vaguely suspected it was a nutria, since the neighbors confirmed that they’re in the immediate area, but as it swam past the tail became quite visible and left no doubt that it was a beaver – nutria have tails somewhere between a rat and an otter, not skinny, but certainly not flat like a beaver’s.

After the beaver vanished without a trace within these waters, I went over to the channel to check its depth. It’s worth noting that the entire pond, the one bordering the backyard that hosts the ducks and geese and so on, sits very close to this point and runs roughly 40-60cm deep, so I was thinking the channel and the pool were less than this, but the channel was much deeper, about a meter where I checked; this explained how the beaver left the area without even disturbing the surface. And why they put the lodge at the head of it.

A couple weeks later, once again out at night, I caught movement in the weeds in an even smaller pool, a confusing one, since it has the mouth of a culvert into it as the sole apparent water source; this would almost certainly have to come from the creek, but why? It’s pretty remote to actually dig and place a drain pipe into, and it leads into a pool that I could actually jump across. But the motion of the weeds, and later a swirl at the mouth of the culvert, were pretty distinct, and I watched for some time but never saw the culprit, though I’m almost certain that this pool is way too shallow for beavers, or at least to keep them entirely hidden.

But it’s near (though not connected to) the outlet channel of the aforementioned pool, not to the creek, but to The Bayou, and while watching this isolated pool, I started seeing glimpses of movement in that channel. Eventually, a small, silvery-grey body appeared almost at my feet, but vanished as I got focused, leaving only a plume of mud behind.

turbulence from departing water denizen in drainage channel
The animal in question was about the length of my hand, not including the ratlike tail, faintly hyperactive in manner, definitely a rodent – but at that size, what was it?

This was eventually semi-solved when, after a fruitless search for about 40 minutes, I backtracked over to the main creek and started seeing the same activity from the same silvery-grey critters. This time, I snagged a quick frame:

juvenile common muskrat Ondatra zibethicus surfacing by creek debris
Now, I’ve only seen nutria twice, and only adults, so I wasn’t exactly sure this wasn’t a juvenile, but I strongly suspected it was a juvenile common muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) instead. I’m used to them being more beaver-like in coloration, from milk-chocolate to dark chocolate brown (now I’m hungry,) and not this grey color. In fact, the grey puts me more in mind of the common brown rat (Rattus norvegicus,) which are quite adept swimmers but typically don’t live or forage in water, and this area is pretty damn swampy – not their ideal habitat.

Shortly thereafter, the same individual surfaced almost at my feet again.

juvenile common muskrat Ondatra zibethicus showing front and hind feet
Yes, that’s poop there, and don’t ask me whose it is because I didn’t see it happen – we’re supposed to be looking at the critter here, especially those hind feet in the water, because they at least rule out juvenile nutria, which have webbed rear feet like beavers. While I’m not definitely ruling out brown rats, I’m still leaning towards this being a juvenile muskrat. Now, while this was identical to the one I’d seen earlier, it was a moderate distance removed from it, out in the main creek instead of in or near the pool or channel. Not impossible by any stretch, but far enough that I won’t say this is the same one, plus the previous activity at least implied two. My best guess is that these are juveniles not long out of the burrow, which might also explain their lack of wariness so close to me. At the same time, I was occasionally hearing a slap of beaver tails and knew those were active nearby but remaining out of sight.

I have seen no sign of these since, despite several nighttime visits, and the beavers remain elusive as well, though they are audibly evident. I’m hoping that, very soon now, I’ll see some juvenile beavers appear – stay tuned.

Almost forgot about this one

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Looked out the kitchen window in early afternoon the other day and found this guy:

eastern rat snake Pantherophis quadrivittatus carefully scaling down a brick wall
Eastern rat snakes (Pantherophis quadrivittatus) are excellent climbers, not even hesitating to scale virtually any kind of tree in search of birds’ nests (for eggs, nestlings, or adults); a friend insists that one was regularly shinnying up a perfectly smooth, 6-inch square pole at least five meters to reach her marlin houses, which I would have liked to have seen, but that means that brick walls like ours, especially with deep mortar spaces, are a piece of cake. Note that this one wasn’t going fast, but it wasn’t struggling either.

medium closeup from below of eastern rat snake Pantherophis quadrivittatus carefully scaling down wall
The first two shots were with the (urk!) smutphone, simply because I wanted to ensure I had a few pics in case the snake wasn’t there when I returned with the real camera, so I ask you to please excuse the gaucheness. And from the size and coloration, this might indeed be the same one seen earlier this year (and who was again spotted in the yard a few days after this.) Roughly a meter in length, and this close approach didn’t spook it particularly, though it was watching warily and could easily have dropped to the ground if it felt too threatened – this was only at eye-level, and the snake appeared to be descending from the roof edge, a single story at that point.

eastern rat snake Pantherophis quadrivittatus making progress down brick wall
Now I’m back with the real camera, and we can see the progress that it’s made; I checked, and none of the bricks from the first frame seem to be found in this one, and I can tell you it was roughly a meter lower on the wall. It took me maybe two minutes to get the camera.

eastern rat snake Pantherophis quadrivittatus on brick wall seen from side
This view is useful in that you can see how much of the snake’s body is out over open air – their muscle control, maintaining leverage on the minimal surfaces of the bricks that they can get onto and in-between, is phenomenal. Moreover, they then ripple this leverage down along their body to slither down the wall. I should have done video, but that would have been best with the tripod and the snake probably wouldn’t have waited around for me to set up.

profile shot of eastern rat snake Pantherophis quadrivittatus on brick wall
I let this one be after this, because it’s welcome on the property and quite harmless (to humans, anyway.) Their principle diet is their namesake small rodents like rats and mice, as well as birds and eggs (which are indeed swallowed whole and crushed within their body,) and occasionally other snakes. I imagine it has no issues finding food around here. While roughly the same length as the red-bellied water snake found just over a week ago, it’s distinctly slimmer, less than half the girth, but this is simply a trait of their respective body shapes and not indicative of their eating habits or anything.

Your opinion matters

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

So does your readership, and in fact, your actual existence – is there anyone actually reading? Plowing ahead anyway…

I have two pairs of very similar photos for you to evaluate, and all I’m looking for is which you like best. Not asking about artistic merit, or which shows better details, or whether I should give up photography and go back to, um… something… just which of the pair do you prefer?

The first pair:

osprey Pandion haliaetus soaring next to defocused moon
Do you like this one, or the own immediately afterward, below?

osprey Pandion haliaetus soaring next to defocused moon
An unrelated side note: While the osprey (Pandion haliaetus) was a pretty good distance away, it still wasn’t anywhere near the ‘infinity’ point of the Tamron 150-600, so the moon wasn’t in focus, even at f11. I’m slightly glad that it wasn’t a full moon, since the round fuzzy white spot might simply have been mistaken for an odd reflection or ghost or something, but I wouldn’t get a full moon this high in the sky in daytime anyway.

And the next pair:

juvenile green treefrog Dryophytes cinereus poised to jump
With its companion image:

juvenile green treefrog Dryophytes cinereus poised to jump
All I’m going to say right now is that these were all from yesterday, though obviously spaced a short while apart. I may be back later on with more photos from the day, and to explain my own thoughts, though really, I’m on the fence myself.

Not waiting for Friday

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Actually, it’s already waited a few days now, mostly because I either didn’t have the time to post or wasn’t in the blogging mood; since it was this past Friday, it really could have just squeaked in as an ‘Estate Find XXa’ or ‘XX.V’ – did the ancient Romans use decimals? Maybe lower-case Roman numerals, like, ‘XXv?’ Whatever.

Out with the headlamp, because more things happens at night, I was passing through the bamboo and cypress-knee jungle along the north edge of the pond when I got a strong reflection from up ahead, seeming larger than most spiders. It also wasn’t reddish, like the frogs and toads tend to be, or blue-green like the spiders – it was white. I advanced on it, keeping my eye on the spot because, once I get close enough, the increasing angle between the headlamp and my eyes cancels out the reflection. I closed on the spot and couldn’t initially find the culprit, even though I knew it should be right around this medium-brown mossy lump, a moss I hadn’t seen before.

Forest for the trees…

newborn white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus fawn in protective bed in grasses
Really, I was focused on finding something about a hundred times smaller, plus the outline of the fawn wasn’t apparent at the angle that I approached from, but yeah, I felt stupid when it all came together. This is of course a white-tailed deer fawn (Odocoileus virginianus,) probably not more than a week old and certainly still in the nursing stage; it was roughly the size of a terrier, perhaps not even two kilos, though I did not pick it up. The reflection that I caught was its eye, and it was well aware of my presence but didn’t move a millimeter.

This perfectly normal: while the fawns are very young, they don’t have a lot of energy, and so they are placed in a safe spot by their mother and simply stay put until mom returns from foraging, which may be hours later. Back in my rehab days, we had to tell people this all the time, because they were always convinced that the fawn was orphaned or abandoned. I can recall the undisguised skepticism on the faces of one young couple as we insisted that they take it back and leave it where they found it, but they did at least return afterwards and apologize, since mama was waiting right there and snorting at them as they brought the fawn back.

I checked this one for dehydration, because occasionally they are orphaned, but it passed easily; this elicited the only movement from the fawn, a faint flinch as I touched the nape of its neck, and that was all. I checked after a couple of hours, and it was still there, so I deposited a cache of corn nearby for the mom, knowing the fawn wouldn’t touch it. By early morning, however, the fawn was gone, though the corn remained untouched (it disappeared by nightfall.)

We’re keeping a close eye out, since eventually the mother may come through with the fawn in tow once it’s eating solid food; we’re still putting down plenty of corn, ostensibly for the ducks, but the squirrels and deer seem to ignore this stipulation, and whatcha gonna do? Worse, however, was that The Girlfriend had gone to bed early and so didn’t get the chance to see this one in person. You should have seen the unbridled delight on her face when she got to hold a fawn a few years ago, about this same size, whose mother had been killed on the highway. She still has those mothering instincts, though that one went to a licensed rehabilitator.

Estate Find XX

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

This one goes back a little too far, certainly not counting as this past week in any way, but I didn’t want it back-to-back with XIIX. Once again, I was out exploring at night by headlamp, but really, I was standing just outside the front door when I spotted a dark spot in the yard not far from the greenhouse. It was easily identified just by getting a little closer.

adult female yellow-bellied slider Trachemys scripta scripta with excavation for eggs
That’s a female yellow-bellied slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) with an excavation to lay eggs within – I couldn’t see into the cavity to know if there were already eggs deposited, and was trying not to disturb her, but there was no doubt that she knew I was there. Carapace length was somewhere around 20-25cm, and she’s about 35 meters from the closest edge of the pond (all uphill.) I didn’t have to wait long to see something, though.

adult female yellow-bellied slider Trachemys scripta scripta just after depositing egg in nest
I blew my timing by a mere hair here, since the egg has just dropped. I observed for a little while, and noticed that she raised herself to release the egg, then lowered herself back down for a minute or so before the next one was in position to be laid.

adult female yellow-bellied slider Trachemys scripta scripta extruding egg into nest
Better timing on this one – I learn fast. She continued with her duties with no further recognition that I was there – I imagine that there wasn’t anything she could do to halt things at this point anyway.

But, we have video:

I left her alone soon after that, and returned the next day to examine the nest. The only evidence was a couple of faint claw marks where she’d dragged dirt over the excavation, but it wasn’t right where the hole had been dug.

recovered and disguised nest of yellow-bellied slider Trachemys scripta scripta
Using the other photos and the video to compare, the nest hollow is actually at the bottom of this image, slightly left – she’d dragged leaves over top to help disguise it. I put a tomato cage and a couple of plant markers around the perimeter, and noted the date on my calendar, with a reminder at 60 days to begin checking routinely (the inside time for incubation is about 65 days, outside up to 80.) Hopefully, we’ll have another Estate Find around that time, either for her or for the common musk turtle, perhaps both.

To add, we’ve found numerous turtles venturing across the yards in the past couple of weeks, since this is laying season and the pond is absolutely loaded with turtles. In two months, I’m going to have to be very careful when mowing, since the newborns will likely be returning. You may ask, why do the mother turtles wander so far to lay eggs and present a hazard for the babies just to return to the water, but I imagine it has something to do with a) finding spots that maintain the right temperatures, and b) finding spots that won’t get flooded with heavy rains, or at least will drain quickly. This one was easily the highest location on the property; just out of sight is the concrete pad that used to be a small basketball court and is now a greenhouse foundation (because neither of us could give a rat’s ass about basketball.)

Anyway, we’ll see what happens in the coming weeks…

Like a convention of reptiles

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Well, not like a convention of reptiles…

First off, this serves as your reminder that Endangered Species Day is Friday, May 23rd (the third Friday in May,) which also falls on World Turtle Day, always the 23rd of May. No cheating and using an endangered turtle to celebrate both in one go, unless you actually can, and then go for it.

captive-bred axolotl Ambystoma mexicanum from Carolina Axolotls at Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
The example photo here is actually an endangered species, an axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum,) a neotenic salamander species found in the wild only in three locations near Mexico City, Mexico. However, there is an active captive breeding industry around them, largely because they have the ability to regenerate injuries, including entire limbs, and so they are maintained for lab research, and the exotic pet industry exclusively uses former lab axolotls as their breeding stock. The one seen here is a specimen from Carolina Axolotls, and did not go home with me though I have been waiting to adopt one for a while now.

But that springboards us into the main topic, which is, I spent some time last Saturday at the Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo over in Greenville, responsible for adding to my photo backlog tremendously, which we will alleviate here a bit more.

false water cobra Hydrodynastes gigas at Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
This is a false water cobra (Hydrodynastes gigas,) a South American native that was not just docile, but quite inquisitive and ‘friendly,’ even though I typically don’t like giving mistaken impressions of species by using such terms. She extended over to greet me without hesitation and had no issues with handling, and indeed tried to shift over onto me – I was fine with it, but it made getting photos a little tricky.

portrait of false water cobra Hydrodynastes gigas with tongue extended
I found out afterward that they do indeed have a weak venom, making it a little surprising to find openly in a crowded convention hall, but they’re a rear-fanged species and it generally takes a protracted, chewing bite for such to inflict venom, and this one wasn’t the least bit inclined – they’re actually considered good pets.

[This was early in my photography efforts for the day and the ISO was still a little too low to ensure sharp pics – they get better after this.]

On the other hand, we had some like this:

Biak green tree python Morelia viridis in warning enclosure at Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
Green tree pythons (Morelia viridis) are known to be a bit grumpy and not a mellow, easy-to-handle snake, and those from Biak (an island in New Guinea) are reportedly more so – this one was not coming out to play. Unlike another example from the same vendor.

likely emerald tree boa Corallus caninus coming over towards author, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
This, I believe, is an emerald tree boa (Corallus caninus,) but I did not confirm this; despite the resemblance, these two are not closely related. Not large as far as emerald tree boas go, the head was only about 25mm in width, and while it posed nicely for the portrait, it was less cooperative in allowing me to snag the tongue extended, ceasing such activity as soon as I was focused. Eventually, through several tries and waving my fingers closer to its face (provoking its curiosity,) I managed to catch it.

likely emerald tree boa Corallus caninus with tongue extended, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
I understand why a lot of people find such poses and appearances menacing, but this one was only inquisitive and quite calm, just wanting to explore. Like most species of anything, if they’re not threatened, they’re not defensive, and will behave in placid manners, though temperaments vary from species to species – some will feel threatened easily, or respond more vigorously, but this isn’t meanness or aggression, just how they evolved to handle their environments and risks.

Some are shy.

very shy and protective ball python Python regius nestled in new owner's arms
Ball pythons (Python regius) are perhaps the most common of the exotic snake trade, and indeed there were dozens if not hundreds at the expo. This one had recently been purchased by the holder and was a little overwhelmed with the activity, nestling down and staying protected. I had a ball python for a while, and they really are mellow and easy to handle. But overall, I’ve given up on having snakes as pets, mostly because they’re more a conversation piece than anything interesting or fun to have. With a good one, you can take it out for handling, maybe even walk around in public with it, but that’s all they do.

[I’m not expecting more from an axolotl, mind you, but it’ll be a photo subject and educational and study specimen, and I’m still a little on the fence about that, too.]

Others are very ‘outgoing,’ though.

unknown variety of hognose snake, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
I never found out the variety of hognose snake that this is, but it’s likely a captive-bred color morph, since that’s exceedingly common in the trade, and countless examples of such (mostly ball pythons) were in evidence. Despite the menacing appearance and the sharp nose, this one was super calm and curious, related by the vendor as being their most mellow specimen – since this was the same vendor as the false water cobra, that’s decent praise. As you can tell from the hand in the background, this is a much smaller specimen than the cobra.

And there were some other species.

unknown variety of scorpions fluorescing under ultraviolet light, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
Scorpions – to the best of my knowledge, all species – fluoresce under ultraviolet light, a trait I’ve been wanting to capture in images for years now; this doesn’t count, since they’re captive. We do have one or two species to be found a state or two further south from here, but my explorations have yet to unearth one. I don’t know the species and they appear on several different continents, but these look like the large desert scorpions of the southwest US. Curiously, those large, black specimens have a relatively weak venom, about like a beesting, while some tiny little, semi-translucent species found in some countries of the middle east can inflict a near-fatal sting.

unidentified lizard species, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
I didn’t note all of the species there, forgetting to snap the identifiers on some of the terrariums, so I don’t know what this is. I also had to do color-corrections for the wildly mixed lighting of the convention hall and individual heat lamps and so on – this should be reasonably accurate, at least much better than the original.

unidentified chameleon species hanging inverted from its terrarium lid, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
Same with this chameleon species – it’s confusing until you locate its eye. I could be talked into getting a chameleon, I’m sure – they’re just too bizarre, and generally pretty inquisitive while moving like they’re made of balky robotics.

handful of juvenile red iguanas Iguana iguana clustered together under heatlamp, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
These were listed as red iguanas, but on looking them up, they appear to be the same species as green iguanas (Iguana iguana,) so I’m guessing they’re a captive-bred color morph. If so, they’ll likely get a hell of a lot bigger than this. Iguanas do tend to be gregarious among their own species and will often pile together in nice heat sources.

juvenile Nile monitor Varanus niloticus in profile, Mid Atlantic Reptile Expo
This was listed as a Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus,) and if so, it’ll get a lot bigger than this too, even bigger than the iguanas – perhaps over two meters in length. I didn’t ask about this, however, and not only is the average smaller (yet still over a meter,) it’s possible that they grow only to fit both their feeding habits and available enclosure. Still, not a species for a 20-gallon terrarium, even if they do have nice markings.

Now, all of that was part one, because part two began on the same day after arriving back home. I was in the bathroom off of Walkabout Studios when I heard a rustling right outside the window. All of the photos from here on were taken with the smutphone – I know, I know, but I had to. You’ll understand why in a moment.

red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster exploring just outside bathroom window
Walkabout Studios is a basement office, and half below grade, so the window is right at ground level, and this rustling was right alongside my ear as I sat there. As soon as I was able, I scooted outside to confront my subject here, who was trapped in the corner against the retaining wall and made repeated attempts to escape through the glass into the bathroom. I managed to get a good hold of it without getting bitten, and thus do a nice photo session, albeit one-handed.

large red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster held in author's hand and extending up arm
This is a red-bellied water snake (Nerodia erythrogaster,) and final vindication of my efforts, though this was obtained by accident. You see, we are now in what I consider to be a prime location for water snakes, including cottonmouths, and I’ve been keeping a careful eye out for them, making several minor expeditions around the pond at night to try and locate them; it’s been frustrating that I hadn’t yet seen one, save for a tiny specimen a couple of weeks back. This one, a different but related species, is the largest example of red-bellied that I’ve seen, and the first I’ve handled – also possibly the largest water snake of any species that I’ve handled. That I found it a decent distance from the water while I wasn’t looking is somewhat ironic, but there you go.

red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster in author's hand attempting to bite the phone
I’m familiar with the northern and banded water snakes and know they’ll bite at the slightest provocation, but wasn’t sure if this extended to the red-bellied or not; the circumstances of its capture prevented it from making any attempt, since it ducked its head under a coil of its body just as I was making the grab, and so it never had a clear shot. Here, as the smutphone loomed close for the portrait, it demonstrated that it was indeed prepared to savage me – it’s being held with adequate firmness but not tightly, and this was a momentary strike (while unable to lunge) that coincided with my snapping the pic. I was also smeared with feces, a common defensive trait of snakes.

head-on shot of red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster in author's hand
There’s another defensive trait visible here that I don’t (yet) have a comparison image to show distinctly, but water snakes (among others) will extend their upper jaws wider when threatened, flattening out their heads to appear broader – you can see how the cheekbones are much wider than the eyes. When relaxed, the head will appear much narrower than this. Whether this is to mimic a venomous pit viper, like both the cottonmouth and copperhead, or simply to appear larger, I can’t say. But at least the smutphone produced decent sharpness, unlike the next photo.

head-on shot of red-bellied water snake Nerodia erythrogaster in author's hand with tongue extended
Timing smutphone pics is a lot harder than with a real camera, but a real camera is a lot harder to juggle with one hand full of defensive snake. I’m pleased that I did manage to capture the tongue extended (the snake calming down just a tad,) but naturally the phone’s focus wandered at that moment, because what the hell else was there to focus on?

After this session, I released the snake back were I’d captured it, where it sat and watched me warily for several moments, unconvinced that I wasn’t done fooling around. But it rounded out the day nicely, so I was pleased. And unscathed (well, except for the feces) – can’t argue with that.

So, didja?

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Did I observe World Migratory Bird Day, you’re asking? Did I even complete the goal I set out for myself in an earlier post? Well, yes, though I actually had two, and one remains only half-completed.

First off, two days before the holiday, I was surprised to suddenly see a female wood duck shoot into the nest box without warning, revealing that it was currently in use, and so one of the goals was to confirm this with photos or video. And while I was staking that out, sitting in the yard some thirty meters off with the long lens trained on the nest box, I completed the other goal.

confirmed Mississippi kite Ictinia mississippiensis flying overhead
While obtaining nothing dramatic or even fartistic, I snagged enough images of the frequent visitor to confirm that it is indeed a Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis,) which aren’t typically found here, though we’re not far outside their plotted range.

confirmed Mississippi kite Ictinia mississippiensis flying overhead
That’s enough color detail to nail the ID down, and I’m pleased that it chose to wheel directly overhead while I was sitting out there (and that I glanced up at the right time to spot it.) These pics were taken straight up while I should have been watching the wood duck nest box, but this was a goal and I needed to fulfill it. While I have no idea how many there are, or if there’s a nest, et cetera, I see one overhead frequently enough that I’m sure it’s staying in the immediate area. I’ll keep you posted with any better pics.

As for the other goal? We’ll let the video cover that bit.

And a few photos done outside of the video clips.

suspected juvenile American robin Turdus migratorius just chilling in the yard
Like I said in the voiceover, I believe this is simply a juvenile American robin (Turdus migratorius) out of the nest less than two days, still expecting to be fed, though I never saw any sign of parents – and may not have, if they were trying to get junior here to feed on its own. While I had initially suspected this guy was suffering from Avian Influenza, it matches no symptoms and has more of a juvenile appearance. Am I seeing the barest hint of remaining baby down around the neck, in that video? You decide.

soaking wet red-shouldered hawk Buteo lineatus perched atop light pole during long downpour
While the winter was full of sightings of a pair of red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus,) by early spring these had largely stopped, and the nest went unfinished, but we were hearing their calls down near The Bayou and so believe they’d simply constructed a new nest down there. Abruptly, however, one has made some recent appearances in the yard, and we believe it’s trying to snag one of the wood ducks that come up for feeding a few times a day – I saw some actions that almost confirmed this. Let me tell you, The Girlfriend is definitely conflicted about this. She was following the hawks’ appearances almost as closely as I was, and was delighted to see them building a nest right in the backyard, but then they disappeared and we started following the wood ducks. I’m sure she favors the ducks now, and while she recognizes that this is simply the balance of nature and how the duck population is managed, she’s not going to be happy to find that the hawk has snagged a meal or two. And by the way, this pic is from the same day in the video where it simply poured all day long.

prothonotary warbler Protonotaria citrea peering from nest in tree cleft
A better look at the prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) as it peers from the nest. I believe both the male and the female were visiting the nest, but the male was at least nearby and making a fair amount of noise, which is what drew my attention in the first place as I was out scouting for beavers. My position to achieve this shot was slightly precarious, a little too close to the stream edge, and I was having flashbacks of last year’s World Migratory Bird Day – this is certainly as good as I’m going to see the nest, but perhaps I can stake it out and see the young fledging out.

And finally,

juvenile summer tanager Piranga rubra showing color changes between immature and adult
While I was watching the wood duck nest box, and getting the video of both the red-shouldered hawk and the American robin, and getting the confirmation pics of the Mississippi kite, this one landed high in the tree nearby, and so I once again detached the camera and long lens from the tripod to aim towards a new subject. Video was out of the question because of the high angle needed and my inability to adjust the tripod like that without spooking the bird, which was quite close. This is a summer tanager (Piranga rubra,) showing the mixed colors that occur as a juvenile molts into adult plumage, and while I would have liked to have had a little better light on the bird, at least the plumage and background colors work well together.

Meanwhile, I never did capture the wood duck entering the nest box, and after a couple of long stakeouts with no activity whatsoever, I’m suspecting that at some point when I wasn’t watching, the young had hatched out and they all bailed the nest, which apparently occurs very soon after hatching; unlike other birds, the mother does not feed the young with regurgitated food, and instead they’re out foraging from the start. So I’m now watching for both signs of her return or evidence that she’s leading a brood around someplace. As always, you’ll see updates right here as I get them.

Numbers game

Al DenelsbeckLeave a comment

Several days back, The Girlfriend found a potted blue lobelia for me, which I’ve been intending to get for a while, because they’re blue, and I mean, seriously blue – more blue than any flower I’ve seen, more blue than almost any thing I’ve seen. Note that this is not the US native great blue lobelia, or blue cardinal flower, but an African import, Lobelia erinus, of the Campanulaceae Family instead. And one day in passing, I decided to do a couple of frames of it to record that color. But even in the LCD as it did that 2-second preview, I could see things were off. This is what the camera produced:

blue lobelia Lobelia erinus rendered far too purple in-camera
That’s… not at all a color match, or even close. The flower is by no means purple, it is as pure blue as one could reasonably expect or define. I had to do a bit of tweaking to get the image close to what the flower actually looks like to our eyes (or at least to mine):

blue lobelia Lobelia erinus image edited to reflect true colors more accurately
Note that this wasn’t a simple color-tweak, or adjustment to saturation in individual channels (like desaturating the Magenta, which I thought should have worked and instead made virtually no difference.) I had to not only desaturate Magenta almost entirely, I had to adjust the Hue of the Blue channel by no small margin to get it to look this way – thankfully, this had little effect on the rest of the image and thus looks pretty damn close to natural.

But this got me curious as to why this occurred, to such a large degree, and naturally how much this was affecting other images. My initial thoughts were that the sensor had a little too much sensitivity to the violet and ultra-violet, the latter being invisible to us, and this is what was captured in the image; I already know that CMOS sensors can reach a decent distance into the invisible-to-us infra-red. But no – they capture virtually no UV, and the answer instead appears to be complicated and a curious aspect of physics and CMOS sensors.

First bit: broken down into a spectrum, the sun emits less blue than green or red, though of course this is a spectrum and doesn’t bear these nice distinctions of “blue,” “green,” or, “red” that we want to apply to it. Nonetheless, both digital sensors and our eyes break down light into three primary colors in this way (no, yellow isn’t included – that’s a pigment-based thing from mixing paints and dyes.) Other colors fill the gaps and might be considered combinations of these three to varying degrees, but again, spectrum; it’s our eyes and digital sensors that count them as combinations.

Second bit: CMOS sensors, used in most commercial digital cameras, count photons in each of these three primary colors. But the shorter wavelength of blue means that blue has more energy per photon. To use a brief analogy, it hits fewer times yet harder. But CMOS sensors are only counting the hits, and so, blue isn’t getting considered evenly.

Then there’s part three: The way CMOS sensors are made, blue has a tendency to scatter a little before reaching the sensor itself, so it gets reduced even more. Chances are, the software that interpolates the sensor output makes some adjustments for this, but if it isn’t captured/measured by the sensor in the first place, the software boost won’t have much effect.

So, just now, I decided to go into the individual color channels and see how they looked – they are below in order of Red, Green, and Blue:

unaltered image of blue lobelia Lobelia erinus separated into primary RGB channels
As one would expect, Blue is very bright in the flowers themselves, which is as it should be. But the flowers also have a distinctive presence in Green and especially Red, which isn’t, or at least, not to my expectations. I’ve broken down images of red flowers into separate channels and Red is of course bright, while Green and Blue drop almost to black in the channel rendition – like, below.

image of hibiscus blossom with separated RGB channels
[Note, too, that the Blue channel is often the blotchiest and least detailed within most images when broken down in this way, probably due to that photon count vs. energy bias.]

Now, is there a way to fix this? No – not without a new sensor/camera that is probably very expensive, and quite frankly, the impact is trivial; this is the first circumstances where it became really noticeable, though since I shoot nearly all the time in Daylight White Balance, I tend to tweak images that need it anyway. It’s easy to get bogged down in pursuit of some definition of “accurate,” but ultimately pointless; between the shortcomings of dynamic range in both sensors and monitors, and the subjectivity of individual perception (is the blue I see the same as the blue you see?), there’s no way to define “accurate” reasonably anyway. In the situations that call for it, I’ll fix it in post.

* * *

Information sources for this post:

Why are sensors less sensitive to blue light?

Why is the blue channel the noisiest?

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