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This is a photo my wife took yesterday while we were out walking around a nature preserve.
It was quite a windy day, so we didn't think any of the photos would come out well, but this one was too good not to share. I held the grass for her and she snapped this, it has not been photo shopped just cropped and re-sized. She always amazes me with the photos she takes. It is a Carolina Mantid (Stagmomantis carolina) and it is eating a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae.) The little monster didn't stop eating even with the camera right in it's face, but occasionally looked up at my wife, as if to decide if she would make a good meal as well.

This thread could be used for posting photos of your favorite wildlife friends.

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"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

Cool

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

These little buggers seemed to have put a motor in themselves.

Sam's Point Preserve - 09/09
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam%27s_Point_Preserve

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Trendmonger's Moment Of Clarity

FZ "Read It And Weep"
April 17,1981

Frank Zappa left the ZFT in Control of his Vaults and Artistic rights.
We the fans are not in control. We have a choice to use our eyes and ears or read it and weep.

Thanks for posting gents...post nature where you live, this is my kinda thread

What's it like where everyone lives?

I've posted a few "Fall photos" here and there recently, I have Friday off, maybe I'll take a bike ride and post some pictures from it...we're just about at peak color here in CT.

Lol, I went down on the boardwalk yesterday morning...it was just after sunrise and it "just looked wet"....it was ice, lol. First time in all my crashes that I can actually say my helmet saved me cuz I whacked my head on the rail on the way down, lol!


(This photo from a couple of years ago, but this is what it looks like now).

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Lesser-evilism IS war.

Wow! Amazing photograph! Thanks for sharing! If my wife took that, instant album cover! Maybe that means I should start looking for a wife.

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For my clinically insane music
http://routenote.com/album/FOWL
http://www.myspace.com/fowlmusic
http://www.last.fm/music/fowl
http://www.deezer.com/en/#music/fowl
Your mental health requires buying my cd

It's why I looked for mine.

Anyway, that's a great photo.

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You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday

Small fishing pond at local park.


But why walk if all you have to do is look out your window? The rest of these photos were shot from inside the house looking through the basement windows out into the backyard. These photos are part of a set I have up on Flickr called "backyard wildlife".

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Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

Some people live their entire lives in huge cities and never get to see what nature is all about (maybe on PBS they do). Some children have not seen starlight, or owls, or wolverines, or deer.
I was in NYC earlier this year. Nice place to visit but I would not want to live there. They have Central Park which is cute and manicured but its not so wild.

I'm in a similar situation to 32short films. Trees and wildlife all about me. Very relaxing and beautiful.

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I have lived in NYC for 47 years and by no means is nature and wildlife defined by the NYC park
system Zoos & Aquariums. Yes thos parks , xoos and Aquariums are a staple fro easy access fro me and my family
but the Catskill & Adirondack Mountains in NY State are wonderful and on Long Island we have some of the largest beaces on the planet.
People make of their lives what they like.

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Trendmonger's Moment Of Clarity

FZ "Read It And Weep"
April 17,1981

Frank Zappa left the ZFT in Control of his Vaults and Artistic rights.
We the fans are not in control. We have a choice to use our eyes and ears or read it and weep.

No exactly nature but a way to keep in touch with it.
It requires a lot of effort but i take great pride in it.
Hope you like it.

Great photos everyone. Whatever your environment happens to be, I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find something of beauty. Enjoy the thread, and keep em coming.

We went out again today, and there was yet another happy accident. My wife was too tired to get today's photos cropped and posted to her account. I hope to be able to post another wild friend tomorrow, a juvenile five lined skink if I'm not mistaken.

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"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

Trendmonger, if you get the chance and haven't done so yet check out Kaaterskill Falls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaterskill_Falls
Just watch out for the mud if you go behind the waterfall
I went there when I lived in NY, and it was very memorable, but muddy... really, really MUDDY.

You might also want to head to Storm King.
http://www.stormking.org/
It's a rather inspirational place.

I miss NY, but not so much the snow. Well, maybe just a little. But the thing I might miss the most is the Painted Turtles. Actually all the reptiles and amphibians from the area. 27 years there and that's what I miss the most, that and the pleasant lack of Christian fundamentalists.

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"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

Taken a lot of walks there

This is probably not a lot of nature but some of it (wrong angle)

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There WILL come a time when everybody in the world they will be free to sing and dance and love : )

not my pic...

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

First black squirrel i ever seen there,didn't know they even exsist it looks like my cat

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Arf you out of your fucking mind.

Yeah..I was just gonna say the same thing, I've NEVER seen one of those before, even when I lived in Illanoid, (Glendale Heights). Amazing...that butterfly pix is pretty cool too from 32shortfilms, neat backyard.

Cool pix everyone...yeah...keep 'em comming

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Lesser-evilism IS war.

It certainly is a bit easier to navigate NYC streets and mind dissolve the diverse set of Christian fundamentalist
picture frames here in NYC but beware those who stop and give their time to the millions that reside here.
To each their own but I think the form in which it exists here in this busy metropolis it is easy to tune out.

The nature walks is something me and my family have been getting into.
I'll be sure to visit the suggested locations.
We have two daughters 4 and 1 and they already have done quite a bit for their age.
This summer alone we went to about 20 areas in the Catskills, Adirondacks & Green Mountains of Vermont.
TO name a few Whiteface, High Falls Gorge, Natural Stone Bridge & Caves, Ausable Chasm.
We also get up to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. While many of these places may be setup
with fairly easy to moderate 1 mile nature access ramps and railed gravel paths that aid in walking
their are so many great outdoor attractions for people that can not aggressively hike the long and difficult mountain trails.

We have done our fair share of easy to moderate hiking trails that while they are fairly difficult for their age we go very slow and make the best of it. We did two sections of Sam's Point Preserve that being Sam's Point and the Ice Caves. The Ice Caves which was quite adventurous with the little one in a snuggly and a four year old with a hiking stick doing the one mile loop climbing through and around ice caves with ladder climbs along the way my wife certainly raised her brow her and there. There was a time when you could drive your car up to Sam's Point and start all the trails from there but not the trail heads are a mile below that. Hopefully I will get back there this weekend on a guys only and further explore the longer trails such as one that goes out to VerKeerderkill Falls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VerKeerderkill_Falls

Here is a decent set of photos someone took that shows a more disperse set of photos
than the ones I have that is trail points along Sam's Point & The Ice Caves.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rrhobbs/se ... 2124/show/

Anyhow , yes indeed I have been getting in touch with nature.
Here is ne of several good ones I took from Mohonk last December.
As some may have noticed this is now my Avatar.
Getting in touch with nature is the reason.
Goodnight JGW wherever you are.


Mohonk Mountain Trail Hut - December 08' GT

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Trendmonger's Moment Of Clarity

FZ "Read It And Weep"
April 17,1981

Frank Zappa left the ZFT in Control of his Vaults and Artistic rights.
We the fans are not in control. We have a choice to use our eyes and ears or read it and weep.

Black squirrels are everywhere on the campus of Kent State in Ohio. They even have a Black Squirrel Festival in autumn. I miss my college days, sigh.

Thanks for all these great photos!

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Good writing is clear writing.

The black squirrels are rare here, too. Most of them are brown, occasionally a grey or two. I've lived here nearly 20 years and never saw one until two years ago. We don't live out in the country, either, we live in a subdivision right in town, but are fortunate to live on a dead end street with nothing but extensive woods in the back. This makes your back yard seem like it goes on forever, which explains the abundant wildlife we get. I'm guessing not having a dog or cat around helps also. The basement is actually at the same level as the back yard, so I try to keep my camera near the windowed door that looks out to the backyard. Sometimes I'll deploy a tripod, which explains how I got the pic of the hummingbird.

While having wildlife hanging out in your yard is cool, getting out for nature walks still rocks. For the last couple of years, we've been trying to visit every state park within about a hour or two drive from home.

Here's a pan of Weldon Springs State Park. This one has a hiking trail that completely encircles a small lake, and features a very nice veterans memorial area.


Yep, there's cactus in Illinois. It can be found at the Sand Ridge State Forest.


Here's a pan of Spring Lake State Park, a huge lake which has a long road running along it. It's completely flat which makes it one of our favorite places to go biking.


Huron at Spring Lake


Swan at Spring Lake


Now we go to Banner Marsh, one of my favorite places for photographing swans.








Banner Marsh is a wetlands next to the Illinois River. It's a huge area of many shallow backwater lakes, quite rustic and even desolate looking, but as with most things, looks can be deceiving.


I should really stop now. Believe me, I've got plenty more! It's actually kind of surprising how many state parks there are within a 90 minute drive. More than I realized. We've been to most of them but there are still a couple we haven't gotten to yet.

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Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.

The first image is the full scope photograph just re-sized.
The second is the full size close up so you can see what surprised us when we got the photo off the digital camera when we got home. We never saw the tiny lizard inside the dead branch.
I just thought that the natural look of the wood was kind of interesting, I tried to take a couple of photos of it, but they didn't turn out so well. My wife shot this one for me. I did some color correction etc. to bring it to life. One of the things that I find interesting about this photo is the natural spiral inward of the dead wood.
I can't help but think of Cheepnis. "There is always a scene where the monster comes out of the cave."
What looks to be a giant cavern is actually no bigger than a couple of inches in diameter.

_________________
"Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read and what we must believe?" T.J.

Hey..that reminds me, speaking of nature shots..Got any naked pics of your wife?....If not ,do you want to buy some?...haha..just kidding... great shots!

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What would Zappa say?....... http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/thepoodlebites

Opps..How did that get in here?

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What would Zappa say?....... http://www.dweezilzappaworld.com/thepoodlebites

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

Hey..I think you left the water on in the kitchen!

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Lesser-evilism IS war.

I recently got into digiscoping. Here are two raw images that i took in South africa.

Jackal about 150 metres. Just waking up.


taken from 350 metres.

digiscoping is difficult. But you sometimes get really nice pics....

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"You can fly like a Penguin when you're dealing with Turkeys."