Despite the ongoing drought, Mother Nature delivered this month on the long-anticipated “super bloom” of lupines along Bald Hills Road in Redwood National Park. It’s been at least four years since the last large display of lupine appeared on the hills 18 miles east of the intersection withU.S. Highway 101 north of Orick. The lupine […]
Nature photography
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2020: A Photographer’s Look Back
As I reflect back on the year 2020 from before — and after — the coronavirus pandemic, I have to agree with the CNN editor who said, “It may not be a year you want to remember, but 2020 is one you’ll never forget.” In the “before” era, my life in January and February included photographing […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Best of the Bugs
After almost five years doing a weekly blog it had to happen. With rainy, cold weather and the fact that over the last several years I’ve already written about most of the noteworthy entomological subjects hereabouts, this week I didn’t see any new critters worth photographing or writing about. So I think I’ll do what […]
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The 25 Days of Crustmas
There’s big excitement in the online crustacean nerd community. Alison Young, co-director of the California Academy of Sciences’ Citizen Science Program and Humboldt State alumnus, just invented the Twitter hashtag game #25DaysofCrustmas. The rules of the game are simple. Fellow nerds post a crustacean picture and/or interesting crustacean fact each day of December up to […]
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North Coast Night Lights: Be the Moon
In the days of film just prior to digital photography’s boom, photographers simply could not have made many of the nightscape images we see today. Film with enough light sensitivity to capture the stars and the rest of the Milky Way in all of the grandeur we are used to seeing in modern nightscape images […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: School Days
I was recently invited to give a slide show and talk to the second graders at a local school. Everytime I do this, we have fun. This time I think everyone had a question or story to share. Both good and bad, insects are something they could relate to, serving as a gateway to the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: Archaeognatha
When I set out to take a couple of photos of the jumping bristletails on the back of my garage, I was not prepared for what I got. They’re interesting for being such an old order. The name Archaeognatha means “ancient jaw.” This refers to the primitive structure of their jaw. Jumping bristletails are one […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Small, Slow-moving Targets
Rainy day locals Head’s up: It’s tick season again. It seems they like damp weather. My archives show photos of them primarily in April to May and December to January. In the last week, I’ve pulled one off a dog and one off a friend who had one on her arm. Even if you haven’t […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: A 10-year Mystery
About 10 years ago I found a round black beetle about the size of a large pea in my dog’s water bowl. I could tell right away it was a scarab. A closer inspection revealed it had an impressive horn on the tip of its nose. Although I wasn’t actively collecting, it was impressive, it […]
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HumBug: Safer to Look Like Crap
First day out with my new Canon 6D Mark II today and so far I’m happy. I used my Sigma 150/600-millimeter lens and, after a slow start, managed to find a few subjects. I watched as a smallish dragonfly searched among the willows looking for someplace to dine on its catch. As soon as it […]
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HumBug: Beetles and Gadgets
It was cool and windy when my friend and I went for a walk at the Humboldt Bay Wildlife Refuge area. Large flocks of geese attested to the success of conservation efforts over recent decades. Egrets, grebes, ducks of several species, mud hens and one of my all time favorite song birds, bi-colored blackbirds put […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: In-Flight Photos
Capturing photos of tiny insects is hard enough. They move and wander off the set. They’re so high contrast they can cause exposure control to go whacky. They are so small that auto-focus often selects the background. If all that weren’t enough, add motion and photos of insects on the wing are tricky. F stops […]