The "Field collection and discovery thread". Look what i found and what is it!

Good morning,


Let's get back on topic please.

Thanks!

Ken

 

This happened in June a couple of years ago. I wanted the look of natural light, hence the tripod rather than the flash rig.

"The quest for the legendary orange mushrooms."

While Sunhawk (My wife) and I were walking along a footpath, a small splash of orange color caught my eye. I stopped dead in my tracks, and stared deep into a ravine. Could these be the legendary orange mushrooms that I have been searching for? My pulse quickened as I climbed down around 200 feet of loose loamy soil to the small stream below. There in front of me was a tree that had fallen across it, and on its side were the legendary orange mushrooms! I called up to Sunhawk that right in front of me were the legendary orange mushrooms. I did not have my tripod so I took a couple of shots handheld, and climbed back to the path, resolving to return the next day.

I returned the next day with my tripod. Indiana Jones would have been proud to see me sliding down the side of the ravine; through the dappled sunlight with my backpack, and large tripod. The only sound was that of the soil breaking from under my feet, and my breath on the damp air. Once safely at the bottom, I setup the tripod and took shots of several different stands of the legendary orange mushrooms. I was thrilled to see that not only had I at long last found the legendary orange mushrooms, but two different varieties of them.

On the way back up the side of the ravine, I spotted an old dead tree that had some of the legendary orange mushrooms growing on it about 7 feet up. The low light under forest canopy would not allow a handheld shot, and the steep slope of the ravine wall precluded the use of the tripod. I stood there trying to think of a way that I could successfully get the shot. My eyes landed on a sapling growing out from the side of the ravine. It was at just about the right height but the angle was off. Then it hit me, if I climbed into the sapling and leaned into it back first; the weight of the backpack, camera, 150mm lens, tripod, and me should be enough to bend the sapling at a great enough angle to afford a good shot (If the sapling did not break, sending me and my gear bouncing down the ravine into the stream) I leaned back and the sapling began to bend. As I closed in on the shot I heard a series of small cracks, but the sapling held. I clutched the tripod mounted camera close to my chest, and with the release took several shots at varying shutter speeds and apertures. I then eased myself back to the wall of the ravine, climbed my way back to the path, and headed home.

I had been hunting the legendary orange mushrooms for quite some time, having only the whispers and half truths of the locals to guide my search.

As I sit in the comfort of my home, and remember my quest for the legendary orange mushrooms, I allow myself a satisfied smile…..

 

AND YOU WRITE BEAUTIFULLY?! ^ this member, we're keeping him. Yup.

Amazing pictures, those mushrooms look great.

They look like chanterelle waxycap's

 

AND YOU WRITE BEAUTIFULLY?! ^ this member, we're keeping him. Yup.

Amazing pictures, those mushrooms look great.

They look like chanterelle waxycap's

Thank you soltarianknight

The story is the way it really happened. I had been hearing about the orange mushrooms for a while. But every time I went to the places that other photographers told me to look there were none. Then one day while hunting bugs it happened.

 

It was a sunny day last summer as I worked my way around the ponds at the Wayne campus of The University of Akron. All the little ones were in their best dress as the mating season was in full swing. I stood among the cattails of pond number one watching the various dragons courting each other. The scene was a blur of iridescent reds, greens and blues as each of the dragons tried to out do the other.

As I watched the dancing unfold before me, I noticed a male and female red dragon that seemed to have made their choice. I held out my arm and offered them a safe place to rest after their dancing. First the male landed and walked around for a bit, then the female landed. After a while they took to the air again. They locked together in preparation to mate and returned to land on my forearm. They stayed for several minutes, then took flight and headed to the pond to start the next generation of red dragons.

As you can see from the shots they are a smaller type of dragon. I have had dragons land on me every so often, and each time I am humbled that these beautiful predators think enough of me to share a moment in time.

This shoot was very challenging. Balancing the camera, lens and flash on my upper arm and controlling the shot was no easy thing. The minimum focusing distance of the Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro really played against me, I had to have the camera and flash rig balanced on my shoulder for the last two shots. It is a good thing that I sight with my left eye as they were posing on my left forearm, and I could only see part of the view finder. I pre-focused, set the focus limiter, and used the AF for this shot. (one of the rare times that I did not manual focus in a macro shot)

It took two days for the crick in my neck to ease up.

Canon 50D, 1/250 sec at f11, Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro, 580EX II flash in a flash rig set to - 1 stop, handheld (balanced on my left upper arm and shoulder)

 

This has to be one of the creepiest spiders I have found. The thing is huge and covered in baby spiders. NOT CUTE

I'm going with Lynx spider of sorts not sure which species.

You are correct. It is a Lynx spider. This is from pg. 397 of The National Wildlife Federation "Field Guide To Insects And Spiders of North America" As could be expected there are regional variations in color.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, it was a quick grab shot. There is a bit of flash glare, but the seeming pixelating in the shot is actually the camera accurately reproducing the individual ink drops of the printing.

 

Thanks, love that book. Amazing shots of the Dragons, they are always so entertaining to photograph

 

Thanks, love that book. Amazing shots of the Dragons, they are always so entertaining to photograph

Thank you soltarianknight

Dragons are a favorite of mine.

 

Every year about this time (as my family laughingly watch) I start making what I call Bird Bread. It's a little different each time depending on what I have on hand.
I start with a cornbread base and add leftovers from the fridge, green beans, spinach, corn, green peas. You get the idea. You can also add fruit of which raisins, dried dates are a favorite of mine, stale cereal, peanut butter. Then bake in an iron skillet just like cornbread.

These are a few of the critters attracted to my bread

 

Every year about this time (as my family laughingly watch) I start making what I call Bird Bread. It's a little different each time depending on what I have on hand.
I start with a cornbread base and add leftovers from the fridge, green beans, spinach, corn, green peas. You get the idea. You can also add fruit of which raisins, dried dates are a favorite of mine, stale cereal, peanut butter. Then bake in an iron skillet just like cornbread.

These are a few of the critters attracted to my bread
View attachment 104448View attachment 104450View attachment 104451

What a nice thing to do

 

What a nice thing to do

Thanks it's also a lot of fun to see what's going to show up to eat. Have had squirrels as well as a raccoon
Carol

 

Looks good to me XP. Nice shots of the birds.

 

Kicking it off the way I started it. Photobomb time of snail collecting. One day, you'll thank me for this.

I already told you that I collect my snails from the storm and overpass drains. The water was down recently so I did another little venture down there.

 

Might have to zoom on this but I saw this last year in Kentucky, near Smiths Grove. It was a flock of sparrows and flying along with them wherever they went was a green and yellow parakeet (budgie).