Show Me Joe's Blog

February 16, 2012

2012-02-17T02:36:54Z

It's been almost a month since I've produced a blog. I've been busy! I haven't gotten much photography done either. The eagles are around, at least. On cold, sunny mornings they've been down at the river in good numbers. One day my friend John let me onto the lock for a better vantage point. It turned out to be a good spot for sea gulls, as they were picking fish out of the water right in front of me.

What else is new? Snow geese are moving around, and seldom a day goes by when I don't see a big flock, usually on my drive to work. I've also learned that if I drive to Quincy early in the morning, like at dawn, I have a better chance to see an owl. Of course, there isn't enough light for decent photography at that hour. You can't win!

Big Guy is getting better at hauling firewood in the cart. It tends to loosen him up though. So on some days, he pulls a load, then drops a load!

Here are some shots taken over the past month.
Direct link:

February 2012

Slide show

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

January 20, 2012 -- Eurasian Tree Sparrow

2012-01-30T02:53:52Z

Don't get me wrong--Canton is a great place to see eagles. Bald eagles. Close up. People do come from all around to see our eagles in winter time. But eagles are not our most unique bird. That title falls to a nondescript little foreigner: the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. This little dickie bird occurs all over Europe and Asia, hence, the name. But in the New World it is very narrowly distributed. From a dozen birds introduced 142 years ago, the Eurasian tree sparrow now ranges from St. Louis, MO, to Keokuk, Iowa, right along the Mississippi River. It is a highly desirable species for those working on a life list--that compendium of all the bird's you've seen in your life. However, it's neither abundant nor common here. I've only seen about 4 or 5 of them in 12 years. Fortunately, I saw one in my neighbor's back yard recently, and was able to snap a half-decent photo. They are not often observed in town, as they are apparently outcompeted by the closely related and much more abundant House Sparrow. They resemble the House Sparrow male closely, except that they have a distinct, black cheek patch and a chestnut cap instead of gray. There is no sexual dimorphism--males and females look alike.

From January 2012

I have seen this bird in my back yard, Fenway Landing, and Wakonda State Park. It should be possible to see it in any lightly wooded area near the river, but it may take some hunting to find it. It is an irregular visitor to feeders.

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

January 15, 2012 - Skijoring

2012-01-21T02:07:25Z

After a long warm fall and early winter, true winter has finally hit us. We had a 40-degree drop in temperature, and a cold day of blowing snow. I went cross-country skiing first thing Sunday morning. The conditions weren't ideal because the wind had created drifts in some places and bald spots in another. Opportunities to ski are rare here, as snow seldom stays around long. Indeed, by the end of the day our yard was reduced to muddy patches. I took a fairly short route around the college; I wasn't even tired by the end. I really missed my goatee, which used to keep my chin warm in winter, but firefighters have to be clean shaven.

When I was done I took Big Guy out for an experiment. I had read about skijoring--having a dog pull you while you ski. It looked like fun. But with a dog completely untrained for it, and being an out-of-shape skiier of modest ability, I should have had no expectation but disaster. I put the harness on him and snapped a long lead to the rear ring of it. I ran the loop of the lead through the belt of the fanny pack that I use while skiing. The plastic snap buckle would give me a quick escape if needed. Big Guy has a natural ability to follow hand signals. This talent came in handy when I was directed him with a ski pole. We made it through the neighbor's yard into the open area behind the college houses. Mrs. McKenzie passed by on her morning run just in time to see me fall on my rear. I got back up and was going along straight when Big Guy spotted a squirrel. Actually, there ended up being three squirrels. This is when I got the ride of my life. He put on a burst of speed and power that propelled me forward at more than a brisk pace. I was laughing like crazy while steering with the skis to keep him from pulling me sideways. The ride only lasted 20 or 30 meters. He stopped at a tree and I fell on my butt again. Sadly, my 25-year-old ski boots chose this moment to give out. The sole separated from the upper on the right one. They served me well. But the experiment was over, and a success. I took the skis off and Big Guy back to the house.

My skis and boots are pretty old, and I was afraid I'd have to buy new equipment. There are many types of bindings, and mine are quite outdated. Fortunately, I found a used pair of boots on eBay. Hope they get here before the next snow. I posted a pic of my old boots in the gallery below.

The snow also gave me a chance to try out the adaptations of the sled I've made for hauling firewood. They are much like the system I have set up for the wagon, except there's a rope passing through the PVC pipes. Speaking of the wagon, I took some photos of the apparatus to show my brother Mike. I might as well share them here. Big Guy is progressing in his lessons. Considering how long it took him to learn to sit on command, I'm confident he'll become a serious puller in time. He has plenty of strength, and will do just about anything for treats.

Link

Dog Cart

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

December 28, 2011 -- Snowy Owl

2011-12-29T00:26:13Z

Now that classes are out and I have some time to dink around, I've been cruising around looking for birds. I heard there were Trumpeter Swans out near Wakonda State Park, so I went out there to have a look. No swans, but I did have an American Tree Sparrow land very close. Gave me a great pic. I'm not sure many people appreciate the simple beauty of these little birds. I got a nice Song Sparrow in town, as well as some Eurasian Collared doves. I stopped at the Slough one day for a Belted Kingfisher that was perched on a wire. It was a bit far out, but I got a few decent shots.

On the colder mornings when we know the ball fields are frozen we take the dogs down to run. I've gotten more shots of their antics, but one day I noticed some little fingers of ice sticking out of the infield. After we took the dogs home, I went back with my macro lens and shot the most interesting ones. After a bit of research, I found that they were needle ice.

"Needle ice is a phenomenon that occurs when the temperature of the soil is above 0 °C (32 °F) and the surface temperature of the air is below 0 °C (32 °F). The subterranean liquid water is brought to the surface via capillary action, where it freezes and contributes to a growing needle-like ice column. The ice needles are typically a few centimetres long. While growing, they may lift or push away small soil particles." -- Wikipedia

I knew the local weather man loves interesting meteorological photos. I sent them in and they showed them all on the evening news. He explained the phenomenon. Of course, the conditions that day were ideal for the formation of needle ice.

I also sent in the picture of Big Guy as "Reindog". They ran that on 12/27 in the morning. They mangled Stacey's name, but kept the image on screen for a long time.

While looking for hawks in the area, I got yet another Red-tailed Hawk sitting in a tree. On a trip to Monticello on Christmas, Stacey drove and pulled over so i could get some distant images of a hunting Northern Harrier.

A while back I found out about a contest for photos taken in state parks. I didn't have much I was really happy with, so I went out to Wakonda State Park one morning before work, took a short hike, and took some spontaneous wildlife photos. This squirrel with a nut ran up to me and I shot it with the macro lens. It turned out pretty well, so I submitted that one, and a nice image of a grasshopper. Of course, the squirrel won (semifinalist, wildlife category). My friends know that I hate cutesy, furry mammal photos. They are so cliche. Apparently, they are also what people want!

From Greatest Hits

We wanted to take a small vacation during this break. I had been hearing about the great Snowy Owl irruption this year, and knew that there were three or more sighted regularly at Smithville Reservoir. That's in Missouri, but on the other side of the state, just north of Kansas City. These were the closest I could find, but at least they had been reliable. As an aside, this is an Arctic species that rarely makes it down to these latitudes. Apparently, it's a bad winter for lemmings, and the hungry birds have moved down to find food. We loaded the dogs in the Lil Egg and drove across Highway 36. After getting directions to the owls from the park office (it's a big lake), we were just minutes away from seeing our first Snowy Owls. That's when Gretchen barfed in Stacey's lap. She had been sick a few times before we left, but we thought it was out of her system. We made an emergency stop at a tiny grocery store in Paradise so that Stacey could change and I could effect clean-up. After order was restored we continued around the lake and across the dam, where ALL reports had said the owls were always present. We didn't see any. We parked at one end while I glassed the area with binoculars. We saw some vehicles stop on the dam, and a large white bird fly out and land about 50 yards from them. That was it! My 323rd North American species. Stacey then drove us up to the spot where the owl landed. I stuck the long lens out the window and shot about a hundred frames. We continued down the dam and saw another near the end. Stacey parked while I walked up and tried to get close. It flushed and went down toward the lake. Another photographer and I walked down to get more shots of it. What I didn't know was that Gretchen had barfed again, and Stacey was forced to clean it up. Stacey has a strong aversion to vomit and is a known sympathy puker. It took a lot for her to get this done. After one more attempt at the bird on the dam, we went to the motel in Kearney where we were staying. Though the Super 8 is "dog friendly," we suspected we could be evicted if our dogs were not well behaved. Unfortunately, Big Guy decided to bark at almost every little noise. He's big. His bark is deep and loud. He's normally not that vocal, but it was a noisy hotel, with other dogs in it. We got him under control, but he still woke us up a few times in the night with the occasional bark. And Gretchen threw up again.

In the morning I left at the crack of dawn to make another attempt on the owls. I saw two on the dam and another in a tree on a golf course. The latter was a juvenile, and I would have loved to have gotten some shots up close, but it would have required two wrong things: 1) trespassing on the golf course, and 2) almost certainly flushing the bird. So I confined myself to the dam birds and headed back to the motel. We packed up and headed for home. Gretchen had had some evil bowel movements, and rewarded us with the most horrid farts all the way home. We still don't know what she got into, but she seems to be over it now. We've never had so much difficulty traveling with the dogs, even on the much longer trip to Nebraska last year. We'll chalk it up to experience. Meanwhile, here are all the recent photos (direct link followed by slide show):

Misc. birds and needle ice:

December 2011

Snowy owls only:

2011_12_27 Snowy Owl

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

December 15, 2011 - End of semester

2011-12-16T02:33:14Z

There's been a delay in this blog that reflects the lack of opportunity for photography of late. The insects are all gone, and the birds are just coming along. One morning I went into the back yard to photograph the last wildflower of the year (a common violet) when I noticed some interesting patterns in the frost and leaves. The dogs are always around, and I took the opportunity to get some images of them. I created a calendar of Big Guy images for the "Giant Schnauzer Calendar", and I've already sold two! I also got him in a silly Christmas reindeer hat.
I heard about some peregrine falcons hanging around the Bayview Bridge in Quincy. I stopped several times and finally spotted one sitting on a squirrel cage ladder on one of the bridge stanchions. It was a distant shot, and far from ideal but better than nothing. I was more excited to see this life bird finally. Later I saw a red fox on top of one of the stanchions. Freaky! After checking for this falcon one day I drove through Quinsippi Island, which gave me the chance to shoot a red-tailed hawk, a bald eagle, and a deer. Pretty good for one morning.
I had planned to take the family up to Wisconsin after Christmas to visit our friend Ron Cronacher. Sadly, he passed away before we could make the trip. He was a good fishing buddy and all-around friend. It would have been his birthday last Sunday. We'll miss him.
I've been wanting to contribute to conservation photography in any way I can. Awhile back I had one of my images picked up by ARKive, which catalogs endangered species. Recently, I uploaded some photos of a softshell turtle to iNaturalist.org. That record was just picked up by the Missouri Herpetological Atlas. So I posted a couple more of the small-mouthed salamander that I shot out at Lowell's a few years ago because it was rare in the area. That was picked up by the same atlas and the Global Amphibian Bioblitz. I've been uploading all my backlog of amphibian and reptile photos, as they seem to have the most impact. The insects and flowers would be overwhelming, and more difficult to identify. Fortunately, I seem to have a good memory for every place I've shot the herps, as all photos must be georeferenced.
We have been enjoying all the Xmas parties lately. Fire department was Monday. Again, I made the video. Our friend Delbert deservedly won Firefighter of the Year. QU had their faculty/staff party tonight, and camera club is Saturday. 'Tis the season!

Almost forgot! Here are the photos:

Direct link.
https://picasaweb.google.com/showmejoe/December2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Slide show.

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

November 13, 2011 - Fire season, deer season

2011-11-13T23:56:23Z

Last Sunday night after I had about an hour of sleep the pager went off. The Canton Motel was on fire. Stacey and I spent much of the middle-of-the-night hours fighting that one. I got our large-diameter hose hooked up to the hydrant, then put on an air pack and put water on the red stuff. We got it out fairly quickly, but smoldering bits kept going for a long time. As there was no power to the building, it having been closed for several months, this suspicious fire is still under investigation. I tried to get some photos of the fire, but the crappy little camera I keep in my gear finally died. Fortunately, our friend Theresa Gunsauls shared some of her shots with us. I taught three classes Monday in something of a zombie state, and caught up on sleep that night.

Tuesday was the camera club meeting. I always look forward to it, but feared I would have little to show. Fortunately, a leopard frog that has been frequenting our little fish pond made an appearance one sunny day. he even stayed put in spite of the dogs' antics in the back yard. I got some good shots with the macro lens. So I had at least one good photo to show. Tracy showed me Arizona Highways magazine, which has a regular photo contest twice a year. Some of the winners weren't that good, and I thing the top prize winner of the last contest was a photoshopped fake. Anyway, their prizes are pretty good, so I went through all my Ruby photos from two years ago and submitted a bunch for the next contest. You can see them on ArizHwys.com.

Friday I had only one meeting in the afternoon. I took my time driving in to Quincy, stopping at various sites to try to get some interesting photos. I saw a nice buck at the state park, but by the time I got my camera up and ready he had high-tailed it. I did get a shot of the burned up combine next to the highway. It's been there for several weeks. Wish we had been there for that one. There were three combine fires in our county this fall, and we didn't get any of them. This is called fire envy.

Firearms deer season started on Saturday. I got out to Lowell's early. I didn't hunt the archery season this year, and was surprised at how much I missed being out in the woods. Some of the places look very different since the windstorm, and growth has changed some of the trails. I sat in a good stand and saw more squirrels than I thought the county could hold. No deer appeared, but I did see a pileated woodpecker. As the morning progressed I kept drinking coffee and adding layers, but eventually I got cold in spite of my efforts. I climbed down out of the stand and walked around the trails. That warmed me up some, so I got back up into a different stand, number 3A, one of my favorites. I saw no deer, but was amazed to see a butterfly flit past, perhaps a cloudless sulfur. I went in about 11:30 and we went to Durham for lunch. I hadn't seen John in a year, since he only comes up from St. Louis for deer season. It was fun to catch up. After lunch we worked on replacing Lowell's garage door opener. I have lots of fresh experience with that technology, having just replaced my own.

By the time we got done it was about 3 p.m. I was about ready to go home, but Lowell mentioned that we only had about two hours of light left. I figured I could stand that long sitting in a tree. I went back to 3A and didn't see anything for about an hour and a half. I tend to do theoretical forestry while sitting there, thinking about which trees I would cut down to improve the timber stand. Suddenly, a buck came over the ridge right in front of me. He was less than 20 yards away. I slowly moved my hands toward the gun. He walked along the trail to my left. I could see he was legal (>4 points on one side). I held up the gun where he would walk into view of the scope and pulled the trigger as his foreleg passed the cross-hairs. He ran about 20 yards like he hadn't been hit at all. Which is to say, he didn't drop dead right there as expected. As he paused on the ridge I thought i saw him coughing blood out of his nose. But it was kind of dark already. I could have shot again, but I didn't have a good angle. It would have just ruined a lot of meat. If he was well hit, he should go down soon. I watched him run east through the woods. If he got far enough, John would have a shot from his stand. I packed up and got down. At the site of the shot, there was no blood. When I got to the ridge where he had stopped, there was a 3-foot diameter circle of bright red blood. A steady trail of red led me through the woods. I kept thinking he couldn't go far like that because he was going to run out of blood soon. Shortly, I found him piled up in a draw. Woo hoo! The buck is a 10-pointer, but not symmetrical. One side has an extra brow tine, the other has an extra fork at the end of the main beam. I called Lowell and he came out with the tractor. I gutted it and loaded it into the bucket of the tractor. We hauled it back, hung it up, and hosed it out, using all of Lowell's handy set-up for doing so, including an electric winch.

It was a bit big for the trunk of the Lil Egg. We loaded it into Lowell's pick-up and they hauled it to my house. I hung it from the sweetgum tree in the back yard. The dogs were quite interested in the smell of blood on my hands. I spent most of Sunday (today) butchering it. My enthusiasm for that process has waned considerably. Perhaps next year I'll have it done by a meat locker, or give the carcass to a friend, if I am lucky enough to kill something.

Direct link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/showmejoe/2011_11_06LeopardFrog?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Slide show:

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

October 22, 2011 -- Night Life

2011-10-23T01:13:29Z

One morning I was at home getting ready to go when I noticed a couple of birds wander out of my prairie. To my astonishment, they were Northern Bobwhites, or what most folks would call quail. Of course, I ran for the camera because I have no bobwhite photos that look better than a passing blur. It was a cloudy day, which required high ISO. Most of the pics were fairly grainy and vague, but I got a few viable ones, at least enough to notch another species for my bird photo gallery.

Stacey and I met some other members of the Canton Camera Club for dinner at a restaurant on the Mississippi River in Quincy one night. They are still a fun group. Afterward, we went around town doing night photography. We started at the river, shooting the bridges and other brightly lit things. That took a lot longer than we thought. We hit some other spots, like the neon Pepsi sign at the distributor's building, and a strange purple cone at the Kroc Center.

It has been quite cold most of the week, but today it warmed up toward mid-day and some butterflies were out. The usual nymphalids were present, along with the expected skippers, but a monarch on October 22 is a surprise. It's running very late, and should be in Mexico by now. With a damaged wing, lack of nectar sources, and poor weather, it will find the trip difficult.

I lumped all the images into one album. If the slide show does not appear, click on the direct link.

Direct link:

2011_10_11 Bobwhite

Slide show:

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

October 5, 2011 -- Fall follies

2011-10-06T01:03:31Z

There are still some butterflies and other interesting things hanging around. My neighbor has turned his attention to his yard this year, which has worked out well for me. He has outstanding flower beds at a time when almost nothing else is in bloom. I shot a monarch and a buckeye on his place. That group starts with an image of a crescent moon, which looked kind of cool one night. Others were mostly in my yard. I'm just putting links on this week, not slide shows. You'll have to click on them to see the each photo album.

2011_09_25 Tagged Monarch

After a class exercise in building rabbitats (brush piles to provide shelter for rabbits), we had an Environmental Club outing and pulled out our canoes. Fun ensued, including a race in which most of the canoes were stuck together.

Canoe Day 9/27/2011

We've been taking our dogs down the the ball diamonds for exercise. The large, fenced area gives them plenty of room to run. We do carry bags and pick up the poo. I decided to try to photograph their frolicking. I used the same settings as one would for birds in flight, but still got some motion blur, even in full sun. They're fast! I caught them in funny poses. Though some of the images look violent, fear not. These two are best friends and they do this every day without harming each other.

October Dogs

Stacey and I went to watch some fireworks in our official capacity as firefighters. The show was pretty fast and furious. I didn't have time to mess with the camera much, but I got some decent stuff.

2011_10_01 Fireworks

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

September 23 - The End of Summer

2011-09-24T12:07:31Z

The end of summer is typically the last opportunity to see butterflies. A few may reappear on warm fall days, but many species are still flying and abundant now. I found a nice monarch in the back yard on Monday, which was also the day we tagged the most monarchs, just three days after the usual peak of the migration. There's also a warbler in the slide show. I seldom see warblers during their fall migration, but I had little else to do on Thursday afternoon while we were waiting for monarchs to show. Of course, the slide show begins with our dear Gretchen, having destroyed yet another roll of toilet paper. Later in the week she chewed up Stacey's toothbrush. These intrusions are partially due to the temporary displacement of our main bathroom as we have the vanity replaced.

I noticed one day that the sea star and urchin were next to each other on the front glass of the aquarium in my office. I took a couple of quick shots with the old Panasonic. You can see the tube feet on the urchin. Recently, it was shown that genes for visual receptor pigments are expressed in the tube feet, so they can probably see a lot more than we thought.

At the end is an image of a "cornado," a dust devil in a corn field that I photographed just outside of Canton. The TV news (WGEM) is always asking for weather photos, so I uploaded it, hoping that the weather man would say "cornado" on the air because I coined the term. Not only did they post my pic on their Facebook page, they showed it during the intro and the weather segment. The weather man, Brian Inman, said it more than once. He even mentioned that the phenomenon was not uncommon, but he just like saying "cornado." Stacey and I were dying of laughter.

Direct link:

2011_09_19

Slide show:

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

September 15, 2011 - Fall insects

2011-09-16T01:53:41Z

Tomorrow is the statistical peak of the monarch season, but we have tagged very few. It's shaping up the be a bad year, maybe the worst. Last year we used all 100 tags in our possession. This year I bought 200, but we'll be lucky to use 25. I have 4 caterpillars in my office. I gave a little monarch presentation at a grade school. They had just hatched out two butterflies that I was able to tag.

It has turned much cooler here, and I am grateful. Fortunately, there are a few insects remaining about. The last image in the slide show below is a female Carolina mantis eating another female. I found them outside my front door on a milkweed plant. It was dusk and I had little time. The on-camera flash did the trick.
Direct link:

2011_09_05 E Pondhawks

Slide show:

You must have Adobe Flash Player installed to see the slide show.

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

September 2, 2011 - Studio Bugs

2011-09-02T21:55:34Z

It's been blazing hot here, setting a record of 104 yesterday. In my Ecology lab, we had to go out in the afternoon and catch grasshoppers. There was no way out of it. We survived, and I got 150 grasshoppers to work with. Some of the species are rather interesting to look at, and I set up my home insect studio to photograph them favorably. One can produce excellent results with this technique, but it may look artificial. Nature seldom has such even lighting. I also had a cicada and the rainbow scarab as volunteers. It was a good day to spend mostly indoors.
Direct link:

2011_09_02

Slide show:

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

August 28, 2011 - Birds & Bugs

2011-08-29T02:09:00Z

I'm the only one I know who keeps wasp nests on his back porch. Of course, these are specialized "trap nests" which are attractive to only a few species. Although I haven't collected any data on carpenter wasps in years, I still find them fascinating. From my kitchen table, I can see them bringing in caterpillars to feed their young and mud balls to seal off the cells in their nests--1/2-inch diameter holes bored into foot-long boards. Sometimes when I see one arrive, I'll run outside and try to photograph it. I'd like to get one in flight carrying a caterpillar or mud ball, but I haven't gotten it yet.

I was outside watering what's left of our garden with rainwater when I found a Rainbow Scarab in a bucket. It was still alive, so naturally I saved it for photography. This is a large, striking species of dung beetle. It's not uncommon, just nocturnal. I see one every couple of years. I used an entomologist's trick of shooting my flashes into a styrofoam bucket to even out the lighting.

Today I went out to Lowell's. We fished a couple rounds of the lake and I caught a couple of foot-long bass. I photographed another green heron, and a deer that spooked after it got a good look at me. After lunch in Durham (where I had the world's best chocolate malt) we worked on the canoe trailer. I had brought out the first canoe I had obtained back in April, a 15-foot plastic Coleman I call "The Spirit of St. Francis." We loaded it on the trailer and found that the vertical spacing was just barely adequate to accommodate it. We noted the trailer was lacking in lateral stability, whereupon, Lowell described the relevant physics. He said, "You can't have zero moments. Zero moments require infinite force." I said, "I love it when you talk dirty." Lowell had planned some braces reduce the moments (wobbling). We decided it would be good to test fit the other canoes on it first. We towed it over to the shed and loaded a few on, where we found that the bottom ones would rub the trailer in front, and that they wouldn't stack properly without considerable overlap of the curved bows and sterns. We need a redesign and slight rebuild. While we were at it, we measured all the canoes. I was supposed to get five, fifteen-foot Osagian canoes, but I got more than my money's worth. For one thing, one boat is a Grumman, and we knew some were longer than others. It turns out that only two were 15 feet long. Two were 17, and one is a monstrous 19 feet. You can mount a major expedition in a 19-foot canoe.

Direct link:

2011_08_28

Slide show:

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

August 14, 2011 - two trips to Lowell's

2011-08-15T02:15:47Z

I went out to Lowell's on Wednesday and again on Sunday. Wednesday the fishing was good. I caught several bass and a large catfish, as usual, on a spinnerbait. The channel catfish had a big overbite. I was watching a green heron at the edge of the lake, holding the camera on it and waiting for it to come out from behind some weeds. Suddenly, it turned and grabbed a frog out of the water, then ran back in the opposite direction. I hit the shutter button and caught a burst of frames. One of them turned out to be in focus. Look for it in the slide show below. Turtles, dragonflies, and muskrats rounded out that adventure. Oh, and a fawn. We also spent some time with the chainsaw cutting down an old dead tree and clearing a trail.

Sunday the fishing was again pretty good, at least for me. I caught seven largemouth bass in two rounds of the lake. We took an early lunch, came back and worked on an old boat trailer that Lowell had out back. We took the old deck and other extraneous parts off of it. I was amazed that the tires were still good, quite good, in fact. It will be part of a future project that is under development. Afterward I stopped at Bob and Jaime's to drop something off and photographed a cicada killer and some butterflies in their yard.
Slide show:

Direct link:

Aug 14, 2011 Lowell's

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

August 7, 2011 -- Florida Vacation

2011-08-10T02:20:03Z

We took our family vacation this summer to stay with Bob and Jaime at their condo in Lake Wales. From there we made many short trips to interesting destinations. First, we hit the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, where we met Bob's daughter Robin and her husband Brian. It's quite a nice aquarium.

The next morning I was stung by fire ants while walking about the back yard. While I am a hymenopterist, I don't go out of my way to experience these events. The stings themselves were inconsequential, rating barely a 1 on the Schmidt scale (which ranges from 0 to 4), but the pustules and itching that followed were very inconvenient.

We went to the Lowry Park Zoo that day and met Bob's other daughter, Rochelle, and her daughter Riley. It was a really good zoo, and we got a lot of cool photos. From there we went to Venice Beach, which is known for its shark teeth. I actually found a shark tooth while walking along in the surf. The gulf water is much warmer than that in California or the Galapagos. Savannah found half a shark's tooth.

As we drove home that night I saw a big bird cross the road to avoid the car (it had been eating a road kill). Recognizing it immediately, and having wanted to see one for some 30 years, I suddenly yelled, "CRESTED CARACARA!" This awoke Savannah from a dead sleep. She was not amused, especially since I had done the exact same thing about 10 years ago for a scissor-tailed flycatcher. The flycatcher has been a running joke in our family, and the caracara is becoming one, usually modified as "crested caca." We turned around to have a better look. I have murky, distant images because it was already sunset.

The next day we drove down to Fort Myers and spent the night at a motel. On the way, we stopped at Manatee Park. There were no manatees, as they mainly hang out there during winter. Incredibly, Savannah spotted a bobcat. I hadn't seen one in the wild in 25 years. I took a stab with my camera as it ran through the brush, but all I got was a blurry shot of a palm frond. Bob, me, and Bob's friend Tom went downtown and did some night photography. The following morning we drove out to Sanibel Island to get an early start shelling. Sanibel is well known for the diversity and abundance of shells that wash up on its beaches, and Jaime has been hunting them for some 25 years. She took us to her favorite spot and we began our walk down the beach. Unfortunately, it was high tide, which covers up a lot of shells. We found quite a few by wading the shallows, rather than walking on the sand. We even saw a couple of small stingrays in the surf. Savannah really enjoyed finding shells, and has spent hours cleaning and curating her collection.

The last day we went out to Bok Tower Gardens, which is only 6 miles away. It is a fascinating place, full of flowers, plants, butterflies and other wildlife. I'm not much into architecture, but the tower itself was pretty awesome. I fell in love with the place. Bob and I spent the afternoon relaxing while the ladies went to the mall.

I almost forgot to mention that just after we arrived at Bok Tower, an employee said that a woman was on the floor and they had called 911. I had lost track of Stacey, and spent several panicked minutes looking before finding her in the visitor's center. Stacey and Savannah sprung into firefighter and lifeguard mode, respectively, and took care of the lady until the paramedics arrived. After it was over, the manager gave us two passes for our next visit and free lunch.

Here are my best photos from the trip, more or less in chronological order.

Slide show:

Direct link:

Florida 2011

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

July 16 - Waiting for the heat wave

2011-07-17T01:56:51Z

As of this writing we are awaiting a forecast six straight days of 99-degree highs. But lately we've had a few days of relatively cool weather, during which I've been able to cut and split some wood. I've been taking photos around the yard when opportunities present themselves, all with the macro lens.

From Summer 2011

I hadn't seen a Russet-tipped Clubtail in a long time. This one was in my prairie.

For my birthday, Savannah and I kayaked the Wyaconda River. It was hot and buggy, though the scenery was good. We saw a lot of wildlife. It started off roughly, as the put-in was blocked by trees that had been downed by the recent wind storm. We had to bust through some poison ivy to get our kayaks in the water. I got a tick and several chigger bites from that experience, but the ectoparasites weren't done with me. It's probably been 15 years since I had...

From Summer 2011

...a leech. It was a very small one. I used the awesome power of osmosis to kill and remove it.

From Summer 2011

A pinch of salt goes a long way.

From Summer 2011

I saw another clearwinged sphinx moth, this time in the back yard. This one isn't as colorful, but I caught it in midflight with its tongue out.

From Summer 2011

This colorful bug nymph was in our garden. Wish I'd gotten just a bit more depth of field out of this.

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

July 6, 2011 -- Garden Club

2011-07-07T02:13:31Z

Tuesday held a rare occasion when I was able to attend a meeting of the La Grange Garden Club. We met at Linda's house and car pooled to Quincy to see "Hosta Heaven." This guy is an expert on hostas and has his back yard tastefully landscaped with them. I learned a lot about hostas, and now have a greater appreciation for them.
Here are some photos of the place:
Slide show:

Direct link:

2011_07_05 Hosta Heaven

Afterwards we went to QU North Campus and I showed my prairie to the other members. The Monarda was in full bloom. Some of those images will be in the previous slide show. We had lunch at Sprouts and went to a member's home in rural LaGrange. She had great flowers, but perhaps more interesting to me were all the butterflies they attracted. I ended up taking 499 frames this day, but only show the best here:

Slide show:

Direct link:

2011_07_05 LGC Member gardens

Wednesday I was back on campus to meet with students. I went to dig a mulberry tree out of the prairie and noticed a Great Golden Digger Wasp on the milkweed. I ran back to the truck to get my camera. Naturally, the wasp flew off as soon as I arrived. There were a few other things of interest there, but I haven't been able to identify them. I can't find my copy of Butterflies and Moths of Missouri. I also found that the storm had broken two windows in our greenhouse.

Slide show:

Direct link:

2011_07_06 NC Prairie

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

June 30, 2011 - St. Louis

2011-07-03T02:26:48Z

Stacey had a meeting in St. Louis last week. I tagged along for fun. We decided to take the motorcycle since the dogs were staying home with Savannah. It was a nice trip down in the morning, not too hot. During her meeting in the afternoon, I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden. I had nver been there in summer, and was looking forward to seeing a lot more species in bloom. It was pretty hot, but I saw a lot of neat stuff. Most people don't know what a world-class facility it is. It ranks with some of the European botanical gardens. I'm not going to post all the the pics here--that would be nuts. I just learned how to embed a slide show into the blog, so now you can see some pretty flowers and various other things without necessarily having to click through.

The next morning I motored over to August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area. I had never been there before. There are something like 35 lakes. I spent the first couple of hours around the visitor's center shooting butterflies and dragonflies in a little patch of prairie. I rode around parts of the place. There are huge old bunkers where they used to store munitions when the area belonged to the army. I stopped at a lake and shot some more insects, fish and turtles. Here's another slide show. I hope these work.

The ride back from St. Louis was most unpleasant. We got stuck in a traffic jam on I70. For 20 or 30 minutes it was start-stop or go as slow as possible in first gear. And it was stinkin' hot. We were both kind of sore and were glad to get home. That night we and some other fire department personnel posted ourselves at the Lewis County Nursing Home to supervise the fireworks. I brought my camera and got some good shots of the proceedings. Let's try another slide show.

In case these slide shows don't work, here are the links:

MoBot Garden:

2011_06_29 Bot Garden

Busch CA:

August Busch Conservation Area

Fireworks:

2011_06_30 LCNH Fireworks

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

June 28, 2011 -- Stormy weather

2011-06-29T03:09:59Z

We had major storms over the weekend. The fire department had 14 calls in 48 hours. It's all kind of a blur to me now, in part because of sleep deprivation. We went out for rescue calls, burning trees, downed power lines and structure fires. What we spent most of our time doing however, was pumping water. We got so much rainfall in so short a time on saturated ground that parts of town became flooded. Fire trucks are great water pumps. We pumped out the street in front of senior housing twice. After the last downpour we had to pump water from the catchment basins over the levy and into the Mississippi River. The big city pump that lives in a pump house down there was out.

From Spring 2011

This is where we were pumping. You can see the water in the foreground on the left and the 5-inch diameter hose going over the levy to the right in the background. The fire truck (Pumper #111) is partially hidden behind the pump house.

From Spring 2011

This is the flooded area we were pumping out. Normally, it's a small, quiet pond, known locally as "The Slough". The ominous roll cloud that can be seen approaching did not drop any rain, thankfully.

From Spring 2011

This is how much water we had in front of the fire house. Stacey's car is for scale.

From Spring 2011

Did I mention we had wind? And at 1 a.m. We didn't get much sleep. It wasn't a tornado, but very near 80 mph straight line winds. Glad this is not my house. The whole area for several surrounding counties was affected. It's not nearly as bad as the tornado was, but still there was lots of destruction, flooded basements, downed trees, etc. Some places are still without power.

From Spring 2011

A parent robin died with its nestlings. In ecology we call this disturbance, an abiotic factor, causing density-independent limits on a population.

From Spring 2011

Out of all the fallen trees, this is my favorite one. It's in Martin Park in Canton. The root ball lifted the sidewalk 10 feet, but didn't break it. It just separated at the joints.

At home, our power was out about half the day. Everything on our back porch was blown from north to south. Our garden tool shed was knocked over, breaking the eggs of the wren whose nest was inside. Savannah cleaned this up with great sadness. Today we went to Quincy and rescued all the fish and invertebrates in my marine aquarium there. Though the power went on while we were in the act, I wasn't confident it would stay on. We brought them home in pitchers, with a power inverter and air pumps to keep their water oxygenated. Everything is still alive.

We spent the afternoon clearing the yard of debris. We had no trees down, but lots of medium and small branches. I did all the chainsawing, while Savannah helped pull the branches to the roadside, where city crews will later pick it up. We got a little firewood out of the deal.

OK, now for some happy pictures!

From Spring 2011

We spotted these cattle egrets on the way to Bob and Jaime's little get together. The egrets are perched on a cattle feeder in a pasture with a bunch of cows. How cliche'.

From Spring 2011

This bullfrog was living in Bob and Jaime's little fish pond. At least it was, until Taylor chased it around so much that it left.

I tease. It is my solemn duty to harass teenage girls. Mission accomplished.

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

June 22, 2011 -- Adventures

2011-06-23T03:05:23Z

I finally got back out to Lowell's last week. It's been raining so much, it's hard to plan for fishing or anything outdoors. The cicadas were still out in force. It was a decent day to fish, but I caught most of mine on a topwater cicada mimic. It actually looks a lot like an oversized periodical cicada, but has the action of a jitterbug. It was a great day for butterflies and dragonflies. Wish I had gotten more of them.

From Spring 2011

Jade Clubtail--seems to be looking at the camera.

From Spring 2011

Tiger Swallowtail, sunning in the morning.

From Spring 2011

Female Common Whitetail. Looks like she has 8 wings, but 4 of them are just shadows.

From Spring 2011

The white fuzz in the center is a nestling Eastern Kingbird.

I've been building up my marine aquarium at home. I've had terrible luck with fish, but the invertebrates have been thriving. So I bought more.

From Spring 2011

For those paying attention, you'll notice three phyla in this one photo, Cnidaria (sea anemone, left), Echinodermata (brittle star, center) and Arthropoda (hermit crab, right). I love that the brittle star has taken the little cave in the limestone in the middle of the aquarium. It lives in there like a beast in a lair. When I give it a piece of shrimp, it curls and arm around it and hauls it in like a monster. Today I got a sea urchin, emerald crab, and banded coral shrimp.

I took Stacey out on her first kayaking adventure last Friday. We took them out on Wakonda Lake. It was a cool, overcast morning with no wind--perfect.

From Spring 2011

This Great Blue Heron was undisturbed by our presence.

From Spring 2011

She did great in the little blue kayak. The only thing she doesn't like is getting water on her legs.

I was invited by John B. to fish his neighbor's 25-acre lake. This lake is known for it's 5+ lb largemouth bass. I've caught one there before. Things went kind of slow at first this time, but they picked up when I switched to, you guessed it, the cicada lure.

From Spring 2011

Most of my fish were pretty small. This one was a level 5 pounds, but you can see how thin he is. If he'd had anything in his belly, he'd have gone 6 easy.

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.

June 15, 2011 - Prairies in bloom

2011-06-16T01:48:38Z

I have noticed a proliferation of swallowtail butterflies this year. That's good news, but I haven't been able to get any in front of the camera until recently. This one was in the back yard.

Melanic form, female tiger swallowtail

This one was in my prairie in the back yard. While somewhat overrun with goldenrod, many of my original plantings are thriving.

From Spring 2011

My neighbor has a purple martin house, and gets them nesting there every year. I stopped by to photograph them, but it turns out to be difficult. The dark purplish color just sucks up light. It looks like a blackbird.

From Spring 2011

There are a lot of common whitetails out right now. This one was in the flooded fields along the Mississippi River.

The periodical cicadas are still out and calling, though I suspect they're beginning to decline. I went to the home of one of my students. She has a full chorus of them, and plenty of low-lying ones to see.

From Spring 2011

Female's ovipositor.

From Spring 2011

Male on hydrangea.

From Spring 2011

Portrait of a periodical cicada.

Her neighbor has horses. They came over to the fence to be friendly.

From Spring 2011

I'd never noticed a horse with mosaic eye before--note that one is blue and the other brown.

From Spring 2011

I believe this is the Banded Hairstreak. If so, it's a new species to me.

While I was at the office, I looked looked in on the North Campus prairie. It looks really good right now. There are hardly any weeds, and the planted species are coming on strong. Many are in bloom already.

From Spring 2011

Unidentified fly on milkweed.

From Spring 2011

Purple poppy mallow patch.

From Spring 2011

An individual purple poppy mallow bloom.

Evening primrose.

From Spring 2011

White beardtongue.

All text and photos copyright Joe Coelho unless otherwise mentioned. Use by permission only.