Week Four Pictures
Posted Jun 14th, 2006 at 5:08 pm in Photography, Traveling About
For the three or four people that like my pictures, week four is now up in the gallery.
This is by far the best group of pictures I’ve taken since arriving, and I’m quite proud of it. Highlights include such morsels as a very prehistoric looking Short Horned Lizard, a species which gives birth to live young (sorry, no pictures of that yet), a gorgeous snake, mountain vistas, and ladybugs having sex at extreme altitudes.
Enjoy.
Thanks for the pic update
But I demand more insect photos…
Oh, also, there may be a collaboration opportunity for you on a entomology paper if the Esenbeckia horse flies prove useful/sufficient. That is of course if you are interested. I will send you an email about it later, once things settle down here. My defense is next week…EEK!
If I’m interested? Of course I’m interested!
Personally, I fancy discovering a new species of Esenbeckia, and I want to name it! I orginally told Amy that I would name it after her. Esenbeckia amyii sounded good. But she didn’t act nearly excited enough to have a fly named in her honor, so I told her that someone who would appreciate it properly should have the honor. Esenbeckia Kelleyii might work. She’s been begging ever since and acting excited, but her first reaction spoke volumes.
No fair putting our marital strife on the blog!
Might I request that you include a little technical information about your photographic output? Your pictures seem to include a remarkable range of subject distances and focal lengths, from macro-range photos of insects, to telephoto avian portraits, to intermediate focal length landscape vistas. Are you using a digital SLR with multiple lenses, a particularly versatile point & shoot, or some other exotic equipment known only to optically astute research biologists?
Haha, yeah Amy, I think you should request an addendum to the comment policy
Besides, Esenbeckia amyii has a much catchier ring than kelleyii.
Jay,
You have a great blog here. I’ve been reading for only a month or so, but I’m really impressed with your attitude and your scholarship.
Your “beautiful snake” is a Black-necked Garter Snake (Thamnophis cyrtopsis cyrtopsis). They show up in considerable numbers once the mountains start getting some rain, which provokes the Canyon Treefrogs (Hyla arenicolor, one of their favorite foods) to emerge and quickly breed. Most herpers would argue that the race of the Black-neck on the Edwards Plateau (Thamnophis c. ocellata) is one of the prettier garter snakes in existence. In my experience many of the Davis Mountain specimens of this species appear to be intermediate between the eastern and western races. Yours looks more like the nominate (western) subspecies (yes, I think subspecies—for the most part—are a useful taxonomic concept).
During your studies in the Davis Mtns, keep an eye out for Texas Alligator Lizards (Gerrhonotus infernalis). I am aware of no “official” records of this species from the range, although they have been recorded from the nearby Del Norte Mountains and are reasonably common in the Chisos. Two local authorities there are skeptical that the Alligator Lizard will be found in the range, but there have been a number of tantalizing anecdotal reports.
Keep up the great photography and reports.
Tom Lott
Oops…
TOJP, If you get bored and doze off to sleep, I won’t blame you… But you asked.
I use a Nikon Coolpix 5700. Think of it as one step down from a digital SLR. It has a single, non-interchangeable lens that the equivalent of a 35 to 280mm lens. It does have an amazing macro setting, focusing down to 1.5 inches. (The depth of field is terrible at that range. You focus on the profile of a butterfly and both of his antennae are out of focus…) Essentially, it is a great all purpose camera.
The complaints I have with it are not really fair, since I mainly wish it was more like a true SLR. For example, the 280mm lens is not enough for bird or other long distance wildlife photography. If you read my account of the Arctic Tern, you’ll see that I got incredibly close to that bird. (Talk about luck, and to have it on a super rare bird no less!) Normally, I would never get pictures that good of a bird. Also, I’d kill to have an digital SLR’s ability to take rapid fire shots. My camera can only do a burst of three shots, and then you have to wait 30 seconds for it to process the images before you can shoot again.
Still, I’ve realized one enormous limitation that a digital SLR would bring (beside the price and the fact that I have no money). I would need to carry around multiple lenses along with the camera. That actually would make me more likely to leave the camera behind for considerations of weight and space. As it is, I can easily slip my current camera into a backpack even when photography’s not my main goal.
I’m an amateur. I realize that the more you look at your own shots, the less you like them. I appreciate the kind words people give. I just really enjoy working on it, and every now and then getting good shots.
And digital is the way to go. When I find something especially exciting, I’ll take as many pictures as I can until it flutters or scurries away. That’s my secret to having at least one shot turn out. I’ve had the camera right at two years, and taken about 10,000 pictures. (I’ve thrown many of these away). You can’t do that with film. A professional could, but the cost of the film and the development would be astronomical. I’ve more than paid for the camera in that sense.
So there you go… More than you ever wanted to know! Take care.
Tom, you’re my new best friend!! I’ve always wanted someone that could help me with herps!
I thought the snake was a garter snake, but my field guide is at home, and for whatever reason, I seem to have a much more difficult time using the herp book than I do birds or butterflies. I know, it comes with experience, but having lots of experience with birds doesn’t readily translate to identifying herps. I fail to note the scaling pattern or the placement of subtle marks, etc…
I’ll have to update the pictures to include the proper information. I would much rather give something a name than call it “beautiful snake.”
I will certainly keep my eyes open for Alligator Lizards. I’ve seen them in the Chisos in Big Bend, so I know what they look like.
While we’re at it, do you know the Cnemidophorus species that are here in the Davis Mountains? I saw the biggest whiptail of my life the other day. Size of a Komodo Dragon. (Well, that’s a stretch… Guess I’ve been reading too much about Varanids lately). But seriously, it was an inch or more in girth around the rib cage, and a good foot long. Gargantuan!
Thanks for the kind words and the info.