More frogs from the Fern Glen

Above is the little pond in the Fern Glen, home to green frogs, bull frogs, salamanders, dragonflies, and many other organisms.

Deer fly

Out on a walk the other day I noticed a few of these little flies, which I think are deer flies, sitting very still on some leaves.

Snails in the yard

It rained on and off today, as it has for the past several days. Underneath my favorite maple tree by the house, snails are out and about crawling all over the place. There must be dozens of snails per square meter in the yard and field nearby, all munching on a field of salad!

Painted turtle (and a bobcat sighting!)

The second week here I was lucky enough to see a bobcat in the lowlands of the institute's property, I am guessing it was hunting the many rabbits that skirt the edges of the roads, where the grass is shorter. About 30 seconds later I noticed this little painted turtle slowly crossing the road. I helped it get to the side where it was pointed.

Frog in the Fern Glen

I went for a short walk with my camera after work, through the "Fern Glen." Moving very slow, this little green frog let me get extremely close, after sitting nearby for several minutes. Too cloudy to try the star trails tonight, cloudy forecast for the weekend as well.

Experimenting with a bulb exposure

The last few days have been rainy and cloudy. Now that I am settled in NY, I am hoping for a clear night soon, so I can experiment with photographing star trails. I briefly fiddled with the BULB exposure function (see photo) earlier this evening.

In order to do a long bulb exposure for making star trails one needs long batterylife, so my battery grip, a tripod, and a way to trigger the shutter without any shake. I have the lowest-cost minimum equipment, but I think it will work spectacularly. I have an Opteka battery grip, the tripod, and I recently purchased a third-party remote for my Canon, the Opteka RC-4 cost about $12. I acquired it over a month ago, but I have not had the chance to use it yet. The forecast for this weekend does not look promising, and I am getting excited to experiment with it. The only wide angle lens I have is the stock lens, but that should do the trick. If all goes well, hopefully in the coming days or weeks I will have some star trail photos to share.

A spider in the grass

A few weeks ago I was exploring a field with my camera, and I watched this little spider speed around the grass weaving strands of web back-and-forth, all over a small area in the field. It moved surprisingly fast, darting from tip to tip across the grass blades.

I'm in NY!

One of the big reasons I have been absent from here so much in the last two months is because I was in the process of job searching, working, and moving all at once. I recently moved to Millbrook NY to work at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. It is a beautiful area and I look forward to exploring it more. I am going to be spending a great deal of time working in the Catskills, an area I have wanted to see since I read "My Side of the Mountain" when I was around 12 (a totally ridiculous book..but not when you are that young). I am planning on doing a great deal weekend exploring with my camera throughout all of the seasons of the year in the Catskills and in the more immediate area as well.

The hudson valley area is a beautiful place.