Nov 29 2008
“Sailor’s Delight”
“Red sails in the morning——sailor’s warning.
Red sails at night——sailor’s delight.”
This old adage refers to the red sails at sunset as forecasting fair weather during the on-coming night. While this photo depicts a scene far from the briny sea it displays a brilliant red sky that is pleasing to the eye. Rain or shine it is beautiful.
Sunset or sunrise photos may be difficult to properly expose. Some cameras may respond differently than mine. When I try to shoot a scene with contrasting light I aim at the subject of interest, lock in the settings, move the camera to compose the overall scene, then shoot. In this photo the exposure of the sky is nearly right while the dark trees in the foreground are underexposed. The dark shade of the foreground accentuates the brilliant sky.
I’ve always had a great respect for the American badger. I’ve given them plenty of room. Their reputation of being a vicious predator is well known. So what to do when one comes into the woodshed and digs a hole in the dirt floor? I grab the camera, stand way back and again put the telephoto lens to good use. The individual in this photo showed up in the late afternoon of November 16. It piled up about a half yard of dirt in the middle of the floor, spent the night in the burrow and then departed. I would not have wanted to stumble unknowingly into the territory of this guy. I would just as soon it set up house keeping outside the yard.
“Lonesome Polecat” has passed by here several times lately. It happened mostly after dark usually after we had retired for the night. We would be wakened by a penetrating odor from outside. Instantly we knew our visitor was a skunk. I had always been under the impression that they had this offensive odor only in their spray. But the critter smells that way. It is apparently its first line of defense. The odor goes away when the skunk leaves the area. Most animals avoid this obnoxious one. Should a skunk feel threatened it will aim a well directed spray in the direction of its attacker. This is usually sufficient to insure its safety. It sometimes takes several days for the odor to dissipate when applied by spray.
When the rains begin in Autumn we have already enjoyed the changing colors of leaves. What comes next is higher humidity and cooler temperatures aloft. Warm moist air meets cooler air and forms clouds. In the fall of the year these conditions exist close to the ground. We call this fog. In this photo we see clouds of fog mingling among the tree tops on the hillside across Daggett creek from our house. To me this is another beautiful sight even though it is a prelude before a coming winter.
Bill shape and size are clues in identifying various sparrows and finches. One of the most curious adaptations is the crossed bill of the bird in this photo. If you examine the photo closely you will note that the mandibles extend beyond the point of where they cross. In some populations the lower mandible may extend to the left while in others it may extend to the right. It is believed that the crossed bill adaptation is to facilitate the extraction of seeds from various types of cones. This bird may be an adult female. Adult males show a brick-red over most of the body. Red Crossbills are sometimes found as lone individuals but usually they associate in flocks of a dozen or more. Expect to see these birds in cone producing areas when seeds are abundant.
It’s hard to not take pictures in the Fall when leaves have turned to gold. So in one of my weaker moments I unleashed the camera and started shooting. The sky was overcast and rain was coming down in a fine drizzle. Many of the leaves had already fallen to the ground but the cottonwoods still sported their golden dress. A few months ago all of the foliage was a mixture of various shades of green.