My World Tuesday

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My World Texas,

Based in Ft. Worth, Texas

Today in Texas
Cowboy Boots


What do you do with your old Cowboy Boots here in Texas,
when they are all worn out?


Why you hang them out on the fence of course.....

Photograph taken in a light rain, cloudy day, from the inside of the car.

Click on the photo for a better look.

If you like the photo, leave a comment,
and scroll down and see some of the other Texas posts lately.

Please visit "That's my World" for other great places of the Earth.Troy & Martha

Harlequin Bug nymphs

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There is always one to take charge and be the leader.
Just out of the egg cases.

Murgantia histrionica

You have to click on the photo to see the story.

I believe he is saying, "Hey guys, come on, I see some small leaves up there that we can hide in".

Troy

Ft. Worth Nature Center Marsh

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Sky Watch
Looking for the Rain

120° Panorama

Boardwalk at the Marsh

Click on the photo and scroll back and forth
to see the receding water and drying marsh.

A skywatch for a serious reason. Looking for needed rain.

For other SWF posts,
see the SkyWatch site here.

Troy
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The Sad Story of a Weevil

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or "A Good Photography Refresher Tip"

First, The Good News......
I made a nice photograph of a cool weevil while on an insect walk with Laura Veloz,
at the Ft. Worth Nature Center & Refuge. A broad-nosed weevil at that.
At first glance, I tentatively ID'd this as an Ophryastes sp., maybe varius.

Click on the photo for a really close view

Now, The Bad News......
After posting on one of my favorite sites, 'Bug Guide', the ID is now in doubt.
v.belov, a contributing editor of 'Bug Guide', tends to think it may be Epicaerus texanus.

Poor weevil. Now he/she will never be a famous star in an Entomological journal.
Without a proven bloodline or lineage, no acceptance.
You know how picky these Editors are.

The moral to the story, or lesson learned, is.....
Always take several photographs from various angles.
According to v. belov, a plain dorsal photo may have decided the confirmed idenity.

It doesn't cost any more to make twenty shots than one. I was just lazy.
I took 3 shots (all from the same angle) and all looked in focus.

Have you ever done this?
Leave a comment

Troy

Cryptic Camouflage

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One of the examples of camouflage is cryptic camouflage or 'blending into the background'.

Cryptic camouflage is an attempt to blend into the environment and become effectively imperceptible. To do this, the camouflaged object must minimize observable differences between itself and the background with respect to the senses of the target observer.

The definitive example of camouflage is a cryptic camouflage designed to match the visual appearance of the expected background, generally using a mottled pattern of greens and browns to match ground and foliage color and break up the outline of the camouflaged object.

This Catocola Moth is Catocala maestosa. The pattern is very well adapted to dim lighting. This photo is a much clearer image than seen by the eye in the subdued light along the forest trail. My flash seems to bring out the colors and separate her(?) from the bark.

Click on the photos for a closer look,

Discovered while on a trip to explore the Prairie Barrens at
Ft. Worth Nature Center & Refuge with Michelle Villafranca
The moth is the piece of bark in the center of the tree trunk between the vines.

The overall pattern simulates bark texture and grain.
Notice how the dark semicircles break up the overall wing shape,

An older name found in many books is Catocala viduata.

Troy
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August Whale Calendar

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It's August......

Have you made and printed your August Calendar yet?

Click on the photo and scroll to see all of the calendar



This was a fun photograph to make.

Rocking boat, moving pretty fast
Choppy waves...lots of vibration
Heavy overcast, shooting ISO 400
Anticipating the breach location

Nikon D200
18-200 mm Vibration Reduction Lens
1/640 sec, f/13, 200 mm focal length

After all the heat here in Texas, Alaska would be nice again.

Leave a comment and have a great August.

Troy

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SWF

Montana Buffalo Country

East of Glacier National Park

Click on the photo for a better look.
Have you been there?
Leave a comment.

For other SWF posts,
see the SkyWatch site here.

Troy and Martha
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Three-banded Grasshopper

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Hadrotettix trifasciatusBe sure to click on the photo for a better view
of the network pattern in the wings and the colors

According to the 'Wyoming Agricultrial Experiment Station Bulletin 912,

"The Three-banded Grasshopper ranges widely in the grasslands of the West in the middle third of the continent. It is a common species of the shortgrass, desert, and mixedgrass prairies. It is less abundant in other prairies and is rare in grass-shrub communities of the intermountain basins. In the tallgrass prairie it occupies areas of sparse vegetation on gravelly hilltops and slopes. This particular species is not considered a serious agricultural pest.

Its feeding on good forage grasses would tend to give it pest status, but research has shown that it feeds more heavily on poor forage plants and plants poisonous to livestock (death camus, milkweeds, some milkvetches, and others). It feeds on grasses, forbs, sedges, dead and weakened insects, plant litter, and dry cattle dung. It feeds chiefly on forbs, with as many as 40 species recorded from analyses of crop contents and direct observations in nature. Examination of 152 specimens collected from several habitats near North Platte, Nebraska revealed that 75 percent of crop contents consisted of forbs, 21 percent grasses and sedge, and 4 percent arthropod parts."

This one was photographed at the Ft. Worth Nature Center and Refuge.
Lower prairie setting close to the West fork of the Trinity River.

I have been seeing a lot of band-winged grasshoppers and tons of slant-faced grasshoppers there, but this is the first of this species that I have seen this year. Maybe I haven't been looking closely enough.

Leave a comment (if you like hoppers) and tell me what you think.
Photo with my Canon G10 'point and shoot'

Troy
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Sky Watch Friday

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We have been doing a lot of yard work and and home projects lately,
so no blogging for a couple of months.

I hope everyone is doing well.
I'll try to catch up on visiting everyone over the next couple of weeks.
It's raining here, so no outside work.

I thought I would share out March calendar (with a sky),
and a March moon (made with a point and shoot through the eyepiece of one of our telescopes).

Click on the photos and scroll for better full page views

Calendar of a Photo made on the Haul Road
Dalton Highway
414 mile gravel road
This is one of the really good sections


March Moon

Happy Sky Watch and have a good weekend.

For other SWF posts,
see the SkyWatch site here.

Troy and Martha
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Happy New Year 2009

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Happy New Year
and wishing you health and happiness

Click on the photo for a larger view


Arizona Desert © 2006 Martha Mullens

Troy and Martha

For other SWF posts,
see the SkyWatch site here.



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2009 Calendars

Sky Watch Friday

It's time to make your 2009 Calendars...
Sky Watch Photos would be a good theme...

Click on the photo and scroll up and down
to view the photo & calendar better

January

Size 13" x 19"
Printer - Epson 2200
Paper - Red River 68lb Ultrapro Satin 2.0
Camera - Photo Nikon D200

Are you going to make your own calendar?
What theme are you going to use?
Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

For other SWF posts,
see The SkyWatch site here.

Troy and Martha

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My World Tuesday, Part 7

My World Texas,

Based in Ft. Worth, Texas

Today in Texas
A Sunday Drive to Hagerman

Yesterday was a nice day for a drive in the country and we decided to go up to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. The temperature was about 75 degrees and the birding, from inside the car, was pretty good despite a 30 - 40 mph wind.

Hagerman is located on the Texas side of Lake Texoma, which is the The Texas - Oklahoma border. We had not been up there since the Geese returned. There were several thousand geese, mostly Snow Geese (including the Blue goose), some Ross's Geese, a few Greater White-fronted Geese, and a very few Canadian Geese. We saw 33 species of birds in all. Most of the sparrows and small grass birds were down out of the wind (can't say I blame them).

Click on the photos for full page views.

We Started Early
(photo by Martha at the What-a-Burger), while I ordered Breakfast.


Thousands of Geese
(photo by Martha)


Coots Surprised
When I walked up to the edge of a cliff, and grabbed this snapshot,
they started walking on water,

Leave a comment for your favorite photo.

Troy and Martha

Location of Hagerman and Lake Texoma
Hagerman NWR is located on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma.

Please visit "That's my World" for other great places of the Earth.

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Clouds Resting

Sky Watch Friday

The clouds were resting on the mountaintops...

Alternate title:
'Exploring', But Not Over This Bridge!

We were 4-wheeling and exploring some old Alaskan mining roads high in the mountains when we encountered this old bridge missing most of its timbers. We were able to drive through the woods, ford the stream, and regain the road, hence bypassing the bridge. The stream was composed of glacier and snow melt and runoff from rain. It had been a steady drizzle all morning, and we weren't expecting nor concerned about flash floods. Also at this point, the valley walls were pretty steep, and it looked like the stream depth had never been more than a few feet deep.

Click on the photo to enlarge to full page width. You will have to scroll up and down to see the full photo. Most of the sky in this photo is resting on the ground and rushing down this icy cold stream. I was so anxious to get on up the road, I forgot to shoot to the left and right so that I could stitch together a panorama. Well, this was not the first time, nor would it be the last during this trip.

Clouds Resting

Where we forded the stream, it was about 40-50 feet wide and 18 inches deep. I put on my high top rubber boots and waded across checking for firmness of the stream bed and for holes. Then Martha drove across.

There were thousands of photos that we missed because we were so stunned by the view or the experience. We are explorers at heart, naturalists by choice, and photographers when we remember to capture the moment.

Leave a comment and let us know if you like the view.

For other SWF posts,
see The SkyWatch site here.

PS: Martha is a lot better at capturing the moment, and reminding me to get the photo, than I am.

Troy and Martha

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Venus Jupiter Moon Conjunction

Sky Watch Friday

Everyone was Watching
(Except where it was cloudy. 'bummer')

It was a great sight on December 1. The Moon, Venus and Jupiter were at conjunction (pretty close together). Venus is the lower planet. I had to shoot quite a few shots to get the Earthshine to show on the dark side of the Moon. Photo shot at dusk using a Nikon D200, 18-200 mm lens, at 200mm, with tripod.

Be sure to click on the photos for full page views.

Conjunction 1
(Notice the jagged edge of the terminator, where
sunlight meets the night side of the Moon. This
is caused by the craters on the Moon)

I am including a great scenic photo of the event by my photo buddy photographer, brother, J.S. Mullens. His photo is using the same camera lens combination zoomed to 35mm focal length to capture the scenic shot. It was shot in Ft. Worth after dark, hence the city light glow. I really like the silhouette and event combination. If you like his photo, leave a comment and I will pass it on. I have been trying to get him to set up a blog to show his photography and great photos of New York and Chicago as well as Ft. Worth.

Conjunction 2 by Jimmy
©2008 J.S. Mullens

Another terrific blog of the event is over at Bob Johnson's
Blackholes and astrostuff. Click here.

For other SWF posts,
see The SkyWatch site here.

Troy and Martha

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My World Tuesday, Part 6

My World Texas,

Based in Ft. Worth, Texas

Today in Texas
Waiting for the Return
Of the winter birds

We are impatiently waiting for the return of the wintering birds here in North Texas.

Here are the last views back at the first of the year in Early Spring.

Where are those Geese and Goldfinches??????

Click on the photos for full page views.

American Goldfinch
Our Back Yard


Snow Geese (with some blue forms)
and a few Ross's Geese
Hagarman Wildlife Refuge

Leave a comment if you have seen these wayward birds.

Troy and Martha

Please visit "That's my World" for other great places of the Earth.

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