David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Views of nature and the natural world. Plants, animals, and wildlife from around the world.
Macro view of a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. There haven’t been as many around this winter, although there have been many Green Stink Bugs (smaller, and bright green).
Somewhat of a repeat post from last Thursday (25-January-2018).
There were some subtle colors in the sky at dawn. I used a Leica T camera with a wide-angle zoom lens (11-23 mm). There is significant distortion when the lens is used at 11 mm. For comparison, the first horizontal image is at 11 mm, and the 2nd image is a composite of 5 vertical images at 18 mm.
View individual images from the slide-show here.
In addition to transporting passengers, the Hurtigruten ships carry freight, mail, automobiles, and fresh food between several ports along the Norwegian coast. Many of these stops occur during the night, and only last for short (15 minutes to 1 hour) periods of time. The schedule for the first full day of the northbound voyage stops at the following ports: Florø (04:30-04:45); Maløy (06:45-07:30); Torvik (10:20-10:45); Ålesund (12:00-15:00); Molde (17:30-18:30); Kristandsund (22:00-23:00).
We were able to spend a bit of time for a walkabout in Ålesund. It was snowing so I didn’t have a chance to climb Mount Aksla for a view of the harbor like I did in 2007. We did hear the drone in the sky that the German TV crew was using follow us as we walked through the city. I was surprised that they would fly it with limited visibility.
Individual images in the slide shows can be viewed here.
On the fourth day of the southbound Hurtigruten voyage the ship made six stops: Bodø (02:30-04:15); Ørnes (07:00-07:15); Nesna (11:00-11:15); Sandnessjøen (12:30-13:00); Brønnøysund (15:45-17:00); and Rørvik (20:30-21:30). None of the daytime stops were long enough to get off the ship. For half of the day we were still above the Arctic circle.
There has been a lot of media hype over the full moon that would be visible tonight (weather permitting). It is the second full moon in January, so it is a “blue moon”. It is closer to earth at this point in its orbit around the earth so it is a “super moon”. And finally, there will be a lunar eclipse, so a “red” or “blood” moon. Yesterday had been rain, snow, and rain so I wasn’t expecting to even be able to see the moon. As I was going to bed around midnight, I noticed that it was very bright out. I could see the moon directly out my window since it was so high in the sky. So I ended up having to go outside to see it. It was bitterly cold and windy, but the moon was visible. I wasn’t going to stay out very long, and didn’t want to set up a tripod — so the first image was taken hand-held looking almost straight up. I woke up again at 06:00 to see if any of the eclipse would be visible. Here in New Jersey, it would only be visible just before sunrise. The only view I got was one where the moon was going behind the trees. One note that the media forgot to mention, there will not be a full moon in February.
