David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Several Turkey Vultures have been spending the night at the house next door. I do not want them roosting on my solar panels. Most of the birds flew off when I went out to take pictures, but this one stayed put and kept eyeing me.
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.
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.
When looking out my kitchen window, I noticed an ominous shadow on my neighbor’s house. It was a bird, a big bird with big shoulders and a pointed beak. The Turkey Vultures that have been roosting on a house down the block are getting closer…
Individual images from the slide-show can be viewed here.
One might wonder why the Turkey Vultures are all near the chimney vent. Is it because it is warm, or do they smell something. Why are they not out looking for a road-kill deer when the sun is still out?