Long-tailed, dark songbird. Adults glossy blackish with strong metallic green-blue sheen above in good light, bright red eye. Immatures dark above, pale with short, dark streaks below. Nest in large colonies, typically seen in very large flocks that fly fast and low. Spangled Drongo somewhat similar but with flared tail shape. Inhabits forests, parks, gardens. (eBird)

Colonial breeder, with 4-400 nests often in single tree; adjoining nests can coalesce to form single structure. Domed nest with side entrance, made from twigs, vine tendrils and bark strips, lined with strips of palm frond and fresh green leaves, suspended 10–30 m above ground from ends of twigs in canopy. (Birds of the World)

----------------

Here is a close look at one of their nests. There is probably one monogamous pair, plus neighbour or maybe helpers. There are lot of questions about how these birds work together.

Etty Bay, Queensland, Australia. October 2022.

Eagle-Eye Tours - Eastern Australia.

Pastel Sunset, Sonoran Desert, Yuma AZ

Great Egret in flight.

From Wikipedia:

The great egret is a large heron with all-white plumage. Standing up to 1 m (3.3 ft) tall, this species can measure 80 to 104 cm (31 to 41 in) in length and have a wingspan of 131 to 170 cm (52 to 67 in).

From bioGraphic:

Ironically, some of the very women who once wore egret-plumed hats were responsible for the species’ recovery. In Boston, socialites Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall discovered that their fashion choice was destroying great egret and other bird populations, and they went on the offensive. The two women founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society as part of a campaign to convince their peers to give up the feathered hats. Similar societies formed in a dozen other states, eventually coalescing into a national association. The resulting National Audubon Society helped enact the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, an administrative success that made it illegal to capture, trade, sell, or buy any part of a migratory bird, egrets included, and effectively put a stop to the plume trade. Today the great egret remains the symbol of the National Audubon Society.

The theme for week 23 is Liquid / Water. Last night it rained so there were plenty of raindrops on leaves in my garden. I liked this one because several drops had coalesced to form a large drop and its acting like a mirror and reflecting something. Not sure what its reflecting but I thought it intriguing.

" Blow the bridge to the past

Wipe the fingerprints

Melt your heart encased in wax

Steal it with a kiss

Our fate engraved

Scar enslaved

As we mutually destruct

Repose, my love, I've sinned enough

For the both of us

In the name of love

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

I feed like you taught me and selflessly swallow

We coalesce in darkness, so selfishly hollow

Examine the wreckage

Writhing in tempo

Invisible anguish, casting a shadow

And in the name of love

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

As we rest in pieces, though I know not your name

I would suffer forever to absolve all your pain

And in the name of love

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

I'm ready to bleed to make amends

And sleep in this dirt we call our bed

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To fall and rewrite the bitter end

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

I'm more than willing to rot in hell with you

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

I'm ready to bleed to make amends

And sleep in this dirt we call our bed

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To fall and rewrite the bitter end

Eternally yours ... "

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The proverbial doors open in four days. And you know what? It's a bit on the nose, but are you ready? Are you ready for Engine Room?

I apparently do wear hair and clothes sometimes. When the stars align and the shine is right and stuff. Or when the idea coalesces or...congeals or...something. It just has to come together in my head, okay?

Sponsored:

Head: Prophet by CRYPTID, available at the upcoming round of Engine Room, and afterwards at the CRYPTID Mainstore. It's EvoX mapped, shown here with Not Found - Reus (Browless) x SB - Eon brows.

Coat: Weird Science Coat by Hotdog, available at the upcoming round of Engine Room, and afterwards at the Hotdog Mainstore.

Monocle: Angel by Azoury, available at Azoury Mainstore.

Hair: Emilio by Modulus, available at the Modulus Mainstore.

Other deets:

Hands: Warren's Grasp by CRYPTID, available at the CRYPTID Mainstore.

Candle: Random Matter - The Groundskeeper Candle

Keys: Random Matter - The Groundskeeper Keys

As usual, if you're curious about the raw shot, you can find it on my blog. Check it out!

An installation by the artist Paul Cocksedge hanging in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.

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Far from any town, near an old, abandoned research facility, the sound of a door being blown off its hinges breaks the otherwise undisturbed silence.

Out of the dark, musty interior of the building, an orange mist slithers silently into the open. As it exits the building, it begins to coalesce, forming into a concentrated glob, and moving in an unnerving, unnatural manner, almost as if it were sentient, guided by a phantom mind...Having gathered itself into a single, undulating mass, the mist pauses mid-air for a moment, and then, in an instant, bolts off into the distance, headed straight toward the nearest farmstead..

Something has awoken... some thing.

All images © 2017 Daniel Kessel.

All rights reserved

Why spider webs glisten with dew

Two driving forces acting on wet spider silk help it to capture water.

Janet Fang

spiderweb

The spider's web captures a string of dewy pearls.Janet Fang

Researchers have puzzled out how spider silk is able to catch the morning dew. Their findings may lead to the development of new materials that are able to capture water from the air.

The study, published today in Nature1, examines the silk of the hackled orbweaver spider Uloborus walckenaerius. "Bright, pearl-like water drops hang on thin spider silk in the morning after fogging," says study author Lei Jiang from the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences. "It is unexpected and interesting. Human hair can't do that."

Dry spider silk forms a necklace-like structure. Two main fibres support a series of separate rounded 'puffs', each made up of tiny, randomly intertwined nanofibrils. When water vapour condenses onto these puffs, they shrink into densely packed knots, shaped like spindles (or two cones with their bases stuck together). Thinner connecting stretches of nanofibrils, separating the knots, become more apparent; these areas are called 'joints'.

The researchers studied the webs under both electron and light microscopes. They noticed that as water condenses on the web, droplets move towards the nearest spindle-knot, where they coalesce to form larger drops.

The spindle-knots have a rough surface, because the fibrils within them are randomly interweaved. But the joints between the knots have a smooth texture, because their constituent fibrils run parallel to each other. It is this difference in roughness that helps water drops to slide towards the spindle-knots, sticking when they arrive.

The cone shape of the spindle-knots also drives droplets towards their centre. Once they hit the edge of a cone, drops are propelled towards its base, the least curved region, because of the pressure difference caused by surface tension.

Mimicking nature

Guided by their findings, the team made their own artificial spider silk using nylon fibres dipped in a polymer solution that, when dried, formed spindle-knots similar to those in natural spider silk. They anticipate that their studies of these fibres could lead to new materials for collecting water from the air.

"It is impressive that they were able to produce an analogue of wetted [spider] thread that duplicated the properties that they observed," says spider silk expert Brent Opell of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

But it doesn't seem likely that natural selection has directed the evolution of this particular spider's silk for water collection, he adds. The spider's thread seems to have evolved to work best when it is dr

La rosada s'observa de matinada, amb nits serenes i encalmades, tot i que no és estrany veure-la tot just després del crepuscle. És més freqüent en llocs baixos i plans que en els cims de les muntanyes. La major part dels dies, quan surt el sol, el terra s'escalfa i les gotes d'aigua desapareixen ràpidament en evaporar-se. Quan l'observador disposa d'instrumental de mesura homologat i en bon estat de funcionament, pot constatar com un augment de la humitat absoluta i/o un descens de la temperatura en la capa d'aire més propera a terra són condicions necessàries per a la formació de la rosada. Cal insistir que la rosada no és un tipus de precipitació des d'un núvol. La rosada va associada a humitats relatives altes, habitualment superiors al 80%.[1]

Degut a la seva dependència del balanç de radiació, les quantitat de radiació poden arribar a un màxim teòric de 0,8 mm per nit, tanmateix, rarament excedeixen de 0,5 mm. i de 40 a 50 mm per any.[2] A la majoria dels climes del món la quantitat de rosada és massa petita per competir amb la pluja. En regions amb estació seca considerable plantes adaptades com els líquens o les plànules de pins es beneficien de la rosada. A gran escala regar sense pluja a llocs com el desert d'Atacama o el Namib es fan capturant la boira no pas la rosada.

Un aparell clàssic de mesurar la rosada és el drosòmetre encara que només proporciona el potencial de formació de rosades. Per a mesurar la quantitat real de rosada es fan servir petits lisímetres o altres mètodes.

Trunks of trees in a beech-maple forest are reflected in the calm waters of an adjacent lake.

Mass Effect 2 • ReShade Framework • Modified Coalesced • ToggleFreeCam • Playersonly • ToggleHud •

Three Snowy Egrets are seen coalescing near a hot fishing spot on Lake Balboa, Van Nuys CA.

"Without that melodious song, this skulking bird could be overlooked, since it stays low, often hiding in brambles or piles of brush. And it nests on or near the ground.

When the Song Sparrow pops up on top of a tangle of branches to offer its cheery song, you’ll see a dull brown bird. At first glance, this sparrow seems a perfect example of an “LBB” or Little Brown Bird. But look closely: gray stripes adorn its rusty-brown head. The pale breast is streaked heavily with brown, often coalescing into a central spot. Song Sparrows frequently twitch their tails up and down, even when flying low across a clearing.

This widespread songster is found throughout the United States and into Southern Canada. If you’d like to bring them into your garden, plant thick, low vegetation, or create a brush pile. Then this lovely sound may fill your day, since the Song Sparrow utters its serenade morning, noon, and evening."

birdnote.org

I was waiting on the edge of the Lake for some other birds, when the light and the colours started exploding - and then along came this female Wood Duck, and then a Cooper’s Hawk suddenly flew in, and her nervous pose and the water/light/colours just coalesced. This image is very lightly cropped but otherwise unprocessed. It was just that colourful.

The ground colour of the upper side of both males and females is white. The forewing has the cell crossed by five short black bands, of which the basal extends to the dorsum, the sub-basal into interspace 1, the medial and pre-apical up to the median vein, and the apical or fifth along the discocellulars; this last band extends broadly on both sides of the veinlets and terminates at the lower apex of the cell; beyond these are broad postdiscal and terminal black transverse bands from costa to tornal angle; the two bands coalesce below vein 4 and terminate in a point at the tornus; the white portions of the cell anteriorly overlaid with pale green; short broken glossy green bands between the black cellular apical band and the distal band and anteriorly between the latter and the terminal band.

The upper side of the hindwing has the basal three-fourths uniformly white, with black markings on the underside that show through; the terminal fourth dark grey traversed by a curved irregular subterminal series of black crescent-shaped marks that ends in a black tornal spot and a terminal black band that follows the indentations of the wing; the emargination (notches in a margin) below the black tornal spot are edged with ochraceous; the tail blackish grey, edged and tipped with white

The underside of the forewing is similar to the upper side in markings but the green shading over the white portions in the basal half of the cell more decided; the discal and terminal transverse black bands are separate, and are not joined posteriorly, the former edged posteriorly on both sides by dark grey due to the black on the upper side that shows through by transparency. The underside of the hindwing is half green on the basal part while the outer half white; a large black tornal spot; a black line along the dorsum that curves above the tornal spot outwards to vein 2; a straight subbasal black band from costa across cell that terminates on vein 2, where it joins the dorsal black line; a broader black band from costa across apex of cell extended into base of interspace 3; an irregular discal series of black markings curved inwards posteriorly towards the tornal spot; a subterminal series of very small slender black lunules in pairs, the ground colour on the inner side of these darkened to rich ochreous yellow; lastly, a series of short terminal black bars in the interspaces so arranged as to follow indentations of the termen; tail dusky black edged with white. Antenna black; head and thorax anteriorly with a broad black medial band, rest of thorax bluish; abdomen white, marked beneath on each side by a black stripe

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphium_antiphates

Machu Picchu - River Urubamba 20221127

The Urubamba River or Vilcamayo River is a river in Peru. Upstream it is called Vilcanota River. A partially navigable headwater of the Amazon River, it rises in the Andes to the southeast of Cuzco. It originates on the slopes of Khunurana in the Puno Region near the La Raya pass. It flows north-north-west for 724 kilometers before coalescing with the Tambo River to form the Ucayali River.

The Upper Urubamba valley features a high population and extensive irrigation works. A number of ruins of the Inca Empire lie in the Sacred Valley, including the Incan city of Machu Picchu.

Show me your sexy little intellect

And I'll show you how to make your head and body disconnect

My darkest feelings start to coalesce

And I feel the bubbles as my blood it starts to effervesce

Whisper your petty little epithets

And run your fingers down my body like a bayonet

I see you flexing in the silhouette

So tip back your head if you want to feel the full effect

I feel

I suffer

I lose myself in you

I feel

I suffer

I suffer (I suffer)

Touch me and make me feel your misery

And play me like you play your twisted little symphony

'Cause I'm just addicted to you

I'm just addicted to you

I'm just addicted to the way you get the worst of me

I feel

I suffer

I lose myself in you

I feel

I suffer

I suffer

And in our little world

I disappear into you

Into you

And I feel

I suffer

I suffer

I feel

I suffer

I lose myself in you

And I feel

I suffer

I suffer

I feel

I feel

I feel

Yeah, I feel (I suffer)

I feel (I suffer)

I feel

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGCPj32plSU

coalesce

Entered in the Vivid Art challenge ~VIVID WINTERLAND~ .

www.flickr.com/groups/2817915@N22/discuss/72157672821623643/

Slightly bouncing off an idea by Bill Smith ( Byzantiumbooks ), a fellow member of "PANO-Vision" who suggested that I take a Winter version of the same shot used in my previous image ( "When it's So Hot All You Can Do is Dream" ) and fuse it with the Summer one. This is one Pano-Sabotage shot with no double exposure. The Pano technique is such that it creates unforeseen and unpredictable results. Each shot is a unique situation where the unpredictable variables reign supreme.

A great idea but one for the future as I don't have the software to layer 2 images. I did go to the same spot to take the shot but the lighting was poor and there wasn't enough snow to make it interesting. And like the day of the previous Summer image, the temperature again was extreme .... only this time it was very cold.

On my way home I spotted THIS opportunity with pictoral and lighting elements that coalesced nicely for an early morning Winter scene in a large downtown urban park. While it's not the same shot, "Winterized", it does act, I think, as a nice Winter "foil" for the hot Summer image. So, I've united the two by titling them as if they're two Janus faces of the same idea - beautiful, natural lighting conditions on days of extreme temperature having a powerful effect on the mind.

With big thanks to Bill Smith !!!

With this image I also want to take my hat off and bow deeply to Alan Walden ( A. Walden ) of Wisconsin, I believe, for the constant inspiration of his peerless Nature photography. One might not think it, but being a big-city downtowner who produces a lot of photo manipulated, urban imagery, I secretly wish I that I could take such stunning images in Nature and impart his same Zen-like feel to them.

___________________________________________________

© Richard S Warner ( Visionheart ) - 2016. All Rights Reserved. This image is not for use in any form without explicit, express, written permission.

My Website: visionheartblog.wordpress.com

A world of memories, coalesced into petals.

For Macro Mondays 28DEC15: Redux 2015--My Favorite Theme of the Year. This is for the Abstract in Macro theme.

These bubbles formed after leaving cold water in a small flat bottle. As the water warmed to room temperature, nitrogen and oxygen slowly came out of solution, with tiny bubbles forming and coalescing at sites of microscopic imperfections on the glass (www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-bubbles-form-if-a/). I put white tissue paper about 6 inches behind the bottle and backlit with a flashlight. This was shot at 1:1 and slightly cropped.

Thanks for viewing and Happy Final Macro Monday of 2015!

On edge

Solid casting

Shadow choreography

on the car window

This baby frog was one of a hundred eggs who grew from a nearly microscopic hatchling to a full-sized tadpole, surviving predation at every stage, before finally transforming into a tiny frog, the size of a fingernail.

It was resting on a leaf to gather strength, allowing its muscular-skeletal system to finish maturing, before venturing forth onto land. The back legs appear developed but the front legs are still coalescing.

The sinter plant is a critical path process that continuously provides feedstock to the blast furnaces. Sintering is a production process whereby small particles coalesce to form larger masses, usually at high temperature.

This process benefits the blast furnace operation, as sintering avoids losses which would otherwise occur if the iron ore, coke and limestone were fed into the blast furnace in a loose or powdered state.

Image taken just under four miles away looking over the countryside

xxxminamikazexxx.blogspot.jp/2018/01/180123.html

winter!

I coalesce the building + prou.

I made a heated pool.

Enter the heated pool,

Star of the sky　☆☆☆

Healing!╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑ !

I’ve previously tried describing how small and precious baby amphibians are, but this moment in time says it all. Fortunately the ant walked by the toad a second later without hurting it.

This infant had just transformed from being a tadpole and was resting on a leaf, gathering strength to venture forward onto land. Its muscular-skeletal system was coalescing, with feet and toes still appearing translucent.

Orlando Florida 12/6/20

;-) ...

ƒ/5.6 14.0 mm 1/800 200

_MG_5615_bw_pt3

Fatal Fashion HALLOWEEN - Outfit H100 (Vampire)

::FF:: Arms Punk L & R

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::FF:: Dress Vamp

This Outfit is for the Bodies- HOURGLASS

- MAITREYA

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Store Name: ::Fatal Fashion::

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Motionless In White - Eternally Yours

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwO0zLLybQ0

Blow the bridge to the past

Wipe the fingerprints

Melt your heart encased in wax

Steal it with a kiss

Our fate engraved

Scar enslaved

As we mutually destruct

Repose, my love, I've sinned enough

For the both of us

In the name of love

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

I feed like you taught me and selflessly swallow

We coalesce in darkness, so selfishly hollow

Examine the wreckage

Writhing in tempo

Invisible anguish, casting a shadow

And in the name of love

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

As we rest in pieces, though I know not your name

I would suffer forever to absolve all your pain

And in the name of love

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

I'm ready to bleed to make amends

And sleep in this dirt we call our bed

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To fall and rewrite the bitter end

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

Eternally yours

I'm more than willing to rot in hell with you

I'm ready to bury all of my bones

I'm ready to lie but say I won't

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To rot in this garden made of stones

I'm ready to bleed to make amends

And sleep in this dirt we call our bed

So tell me your secrets

And join me in pieces

To fall and rewrite the bitter end

Eternally yours

82 seconds

larger

“Planets come and go. Stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, forms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal.” Sixth Doctor (The Trial of a Time Lord, Season 23)

The Sixth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Colin Baker.

© Darlene Bushue 2020

“Nature is never static. It is always changing. Everything is in a constant state of flux. Nothing endures. Everything is in the process of either coming into being or expiring.”

― Kilroy J. Oldster

Such is the beauty of two seasons colliding....the last of the autumn aspens, framed by the snowy pines. Photographed Sunday afternoon in Allenspark, CO.

Second pass. Updated the previous image by blending in a significant amount of natural light collected with LRGB filters. Also added more Oiii as that data was the most noisy.

Like the lobster claw nebula this was surprisingly hard to process for me. Each narrowband channel has a lot going on but it's hard to blend them together in a pleasing way. The details don't seem to coalesce into any mid-level structures even though individually it looks like they might. However blending and multiplying this with a natural light image brings out interesting colors and mid level structures. I will be experimenting more with this process now, most of my earlier targets are easily processed with either pure emission filters or natural light.

Data collection

Total integration time: 26.7 hours

2x Askar ACL200: 200mm f/4

1x Canon 200mm f/2.8

3x ZWO ASI533MM Mono Camera at -20C

Guided on ZWO AM5, Chroma filters:

251x Luminance @1m

112x Red, Green, Blue @1m

48xHa, 54xSii, 101xOiii @5m

Captured with N.I.N.A. processed with PixInsight, Ps

Overview

The Sadr Region—centered on the bright supergiant Sadr (γ Cygni) in the heart of the Northern Cross of Cygnus—is one of the richest wide-field nebular fields in the Milky Way. This picture with an apparent span of about ≈3°, the area presents an immense tapestry of emission nebulae, dark dust lanes, and star clouds belonging to the Cygnus X complex roughly 4,500–6,000 light-years away.

Central Star and Surrounding Emission

Sadr (Gamma Cygni) is an F-type supergiant (visual magnitude ≈2.2) that dominates the view but is not the primary source of the surrounding nebular excitation.

Around it lies a vast H II region catalogued as IC 1318, popularly called the Butterfly Nebula (not to be confused with the planetary nebula of the same nickname in Sagittarius). IC 1318’s two broad wings of hydrogen-alpha emission frame Sadr and give the region its butterfly-like appearance.

Major Nebular Structures in this image°

IC 1318 A, B, and C – The three principal emission “wings” of the Butterfly Nebula, glowing in hydrogen-alpha with intricate dark dust lanes dividing them.

LBN 251 and LBN 249 – Prominent Lynds Bright Nebula segments forming the brightest H α filaments and helping define the Butterfly’s structure.

Dark Nebulae (Barnard 343, 344 and others) – Complex networks of obscuring dust that carve the dramatic dark rifts through the glowing gas.

Open cluster NGC 6910 – A compact group of hot young stars just northeast of Sadr, whose ultraviolet radiation helps ionize parts of the surrounding gas.

Structure & Appearance

This region is a prime part of the Cygnus X star-forming complex, where massive stars and supernova remnants energize the interstellar medium. Bright hydrogen filaments intertwine with lanes of cold molecular dust, while young clusters such as NGC 6910 signal ongoing star formation.

Sources of Text

Sharpless, S. (1959) – A Catalogue of H II Regions listing IC 1318 and other Cygnus H II complexes.

Lynds, B. T. (1965) – Catalogue of Bright and Dark Nebulae for LBN and Barnard objects.

Goss & Shaver (1970s) – Radio surveys of the Cygnus X H II complex.

Gaia EDR3 (2020) – Distances and stellar parameters for Sadr and NGC 6910.

IPHAS H α Survey and deep narrowband imaging projects documenting the Crescent Nebula, the Soap Bubble planetary nebula, and the detailed filamentary structures of IC 1318.

The Loggerhead Shrike is the only one of the world's thirty species of true shrikes that occurs exclusively in North America. Like other shrikes, it inhabits ecotones, grasslands, and other open habitats and feeds on a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate prey. Compared to most birds, its head is large in proportion to its body size-hence the name Loggerhead, which also means "blockhead." Popular names for this species include butcherbird, white-rumped shrike, French/Spanish mockingbird, and thornbird.

Throughout most of the southern part of its range, the Loggerhead Shrike is resident; northern populations are migratory. Where resident, this species usually lives in pairs on permanent territories. Some pairs spend the entire year on a single territory; outside the breeding season, mates may defend neighboring territories, which are coalesced at the beginning of nesting.

This shrike, like others, is a small avian predator that hunts from perches and impales its prey on sharp objects such as thorns and barbed-wire fences. Although such predatory behavior mimics that of some raptors, impaling behavior represents a unique adaptation to the problem of eating large prey without benefit of the stronger feet and talons of raptors. In addition, the hooked bill, flanked by horny tomial projections and functionally similar to the notched upper bill of falcons, further sets shrikes apart as distinctive in the order Passeriformes. Being both passerines and top-level predators, these birds occupy a unique position in the food chain.

Despite its wide distribution, the Loggerhead Shrike is one of the few North American passerines whose populations have declined continentwide in recent decades. Changes in human land-use practices, the spraying of biocides, and competition with species that are more tolerant of human-induced changes appear to be major factors contributing to this decline.

I found this one and its victim along Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, Florida.

"Everything... has to be resolved through rhythms. You're constantly massaging each form, trying to get it home, pushing further and further until these all coalesce into a marvelous kind of rhythm that reveals the life of the painting."

- Leland Bell

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to all for 16,000.000+ views, visits and kind comments..!!

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Bozar | Inner Travels by Rinus Van de Velde (Now → 15 May' 22)

www.bozar.be/en/calendar/rinus-van-de-velde-inner-travels

Through diverse media ranging from drawings to sculptures, installations and film, Rinus Van de Velde creates a mirror universe where elements from reality and imagination coalesce into a unique kind of visual storytelling.

Location: Rue Ravenstein 23, Brussels, Belgium

In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to hold them to cut with a knife or to lift them to the mouth.

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word "cactus" derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek κάκτος, kaktos, a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain

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Right over my head earlier this summer...

Cumulus cloud

Small cumulus humilis clouds floating over cloud that can have noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges.

Cumulo- means "heap" or "pile" in Latin. Cumulus clouds are often described as "puffy", "cotton-like" or "fluffy" in appearance, and have flat bases. Cumulus clouds, being low-level clouds, are generally less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in altitude unless they are the more vertical cumulus congestus form. Cumulus clouds may appear by themselves, in lines, or in clusters.

Cumulus clouds are often precursors of other types of cloud, such as cumulonimbus, when influenced by weather factors such as instability, moisture, and temperature gradient. Normally, cumulus clouds produce little or no precipitation, but they can grow into the precipitation-bearing congestus or cumulonimbus clouds. Cumulus clouds can be formed from water vapor, supercooled water droplets, or ice crystals, depending upon the ambient temperature. They come in many distinct subforms, and generally cool the earth by reflecting the incoming solar radiation. Cumulus clouds are part of the larger category of free-convective cumuliform clouds, which include cumulonimbus clouds. The latter genus-type is sometimes categorized separately as cumulonimbiform due to its more complex structure that often includes a cirriform or anvil top. There are also cumuliform clouds of limited convection that comprise stratocumulus (low-étage), altocumulus (middle-étage) and cirrocumulus. (high-étage). These last three genus-types are sometimes classified separately as stratocumuliform.

Formation

Cumulus clouds form via atmospheric convection as air warmed by the surface begins to rise. As the air rises, the temperature drops (following the lapse rate), causing the relative humidity (RH) to rise. If convection reaches a certain level the RH reaches one hundred percent, and the "wet-adiabatic" phase begins. At this point a positive feedback ensues: since the RH is above 100%, water vapour condenses, releasing latent heat, warming the air and spurring further convection.

In this phase, water vapor condenses on various nuclei present in the air, forming the cumulus cloud. This creates the characteristic flat-bottomed puffy shape associated with cumulus clouds. The size of the cloud depends on the temperature profile of the atmosphere and the presence of any inversions. During the convection, surrounding air is entrained (mixed) with the thermal and the total mass of the ascending air increases. Rain forms in a cumulus cloud via a process involving two non-discrete stages. The first stage occurs after the droplets coalesce onto the various nuclei. Langmuir writes that surface tension in the water droplets provides a slightly higher pressure on the droplet, raising the vapor pressure by a small amount. The increased pressure results in those droplets evaporating and the resulting water vapor condensing on the larger droplets. Due to the extremely small size of the evaporating water droplets, this process becomes largely meaningless after the larger droplets have grown to around 20 to 30 micrometres, and the second stage takes over. In the accretion phase, the raindrop begins to fall, and other droplets collide and combine with it to increase the size of the raindrop. Langmuir was able to develop a formula which predicted that the droplet radius would grow unboundedly within a discrete time period.

For further information please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumulus_cloud

The Tasman flows south west from Hochstetter Dome (R) and Mount Elie De Beaumont (L) alongside the southern slopes of The Minarets (far L) and south along the eastern flank of New Zealand's two highest mountains, Mount Tasman and its higher southern neighbour Aoraki / Mount Cook.

Although its upper reaches are snow-covered, lateral moraines coalesce to form medial moraines. As the moraines are carried within the glacier, they are progressively exposed by ablation along its course, as seen here. Further down the course of the glacier it is entirely rock-covered. Once all ice has melted huge accumulations of moraine are left in the valley floor to be gradually eroded and carried down the Tasman River valley.

It is a very large glacier, and is New Zealand's largest and longest. It is 23 kilometres long. Because of its size, it is hard to get an accurate sense of scale, for it is 4 kms wide and its surface area is over 100 sq kms! It is 600m thick.

It descends from above 3000m. Snowfall during the winter and spring seasons may accumulate up to 50 metres. After the summer melt, 7 metres may remain in the high altitude glacier head.

There is a pinkish tinge on the firn zone in this photograph. That is a result of a major (and memorable in Sydney) dust storm in southern Australia, some of the dust being precipitated here, it becoming more obvious as the snow gradually melts.

This alpine area is recognized as a natural heritage estate by UNESCO.

Since 1980s it has been in diminishing, its snout retreating up the valley, its terminal lake growing in length. This recession has been at a rate of about 180 meters per year the 1990s, with a period of much faster retreat between 2008 to the present.