with this I'll take a forced vacation from flickr, because the bad ankle sprain, so I'm almost 20 days in bed, has made impossible to take photos. I hope that will soon be able to walk again and go back to take photos :(

Last April, I stepped on American sweet gum shells and I almost sprain my ankle.

Yesterday, this horse chestnut (the middle one) fell on my head. (sigh)

Left : Sycamore

Middle : Horse chestnut

Right : Acorn

Anthophora furcata f, with sprained proboscis, probably damaged by an attack of a flying wrecking-ball Anthidium manicatum male, defending 'his' horehound stand. She tried in vain to access nectar by inserting her galeae into flowers, but without success, as the labial parts could not be moved resp. coordinated. Making the best out of a sad occurrence I labeled proboscis details ...

A couple weeks ago I posted on the difficulties of spotting Oophaga lehmanni in the wild, and its threatened status (www.facebook.com/paul.bertner/posts/1954323497983506). After deliberating for a week, while cooped up with the flu and a sprained finger, and rummaging online for records of O. lehmanni, I was struck not only by the overall dearth, but by the almost complete lack of 'in situ' images, with not a single one illustrating behaviour or a decent representation of the environment. For a critically threatened species, one whose risk of extinction is quite high, this to me represented a tremendous oversight. Though I'd already tried and failed to capture some behaviour shots on a short previous expedition, I decided to dedicate a week to the endeavour, if for no other reason than to have a record befitting such an elegant species.

Travelling to the same site as before, I settled in to photograph calling behaviours. Setting aside a week to get this rather modest shot was giving myself quite a lot of latitude I thought...I was wrong. Three days in and I had little to show for my efforts, resorting to shooting at 300mm + 1.4X TC, I was still struggling to surprise this elusive gem. Though I could hear the frogs calling, and could even see them doing so, creeping up on them and getting a respectable photo was proving an altogether different kind of a problem.

I tried remote shooting (however they rarely returned to the same perch, causing the framing to be off), I tried hides (though after waiting 2-3hrs in mosquito infested areas with the slightest movement causing the frogs to go diving back into root tangles proved frustrating to say the least). Nothing seemed to work, and I was beginning to despair.

This begged the question, "Why would a poisonous species which supposedly has no known predators be so timid?" The answer somewhat surprised me, "researchers". Apparently the frequent capture-release monitoring of the local populations has resulted in a rather poignant behavioural change. A species which would otherwise be fearlessly hopping the rainforest understory has had its buzzing call muted. It was a potent reminder of our influence on the natural world, whether it represents a kind of Schroedinger's cat problem, in which our very observation and monitoring of a species ultimately impacts its natural behaviours, or whether it's something more intrusive or sinister like manipulation for an aesthetic image or poaching, respectively.

We have to go further in I told the guide. And so we walked, and we walked and still the frogs fell silent at the sound of our approaching footfalls. 6 hours later, 2 of which we left the already weedy trail completely to bushwhack, and we came to a spot where we crept up upon a calling frog. It continued its buzzing call despite undoubtedly having already seen us. I made sure to shoot without flash and with a long lens to prevent any kind of potential habituation/aversion. Moments later a second male appeared from behind a leaf and they immediately began to wrestle. They flipped one another repeatedly, interspersed with calls. Rather evenly matched, this went on for almost 15 minutes. Finally the victor held his ground, whilst the vanquished retreated from the hallowed ground.

Upon reviewing the photos and videos, I felt privileged to have witnessed such a behaviour from a vanishing species. This is perhaps even truer than I'd originally thought, the two males despite their verisimilitude actually appear to be different species/sub-species. While one has all the characteristics befitting O. lehmanni, the other whose white fingertips, slightly broadened head and differing banding patterns indicates some degree of hybridization with the very closely related Oophaga histrionica. Perhaps extinction will not come in the form of habitat loss or extinction (though harbour no illusions that this undoubtedly plays its role), but through hybridization, and its absorption into a larger more robust population. To purists and hobbyists this would still represent a tragedy, though perhaps it's a gentler swan song, a muting of a call rather than its abrupt silencing.

Photos from the Cauca Valley, Colombia.

pbertner.wordpress.com/ethical-exif-ee/

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EE Legend

-Health injury/stress levels (scale 1-10-->☠️)

👣-Translocation

⏳-time in captivity

📷 -in situ

- Manipulated subject

🎨 -Use of cloning or extensive post processing

↺ -Image rotation

Tightrope Surgery

Apologies for any camera shake; I'd just sprained my ankle....

Raven Crag dominates the right of the valley, dividing the lower valley of Pasture Bottom from the headwater bowl (a glacial corrie) of Threshthwaite Cove, which leads to the climb to (or today, descent from) Threshthwaite Mouth, the col 2 km away at ~600 m asl between Thornthwaite Crag (784 m), in cloud on the left, and Stony Cove Pike (763 m), hidden behind Raven Crag. The nearer left side of the valley rises to Grey Crag (710 m), whilst Hartsop Dodd is off the near right of the image.

Note the field of hummocky moraine on the valley floor between Raven Crag and the beck.

As a wise person once said, "past your boots is an inconvenience, but Pasture Bottom is a problem".

soccer injury

Day 198--Not even super girl is grounded by a sprained ankle!

for superheroes and villains

(thanks to Greg for helping out tonight. my ankle didn't want to let me run back and forth for the timer and I was too lazy to go get the remote so my sweet hubby was the remote!)

Strobist info:

Key light 580 EX II @ 1/16 (-0.3) camera right through umbrella.

Rim light 430 EX II @ 1/16 snooted camera left and slightly behind Supergirl.

Triggered by 7D

She said his leg is just sprained, not broken, and he will grow up to be a fine, healthy big bird (check out his amazing green head!)

Alright, here's a weird one spawned from POTD desperation. I've been stuck in a wrist brace for a few days thanks to a sprain. And the UFO glowy thing is a bug catcher. Who knows? It's past my bed time...

Jasper is having a bit of a rough week. On our daily morning walk, he somehow managed to sprain his left front leg and couldn't put any weight on it all of a sudden...totally random and bizarre. We took him in to the vet right away and all checked out ok--no fractures or other apparent physical findings, so we're told to give him pain med and lots of rest for the next few days. He's been limping for the past couple of days, but seems to be getting stronger, thankfully. Guess it's just yet another part of living with senior dogs...

A few of my Flickr contacts know that I sprained my ankle two months ago, and it hasn't fully healed yet. It has been quite a difficult two months because I was unable to attend ballet class, which is something I love so much that it literally feels like a part of me. However, I did manage to attend the preparations for the end of year show on June 25 with my modern dance group, going slowly and carefully, and constantly worrying that I wouldn't be able to make it. But I did! Wearing an ankle sleeve, and still carefully until the very last rehearsal, but I managed to dance normally and it was just AWESOME. There are no words to describe how happy I was on stage.

wore this all day on a road trip, even when stopping for food and gas.

Gear: Canon 5D Mk II | Canon 17-40

Walking around Friendly Beaches with a (I didn't know at the time, I thought it was just sprained) broken foot, wasn't so pleasant - it did give me the opportunity to photograph some different beach patterns that I have never done before and these bird prints were fantastic.

Here is video of the trip to Tasmania in Spring 2011 with Kane Gledhill and Michael Reed - you can check it out here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcYL9Y70zE

My previous video, "Tasmania, Spring 2011 - A Compliation" can be found here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WBGjkiarxc

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Friendly Beaches

wrapped her foot over her black polka dot sock, put on white sock for cleanliness and comfort.

cold, wet weather, a sprained ankle, and skin abrasions have prevented me from going out to shoot for almost 2 weeks now...fell out in McHenry Dam and sustained the said injuries...my gear survived again coz i protected my babies and made sure they were ok...how 'bout you guys?? how has your week been going???

pls. View On Black