View allAll Photos Tagged nonexistent
As farmers used a dry day to harvest their fields, the Reading unit passes by leading NS intermodal train #217 west to Chicago as it slows for a meet at Old Fort, OH on the former NKP main. Nice weekends this fall have been nonexistent, so was happy to break cabin fever for to see this guy and the previous train an hour earlier, the L11.
TYRANNICAL regimes’ ugliness can be covered under a white blanket of snow: A superficial lustre of ostensible happiness and laughter conceals Slavery in broad daylight, allowing monstrous rulers to create an illusion of normality. Tyrants are happy whenever the stormy weather hinders or impedes the protest marches.
The people are unwilling or afraid to criticize the widespread logical fallacies powdered by something as immaculate as snow flakes, or the fallacies enforced by millions’ worth of mighty propaganda. Lips are too frozen stiff (or scared) to speak out about the (nonexistent) emperor’s new clothes.
Hold on, free souls: The snow can and will melt exposing the tyrant bare, without anything on, soon, real soon!
From a Memorial Day morning drive in the country. I almost missed this scene as it was tucked away on a bend in the road. Fortunately it was early morning so the traffic on this back country road was nonexistent. Gave me time to enjoying this lovely scene while I shot a few frames.
Be sure to check out my blog Back Roads
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
In all my years of visiting Jasper - my first was in 1977 when I backpacked the Tonquin Valley - I had never poked my lens into Maligne Canyon. I always thought it would be too touristy, not wild enough for me. Finally this year I had a look. Yes, it's pretty touristy, with a restaurant and gigantic parking lot at the main trail head, and fencing along much of the rim that limits photo ops somewhat but has probably kept a few people from falling in. It's a long way down. A river runs through the bottom, not visible in this photo. I actually had a touch of vertigo looking over the edge - and I'm good with heights (unless I have to go up onto the roof of my house, which is too smooth for my liking).
So... how does one photograph a steep, deep, narrow-walled canyon? I have no answer. Point and shoot? Get out the wide angle and hope for the best? I tried this and that (in this case shooting with a 50mm or "normal" lens). Limit contrast by not allowing patches of sunlit rocks or trees into the frame. Going early in the morning helps, too, if only because that eliminates 95% of the tourists, whose footsteps vibrate bridges and whose awareness of a photographer's needs ranges from pretty good to nonexistent.
This was the first shot I made, from a bridge across the canyon. Originally I framed it to include the river, but that meant clipping the top of the green tree, so I reframed. The river is visible in other shots. I learned a long time ago that it isn't necessary to include everything in the world in every shot. Instead, try to capture the feel of it. More to come...
Photographed in Jasper National Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
(From my personal photo archive, 2021)
Photo of the ruins in the interior of the Castle (or Alcazaba) of Almería, Andalusia, Spain.
In the foreground, we see three almost perfectly spherical stone balls.
In Spanish, they are called "bolaños," and in English, "cannon balls."
These projectiles were used both in attacks on castles and in their defense.
They could be launched from catapults, trebuchets, and also cannons, in the early days of gunpowder use in warfare.
The catapult is a weapon used primarily during antiquity and the Middle Ages to launch relatively large and heavy objects as projectiles over long distances.
The catapult was probably invented by the engineers of Dionysius I of Syracuse, around 400 BC.
The catapult was invented in the 5th century BC and later improved by the Carthaginians and Romans.
It was widely used during the Middle Ages until the introduction of gunpowder rendered it obsolete (its use today is unusual but not nonexistent).
The trebuchet was a medieval siege weapon used to destroy walls or launch stone projectiles over them.
It is believed to have been invented in China between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC, spreading westward through the Avars and being adopted by the Byzantines in the mid-5th century.
The counterweight trebuchet was an improvement on the traction trebuchet, appearing in Christian and Muslim lands of the Mediterranean around the 12th century. (Source: Wikipedia)
DENTRO DEL CASTILLO DE ALMERÍA, 2021
(De mi archivo personal de fotos propias, 2021)
Foto de las ruinas de la zona interior del Castillo (o Alcazaba) de Almería, Andalucía, España.
En primer término vemos tres bolas de piedra de forma esférica casi perfecta.
En idioma español se les llama "bolaños" y en inglés "cannon balls".
Son proyectiles que se usaban tanto en ataques a los castillos y también en su defensa.
Podían ser lanzados desde catapultas, desde fundíbulos (o trabuquetes) y también desde cañones, en la época inicial del uso de la pólvora en la guerra.
La catapulta es un instrumento bélico que se utilizó sobre todo durante la antigüedad y el medievo para el lanzamiento a distancia de objetos relativamente grandes y contundentes a modo de proyectiles.
La catapulta fue inventada probablemente por los ingenieros de Dionisio I de Siracusa, aproximadamente en 400 a. C. y posteriormente mejorada por cartagineses y romanos, y fue muy empleada durante la Edad Media, hasta que, con la introducción de la pólvora, se tornó obsoleta (su empleo hoy en día es inusual mas no inexistente).
El fundíbulo (o trabuquete), fue un arma de asedio medieval, empleada para destruir murallas o lanzar proyectiles de piedra sobre los muros.
Se cree que lo inventaron en China entre los siglos V a. C. y III a. C., se extendió hacia el oeste por los ávaros, siendo adoptado por los bizantinos a mitad del siglo V.
El fundíbulo de contrapeso fue un perfeccionamiento del fundíbulo de tracción, apareció en las tierras cristianas y musulmanas del mediterráneo alrededor del siglo XII. (Fuente: Wikipedia)
It has been terribly dry here, and berries - or wildflowers - are almost nonexistent. It has been at least six to eight weeks without any real rain, and Mud Lake has become Mud Puddle.
This early returning migrant made short work of the ripe berries here, and was utterly unconcerned by me or my camera.
My first capture of the day, May 16 not long after sunrise, of the majestic 80-foot-tall Twin Falls in Rock Island State Park, Rock Island, Tennessee. Take a close look at the top of the waterfall, and if it appears unique to you....it is! The waterfall was created by the Great Falls Dam, which caused the Collins River on the other side of the ridgeline to rise. When the dam was initially built, the rising waters of the Collins River began seeping into caverns on Rock Island's south shoreline and exiting on the opposing top side of the mountain, thus creating this magnificent waterfall flowing into the Caney Fork River on the north side of the ridgeline. The Collins River, combined with the Caney Fork River provides the source of water flowing into a hydroelectric dam, built by the Great Falls Power Company downstream in 1915. After the initial build was completed, two distinct twin waterfalls flowed from inside the mountain down the rock face into the Caney Fork River. The Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCo) purchased the Great Falls Power Company in 1922 and tripled the dam's operating capacity which led to elevated water levels of the rivers flowing into the dam. As a result, the massive waterfall you see here was born.... and for all of my waterfall "afficionados" here, this waterfall remains this strong 24/7!... ~365 days a year! “Low flow” conditions are nonexistent here!
By believing in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. - Kafka
After flying past me, a Prairie Falcon takes a peek. Considering their wing movement and how fast they fly, the difference between a successful shot and missing it altogether had to be a tiny fraction of a second.
I'm meeting up with my friend George the videographer this morning, pre-dawn, for an outing - it will be my 4th time out in 7 days. Almost like being on vacation. I'm shooting heavily as we careen toward winter, because things will inevitably slow down in January and February. Right now, the Mule Deer rut is winding down, Bison are active, and I'm seeing our year round resident birds on every outing. The prairie looks stunning with its new cloak of snow, and the light has been great. Can't ask for more than that!
Photographed near the nonexistent community of Masefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Crater Lake, Oregon, just before sunrise, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA. Most of the roads in the national park are closed after October, the only one open is the road to this viewpoint, which that day, was covered in black ice. It was windy up there so the reflections are almost nonexistent unfortunately. Even so it was the best shot I got from an excursion last weekend.
Title after a song by Avenged Sevenfold.
The adult humpback whale is generally 14–15 m (46–49 ft) long, though individuals up to 16–17 m (52–56 ft) long have been recorded. Females are usually 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) longer than males.
The species can reach body masses of 40 metric tons (44 short tons). Calves are born at around 4.3 m (14 ft) long with a mass of 680 kg (1,500 lb)] The species has a bulky body with a thin rostrum and proportionally long flippers, each around one-third of its body length.[14][15] It has a short dorsal fin that varies from nearly nonexistent to somewhat long and curved.
Like other rorquals, the humpback has grooves between the tip of the lower jaw and the navel. The grooves are relatively few in number in this species, ranging from 14 to 35. The upper jaw is lined with baleen plates, which number 540–800 in total and are black in color.
The dorsal or upper side of the animal is generally black; the ventral or underside has various levels of black and white coloration. Whales in the southern hemisphere tend to have more white pigmentation. The flippers can vary from all-white to white only on the undersurface. Some individuals may be all white, notably Migaloo who is a true albino. The varying color patterns and scars on the tail flukes distinguish individual animals.[
The end of the genital slit of the female is marked by a round feature, known as the hemispherical lobe, which visually distinguishes males and females.
Unique among large whales, humpbacks have bumps or tubercles on the head and front edge of the flippers; the tail fluke has a jagged trailing edge. The tubercles on the head are 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) thick at the base and protrude up to 6.5 cm (2.6 in).
They are mostly hollow in the center, often containing at least one fragile hair that erupts 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in) from the skin and is 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) thick. The tubercles develop early in gestation and may have a sensory function, as they are rich in nerves. Sensory nerve cells in the skin are adapted to withstand the high water pressure of diving.
In one study, a humpback whale brain measured 22.4 cm (8.8 in) long and 18 cm (7.1 in) wide at the tips of the temporal lobes, and weighed around 4.6 kg (10 lb). The humpback's brain has a complexity similar to that of the brains of smaller whales and dolphins.
The structure of the eye indicates that eyesight is relatively poor, being only able to see silhouettes over long distances and finer details relatively close. Computer models of the middle ear suggest that the humpback can hear at frequencies between 15 Hz and 3 kHz "when stimulated at the tympanic membrane", and between 200 Hz and 9 kHz "if stimulated at the thinner region of the tympanic bone adjacent to the tympanic membrane". These ranges are consistent with their vocalization ranges.
As in all cetaceans, the respiratory tract of the humpback whale is connected to the blowholes and not to the mouth, although the species appears to be able to unlock the epiglottis and larynx and move them towards the oral cavity, allowing humpbacks to blow bubbles from their mouths. The vocal folds of the humpback are more horizontally positioned than those of land mammals which allows them to produce underwater calls. These calls are amplified by a laryngeal sac.
This image was taken at Isafjordur, Iceland. This whale is named "Birch" on the "HappyWhale" website and was seen initially in June 2021 . It has also been photographed near Reykjavik too.
The adult humpback whale is generally 14–15 m (46–49 ft) long, though individuals up to 16–17 m (52–56 ft) long have been recorded. Females are usually 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) longer than males.
The species can reach body masses of 40 metric tons (44 short tons). The longest recorded lengths were 17.4 m (57 ft) for a male and 18.6 m (61 ft) for a female. However, records for humpback whales measuring 17–18 m (56–59 ft) are considered unlikely.
Calves are born at around 4.3 m (14 ft) long with a mass of 680 kg (1,500 lb). The species has a bulky body with a thin rostrum and proportionally long flippers, each around one-third of its body length.
It has a short dorsal fin that varies from nearly nonexistent to somewhat long and curved. Like other rorquals, the humpback has grooves between the tip of the lower jaw and the navel.
The grooves are relatively few in number in this species, ranging from 14 to 35. The upper jaw is lined with baleen plates, which number 540–800 in total and are black in color.
This image was taken near Sitka, in Alaska, in the late evening light.
John G. Sanburn log cabin, circa 1832. Knoxville Illinois. This historic structure was discovered more or less intact when an old Victorian era house was torn down for urban renewal. It was entirely incased in the house being torn down having been incorporated into the construction of the newer building as it’s kitchen. Later improvements caused it to be entirely hidden and unknown within the Victorian structure. This happens more often than you think. I know of other log cabin discoveries in the region. People tended to utilize what they had on hand back then. Sanburn, besides being one of the first settlers in the region, was postmaster, judge, county clerk, justice of the peace, and Indian agent. The cabin was also the first general store in the area and was used for all of these functions besides being Mr. Sanburn’s residence. So you think you’ve got a crowded home at Christmas with too much to do! You’ve got a car and modern roads to work with. Mr. Sanburn had to hitch up a team of oxen to a wagon to traverse almost nonexistent muddy roads to get to the riverfront at distant pioneer Peoria to buy goods for his store brought up from St.Louis by primitive shipping methods. It probably was at least a three day proposition. As you eat your Christmas dinner stop and reflect and ask yourself if your life is too harried. Cheers.
I had a good day on the 27th. Two uncommon birds or should I say one uncommon Lewis's Woodpecker and one Uncommon Common Gallinule that kept me busy for an hour or so once I got home. In two Bird Guides, the Common Gallinule isn't mentioned at all, but I thought it was probably a Common Moorhen. Except that the Common Moorhen isn't listed in any of four books and one app. Then I noticed that the Common Gallinule is listed, under range, as "Uncommon Winter" and nonexistent the rest of the year.
I found the answer in Wikipedia: "The common gallinule is a bird in the family Rallidae. It was split from the common moorhen by the American Ornithologists' Union in July 2011. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals, and other wetlands in the Americas. The species is not found in the polar regions or many tropical rainforests. Elsewhere, the common gallinule is likely the most commonly seen rail species in much of North America, excepting the American coot in some regions."
Though its head house leans precariously, Saskatchewan Pool Elevator No. 834 holds its form high above the prairie at the nonexistent town of Dankin, a few miles east of Eatonia, Sask, as Big Sky Rail eases past with grain loads from LaPorte, a few miles to the west. The sun came up about 20 minutes prior, at 4:45 a.m., and it's still struggling to burn off the morning haze.
Western Grebe, with its low-lying, almost nonexistent nest. San Luis Obispo County, California. I didn't see a mate the entire time this grebe was repairing its nest.
.- Soft, moist and salty mists ....
Mists ... sea .., mists of life ....
Mists that stain the day ... a nonexistent color .....
- Suaves..., humedas y saladas brumas....
Brumas..., de mar.., brumas de vida..., .
Brumas que tiñen el día ..., de un color inexistente...
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved Contact: nejdet_2005@hotmail.com
Among the ruins and sites to see in Mylasa is, most noteworthy, the Gumuskesen tomb (the Silver Purse) that is though to have resembled the famous, now nonexistent monumental tomb, Mausoleum of King Mausolus of Halicarnassus.
The Gumuskesen tomb is believed to date to 1C BC. The great Mausoleum was built much earlier, in 350 BC. Located on the slopes of Hidirlik hill to the west of the town, it consists of a square colonnade with twelve Corinthian columns, perfectly preserved in situ, a burial chamber that rests on a base and a stepped, pyramid-style roof. No inscriptions and remains were found in the tomb which was robbed long ago.
Imagine a world where the Iowa Interstate being a more than century old railroad. A railroad that had a genuine steam era and managed to preserve some of it for modern times. That's what this photo feels like.
Apologies to John Denver. Photo taken at Maroon Bells when the conditions were almost perfect. Late enough in the season so that the aspen on the right side of the lake were in color. The wind was almost nonexistent, which meant I could get a reflection of the trees and mountains. I did have to wait for two ducks to stop swimming in front of me and messing up the reflection. Taken in the half-light before the sun hit the tops of the peaks and before jet contrails appeared in the sky above the mountains.
Quebec is a nice place. Montreal is a nice city. Visitors here can find interesting and beautiful things wherever they go in this province. That said, Montreal is a world capitol of orange construction cones, potholes that would sink one of those ugly Tesla trucks, and confusing road signs that are hidden behind trees, facing in the wrong directions or nonexistent. This one takes the cake. Did the person who installed this not notice?
I have named you queen.
There are taller than you, taller.
There are purer than you, purer.
There are lovelier than you, lovelier.
But you are the queen.
When you go through the streets
No one recognizes you.
No one sees your crystal crown, no one looks
At the carpet of red gold
That you tread as you pass,
The nonexistent carpet.
And when you appear
All the rivers sound
In my body, bells
Shake the sky,
And a hymn fills the world.
Only you and I,
Only you and I, my love,
Listen to me.
- - - - - - - -
Yo te he nombrado reina.
Hay más altas que tú, más altas.
Hay más puras que tú, más puras.
Hay más bellas que tú, hay más bellas.
Pero tú eres la reina.
Cuando vas por las calles
nadie te reconoce.
Nadie ve tu corona de cristal, nadie mira
la alfombra de oro rojo
que pisas donde pasas,
la alfombra que no existe.
Y cuando asomas
suenan todos los ríos
en mi cuerpo, sacuden
el cielo las campanas,
y un himno llena el mundo.
Sólo tú y yo,
sólo tú y yo, amor mío,
lo escuchamos.
The Queen By Pablo Neruda
(Photo taken at Moochie)
Photo taken on a motu in French Polynesia. A motu is very small island. French Polynesia being what it is, there are thousands of small motus scattered around the Pacific Ocean, ranging in size from practically nonexistent to somewhat large.
Night view of Medellin, Spain, reflecting on the Guadiana river, the lighting was minimal to nonexistent, the illumination on the bridge and the fortress above is from street lights, I overexposed the photo to get this result, it was so dark I couldn't see my feet while taking the photo..
Gestern hatte ich eine schöne Endeckung. Erst dachte ich ein Blaupfeil, und habe mich gefreut, dass er mal nicht so unattraktiv auf dem Boden sitzt sondern schön im Grünen hängt. Als ich näher kam dachte ich, der sieht aber irgendwie anders aus. Ich hatte so eine Libelle noch nie gesehen, denn im Großraum Hamburg kommt diese Art so gut wie gar nicht vor und ich hab mich natürlich riesig gefreut.
Yesterday I had a wonderful encounter. At first I thought it was a Black-tailed Skimmer, and I was happy to see it not sitting unattractively on the ground, but hanging beautifully in the greens. As I got closer, I thought, “But it looks kind of different.” I’d never seen a dragonfly like this before, because this species is virtually nonexistent in the greater Hamburg area, and of course I was very delighted.
When I was a child in Spain, and I lost a baby tooth, I slept through the night excited because the next morning I'd find a gift under my pillow, brought to me by the "Tooth Fairy" (in Spanish: "Ratoncito Pérez").
And I wonder: What about when you're an adult and have a root canal, an extraction, or an implant, with one or more anesthetic injections, wouldn't you deserve a gift?
Well, SHE deserved a gift.
Night photo taken with a tripod, a Nikon Z8 camera, and a Meyer Optik Görlitz Biotar 75 f1.5 II lens, which doesn't have pins for electronic connection to the camera, so the metadata information may be erroneous or nonexistent.
QUE VIENE EL RATONCITO PÉREZ, 2025
Cuando yo era un niño en España, y se me caía un diente de leche, dormía toda la noche ilusionado porque a la mañana siguiente podría encontrar un regalo bajo mi almohada, que me iba a traer "el ratoncito Pérez"
Y yo me pregunto: ¿Y cuando eres adulto y te hacen una endodoncia, una extracción o un implante, con una o varias inyecciones de anestesia, no te merecerías un regalo?
Pues eso: ELLA se merecía un regalo.
Foto nocturna hecha con trípode, una cámara Nikon Z8 y una lente Meyer Optik Görlitz Biotar 75 f1.5 II que no tiene pines de conexión electrónica con la cámara, con lo que la información de metadatos puede ser errónea o inexistente.
I find this good example of Type I Ultron bokeh.
Usually, nature of bokeh changes for backend and frontend bokeh depending on how well lens is corrected. Ultron is very well corrected lens and differences in frontend and backend blur are almost nonexistent. Backend balls have just a hint of sharp border and frontend one slightly softer edges.
Crime is low to nonexistent in Croatia's Dalmation Islands... where the villages are small and everyone knows everyone. And they look out for each other. This is in Pitve on the island of Hvar and one of the oldest continuously occupied settlements on the island (384 BC).
Dear J,
I hope my postcard finds you well. Everything is ok, only five more weeks to go. This place is a dark void with a plot of gray snow. Industrial area at night. A brick-concrete monstrosity with one long ugly ulcer of a chimney stabbing the feeric nonexistent sky. A threat lurking somewhere. Maybe someone sees it, maybe someone feels it but I never know for sure.
Life cuts into the landscape.
Love, N
___________________________
from "Journey into communication"
dec. 2017
@ MetaLES..O..
Western Grebe, with its low-lying, almost nonexistent nest. San Luis Obispo County, California. I didn't see a mate the entire time this grebe was repairing its nest.
Gestern hatt ich eine schöne Endeckung. Erst dachte ich ein Blaupfeil, und habe mich gefreut, dass er mal nicht so unattraktiv auf dem Boden sitzt sondern schön im Grünen hängt. Als ich näher kam dachte ich, der sieht aber irgendwie anders aus. Ich hatte so eine Libelle noch nie gesehen, denn im Großraum Hamburg kommt diese Art so gut wie gar nicht vor und ich hab mich natürlich riesig gefreut.
Yesterday I had a wonderful encounter. At first I thought it was a Black-tailed Skimmer, and I was happy to see it not sitting unattractively on the ground, but hanging beautifully in the greens. As I got closer, I thought, “But it looks kind of different.” I’d never seen a dragonfly like this before, because this species is virtually nonexistent in the greater Hamburg area, and of course I was very delighted.
By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.
F.Kafka
Mynydd y Dinas, from Fishguard - Sir Benfro/ Pembrokeshire - www.pembrokeshirecoast.wales/things-to-do/walking-in-the-...
▪️
"[Yng Ngasa], ychydig iawn a newidiodd er pan gafwyd y "cadoediad' a drefnwyd gan Trump ac a ddaeth i rym yn Hydref 2025.
Mae'r rhan fwyaf o Balesteiniaid yn dal i gael trafferth i fwydo eu teuluoedd, ac erys y Llain heb fawr ddim cyfleusterau iechyd, heb fawr ddim addysg a heb nemor ddim carthffosiaeth,
Mae Gwasanaeth Iechyd Gasa yn dweud i fwy na 600 o Balesteiniaid farw am iddyn nhw gael eu saethu gan Israel, Roedd y bobl wedi gobeithio y byddai hynny'n dod i ben wedi mwy na dwy flynedd o ryfel hil-laddiadol a laddodd dros 72,000 o bobl, yn ôl yr ystadegau swyddogol."
▪️
"Very little has changed since the 'ceasefire' agreement brokered by Trump went into effect in October last year.
Most Palestinians are still struggling to feed their families, while health, education and sanitary services are almost nonexistent.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health has said that more than 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire since the truce, which Palestinians had hoped would end more than two years of genocidal war that has killed more than 72,000 people, according to official statistics." - www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/2/20/in-gaza-trumps-board...
Kluane National Park - pronounced Kloo-Wah-Nee - in Canada's Yukon, is probably my favourite all-time backpacking location. Here's my hiking partner, Kluane Bonnie, taking a break above 48-Pup Creek.
In the distance is Red Castle Ridge. Below "our" hill is a deep creek drainage, where waters flow (right to left) from the green plateau and high ridges surrounding it. That's Sheep Creek, and our hike started way down there, to the left, out of the frame. 48-Pup is a tributary creek not visible here, but it's just to the left. At this elevation there were no more trails, and we were following one of those nonexistent trails up Sheep Mountain, which is directly behind me in (or out of) this photo.
It was a splendid, sunny day in August. Rain and fog would move in that night, but at least we were able to pitch the tent when everything was dry. That is so much more pleasant than doing it in the pouring rain. Make a dry camp and then with only a few housekeeping rules you can keep the interior and all your gear dry.
Wildlife that day included lots of Dall Sheep and one Grizzly. We saw the big bear ambling up a slope we had just vacated, about 200 yards away. It was pursuing its bear interests, which did not include us.
You can see another use for the ice axe here - a prop for my pack...
More to come from this amazing place!
Photographed in Kluane National Park, Yukon (Canada); scanned from the original Kodachrome 64 slide. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©1982 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Getty | 500px | Facebook Fan Page | Twitter | Google + | Blogger | Tumblr | Formspring
Lake Manyara National Park is a national park in Arusha Region, Tanzania. The park consists of 330 km2 of arid land, forest, and a soda-lake which covers as much as 200 km2 of land during the wet season but is nearly nonexistent during the dry season.
He comes around every day and chirps till i go outside and talk to him...sweet little guy
There were squirrels in Manhattan before there was a city there, but by the mid-1800s, their population was practically nonexistent. Then in 1877, about 20 years after the first bushy-tailed rodent found its way into the newspaper, the city decided to capitalize on squirrels' growing fandom by bringing them back to Central Park. They planted squirrel-friendly nut trees and installed cozy squirrel homes, then released a handful of chipper gray squirrels to run wild in the park. The following year, they released 30 more pairs. By 1883, the park was home to at least 1,500 of them.
Last pair of archived shots from the days of Kodachrome, which coincided with my backpacking days in the wildest places I could get into. This is one of Kluane National Park's great valley glaciers, more than a mile wide at its terminus, winding away into the Icefield Ranges where it is born amid Canada's highest peaks.
This was a solo trip, and had its share of challenges. After tiring of forcing my way through tiny aspens on nonexistent game trails, I tried the river flats and quickly bogged down in glacial silt. Almost lost my boots in the muck. It took me five minutes just to turn around. When I climbed back up the bank, there were fresh grizzly tracks; no doubt the bear stopped and had a good laugh. Crossing one alluvial fan after another with my loaded pack, over mud, water, gravel, boulders, deadfall (tree trunks and branches) and other debris washed down the slopes, at one point I just sat there, weeping. Seriously. I really had to make an effort to pull myself together.
My reward was solitude in a majestic setting, with glimpses into the heart of this northern wilderness. I had to climb a hill from my camp for this shot. There is some haze that even a polarizing filter couldn't remove. It isn't the best shot I made that week, but it does suggest the scale of the landscape, and so it slides into the series as my representative shot for 1989. One more to go!
Photographed from a hill overlooking the Kaskawulsh Glacier, Kluane National Park, Yukon; scanned from the original Kodachrome 64 slide. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©1989 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
"Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries."
— Carl Sagan
{Sorry about the flickr trouble with my comment box yesterday; and, thanks to those who let me know there was a problem. I am not sure what was up with that....and if it will happen again.}
The adult humpback whale is generally 14–15 m (46–49 ft) long, though individuals up to 16–17 m (52–56 ft) long have been recorded. Females are usually 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) longer than males.
The species can reach body masses of 40 metric tons (44 short tons). Calves are born at around 4.3 m (14 ft) long with a mass of 680 kg (1,500 lb)] The species has a bulky body with a thin rostrum and proportionally long flippers, each around one-third of its body length.[14][15] It has a short dorsal fin that varies from nearly nonexistent to somewhat long and curved.
Like other rorquals, the humpback has grooves between the tip of the lower jaw and the navel. The grooves are relatively few in number in this species, ranging from 14 to 35. The upper jaw is lined with baleen plates, which number 540–800 in total and are black in color.
The dorsal or upper side of the animal is generally black; the ventral or underside has various levels of black and white coloration. Whales in the southern hemisphere tend to have more white pigmentation. The flippers can vary from all-white to white only on the undersurface. Some individuals may be all white, notably Migaloo who is a true albino. The varying color patterns and scars on the tail flukes distinguish individual animals.[
The end of the genital slit of the female is marked by a round feature, known as the hemispherical lobe, which visually distinguishes males and females.
Unique among large whales, humpbacks have bumps or tubercles on the head and front edge of the flippers; the tail fluke has a jagged trailing edge. The tubercles on the head are 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) thick at the base and protrude up to 6.5 cm (2.6 in).
They are mostly hollow in the center, often containing at least one fragile hair that erupts 1–3 cm (0.39–1.18 in) from the skin and is 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) thick. The tubercles develop early in gestation and may have a sensory function, as they are rich in nerves. Sensory nerve cells in the skin are adapted to withstand the high water pressure of diving.
In one study, a humpback whale brain measured 22.4 cm (8.8 in) long and 18 cm (7.1 in) wide at the tips of the temporal lobes, and weighed around 4.6 kg (10 lb). The humpback's brain has a complexity similar to that of the brains of smaller whales and dolphins.
The structure of the eye indicates that eyesight is relatively poor, being only able to see silhouettes over long distances and finer details relatively close. Computer models of the middle ear suggest that the humpback can hear at frequencies between 15 Hz and 3 kHz "when stimulated at the tympanic membrane", and between 200 Hz and 9 kHz "if stimulated at the thinner region of the tympanic bone adjacent to the tympanic membrane". These ranges are consistent with their vocalization ranges.
As in all cetaceans, the respiratory tract of the humpback whale is connected to the blowholes and not to the mouth, although the species appears to be able to unlock the epiglottis and larynx and move them towards the oral cavity, allowing humpbacks to blow bubbles from their mouths. The vocal folds of the humpback are more horizontally positioned than those of land mammals which allows them to produce underwater calls. These calls are amplified by a laryngeal sac.
This image was taken in Reykjavik, Iceland
We had a pair of very rare visitors to the yard today. Birdweb has them as nonexistent in my region, though I gather they are starting to pop up from time to time with climate change. I've only seen them in the yard once before, back in 2018. They were not super-cooperative in their poses but maybe they will stick around a bit this time. Lesser goldfinch, backyard Olympia.
Note (5.6.23): I also saw the first baby junco of the season in the yard.
Note (5.7-5.8.-5.9-5.10.23): Lesser goldfinches are still here.
Als Natur- oder Landschaftsfotograf hat man's im Januar/Februar in unseren Breiten oft nicht leicht. Schnee, Eis, Raureif gibt es kaum mehr, für Blumen oder frisches Grün ist noch viel zu früh, die Wälder und Felder sind oft trist und alles scheint wie mit einem schwarz-grünen Algenschleim überzogen zu sein. Bähhh. Moose, Flechten sind nun mit die besten Motive. Ja und mit ein wenig Glück findet sich auch noch das eine oder andere herbstliche Blatt im Sonnenlicht. Das Ganze, wie hier, vielleicht noch jeweils mit hübschem Bokeh im Hintergrund (hier das glitzernde Wasser der Wutach).
.
Being a nature or landscape photographer in our latitudes in January/February is often not easy. Snow, ice, and hoarfrost are almost nonexistent; it's far too early for flowers or fresh greenery; the forests and fields are often dreary, and everything seems covered in a blackish-green algal slime. Yuck. Mosses and lichens are among the best subjects now. And with a little luck, you might even find the odd autumn leaf in the sunlight. All of this, as seen here, perhaps with a pretty bokeh in the background (in this case, the glittering water of the Wutach River).
.
.
Please darken your room and
turn the brightness of your display all the way up,
lay back, press L button and
enjoy this picture in full screen size ;-)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . looks muuuch better. PROMISE !
.
Thanks for your visit, 1000 thanks for commenting
Thanks for watching the picture before FAVing 😉