Firefly Coffeehouse Gallery Show
CROWN JEWEL Female Green-Crowned Brilliant Hummingbird, Sarapiquí, Costa Rica The female Green-crowned Brilliant is responsible for building the bulky cup nest out of plant fibers and scales of tree ferns. She will typically select a low, thin downsloping branch. The female alone protects and feeds the chicks with regurgitated food (insects mainly for the protein needs of the chicks). The female pushes the food down the chicks' throats with her long bill directly into their stomachs. It seems the males are deadbeat dads not seen helping after mating. You may notice that the female has some white on her breast, unlike the male (earlier post), who has no white at all.
SWEET TREAT Male Green-Crowned Brilliant Hummingbird, La Paz, Costa Rica Hummingbirds are one of my favorite species. It's not only their cute small size and beautiful feathers that appeal to me but also their acrobatics in flight and their ability to defy gravity when they hover in place. In Wisconsin, we only have one species of hummingbird, the Ruby-throated. In Costa Rica, there are around 50 different hummingbirds. The hummer in this photo is a male Green-Crowned Brilliant who was kind enough to pose in front of a beautiful flower backdrop.
PORTRAIT OF A PUFFIN Atlantic Puffin Île aux Perroquet, Quebec, Canada Spending eight months of the year at sea, puffins live most of their lives out of sight. We only catch fleeting glimpses of their story, and for the land-bound photographer, the breeding season is our one true window. But what a window it is when they are at their most charming, and at the height of their striking beauty. The triangular markings around the eyes, shadowed with a mascara-like black, often lend them a wistful, almost sorrowful expression. Then there is the bold, colorful ring of the eye itself so vivid it seems to burn against the white feathers. Some say puffins look as though they’ve been weeping. Perhaps they have. Or perhaps it’s just nature dressing them in quiet drama.
JUST CHILLIN Three-Toed Sloth Serapiquí, Costa Rica Good thing digestion is slow since sloths are safest camouflaged up in the trees and it takes a lot of energy for a potty break. About once a week sloths will make the arduous and slow climb from their tree perch to the base of the tree to do their business. When they go they go, losing about 1/5 of their body weight. This process helps with seed dispersal and sloths can take some credit in helping spread avocado seeds through Central and South America. Deforestation is the major threat to the maned three-toed sloth like this one. Their habitat has been reduced to almost 10% of its original size.
ISTHMUS IN THE SUN Sunset Fall Equinox +1 Madison, WI Twice a year at the autumnal and vernal equinox the sun sets directly behind the west side of our state Capitol. The Capitol has four wings that are all built on geographic coordinates with each wing on the axis of north, south, east, and west. Day and night will be just about equal on the equinox for the entire world. At that moment, the Sun stands directly above the equator. So no matter where you are, the Sun rises due east and sets due west. On the actual solstice, the weather wasn't cooperating, and cloud cover prevented a getting a good shot. I returned the next night and took this image. It was taken and a few minutes before the sun hit the horizon placing the sun directly behind the Capitol but a bit higher off the horizon than it was on the solstice. This shot is a HDR bracketed image allowing the sky and shadows to capture more dynamic range. Sometimes the unplanned shot is better than the planned.
HAIRY COO Highland Cow Balmoral Castle, Scotland Highland Coos are the oldest cattle breed in the world, appearing in the 6th century in the Outer Hebrides. The coos you see today have a lifespan up to 20 years. That may not seem like a lot, but that is a longer lifespan than most other cattle breeds. It must be that fine Highland air. Fun Fact: A coos fringe is known as a “dossan,” which often grows down over their eyes. Some Highland coos are groomed with a deep oily conditioner, which gives them a fluffy appearance and a floofy dossan. Who doesn't love a floofy dossan?
BORN IN A BARN Female Barn Owl Southern Wisconsin This beauty is a barn owl and one of the most widely distributed owl throughout the world. Fun Facts: Barn Owl is silent in flight due to soft fringe-edged feathers that don't "swoosh" as they move. A Barn Owl is about the size of a small cat, but only weighs a pound. The Barn Owl has excellent vision and hearing for capturing prey at night.
SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME Juvenile Great Horned Owl Southern Wisconsin This is a juvenile great horned owl about six weeks old. At this stage, he is considered a brancher which just means that he has left the nest for the branches nearby. He will not be able to fully fly for several weeks. Often people will find these fledglings on the ground or low branches and think they are abandoned but likely the parents are nearby and it is best to leave them be.
GRABBING SOME ZZZ'S Saw Whet Owl Southern Wisconsin Have you ever wondered how owls manage to stay awake all night and sleep during the day? It turns out that these birds have some of the most fascinating sleep patterns in the animal kingdom. Since they are nocturnal creatures, owls prefer to snooze during the day like this tiny Saw Whet Owl and come alive at night to hunt their prey. But that's not all that's interesting about owl sleep habits. Did you know that they can sleep with one half of their brain while keeping the other half alert? This unique adaptation, called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, allows them to stay aware of their surroundings even while resting. It's a crucial survival strategy that helps them evade predators and stay on top of their game.
RED EYE Red Dahlia Shore Acres Botanical Gardens Oregon State Coast I didn't travel to Oregon to do flower photography in October but when you come across a gem of a botanical garden with flowers blooming when you're out exploring you grab your camera. While driving along the coast just north of Bandon I came across Shore Acres State Park perched on craggy sandstone cliffs high above the ocean. The park was once the grand estate of timber baron Louis J. Simpson, Shore Acres features a formal garden inspired by the original, with plants and flowers from all over the world. Visitors find a Japanese-style garden with a lily pond and two carefully curated rose gardens that include All-American Rose Selections. Something is in bloom almost every day of the year: the first spring bulbs pop up in late February; rhododendrons and azaleas soon follow; roses bloom through the summer, and dahlias appear August through mid-October. I guess I timed my visit perfectly as dahlias are one of my favorite flowers to photograph.
PINK EYE Pink Dahlia Shore Acres Botanical Garden Oregon State Coast In Shore Acres State Park, along the Atlantic Coast in Oregon, there are 250 types of Dahlias. This one was one of my favorites with the pointed elongated petals and the soft shade of pink.
WALL FLOWER Catteya Orchid Naples, FL Orchid flowers are zygomorphic, also called bilateral symmetry. This means that if you cut the orchid flower in half, top to bottom, one side would look like the other, just like a face. Most other flowers are radially symmetric and look similar all the way around.