On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
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Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
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Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Sorry about Wednesday, folks. I had a lot going on and spaced it until mid-morning.
I’m excited for today’s post, the first of many I hope. JR asked me if I thought it might be interesting to photo/study some pond life and critters and I thought it sounded neat. So far, it’s quite neat. Enjoy!
Today, pictures from valued commenter J R in WV.
This is a set of spring photos from our tiny drainage control pond between the rock face and the front door of our house. It is NOT a landscape pond now, it just catches the spring which appeared in the rock face not long after we moved into the new house back in the mid 1990s.
This is amphibian wildlife of the mountain forest floor, here we have frogs in their tadpole larval stage and several species of salamander, which often live in the forest floor but must have a wet pool to reproduce. Shock: there is a cat interested in the pond life!!! No cats or tadpoles were harmed in this photo shoot!
Spike, Intent on Tadpole Movement
Taken on 2008-04-06
Front porch
Spike is young in this photo, barely a cat rather than a kitten, and it’s her first look at pond life. She doesn’t like to get wet and so never attempted to catch one, no matter how interesting they were.
f/9.0 at 1/500 sec. 165 mm flash fired Nikon D70s
Salamander 1
Taken on 2008-04-06
Front Porch
A Salamander, one of dozens, but they’re very hard to catch on the surface. I couldn’t do it with my CoolPix because it had a pause between pushing the shutter button and the exposure, during which .7 seconds the salamander submerged after taking a breath.
f/9.0 for 1/250 sec. at 210mm Nikon D70s
Salamander up Close!
Taken on 2008-04-06
Front Porch
Same species, lucky closeup.
f/9.0 for 1/160th sec at 210mm
Salamander 3 – a different species
Taken on 2008-04-06
Front Porch
This species looks more aquatic than the first one. But I’m not a biologist.
f/9.0 for 1/400 sec. 210mm flash
Nikon D70s
Tiger Salamander Escaping
Taken on 2008-04-06
Front porch
The back of a Tiger Salamander escaping, these are very shy and are up to the size of a banana. They live on the forest floor under the leaf litter in burrows. The first time I saw one was when I picked up some old firewood, on the bottom of the pile, and under the loose bark was a monster lizard! I put the wood back as it was still winter, and when spring sprang I went back and it was gone into the woods.
f/9.0 for 1/400th at 138mm flash
Nikon D70s
Full Frontal Tiger Salamander
Taken on 2008-04-06
Later on I caught a good portrait of the same guy!
f/9.0 for 1/250th sec at 210mm
Nikon D70s
Another salamander
Taken on 2008-04-06
Front porch. I can hear frogs reproducing in the pond as I submit this photo set!
f/9.0 1/500th 180mm Nikon D70s
Thank you so much J R in WV, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
rikyrah
Those are great pictures. You were able to follow the little guy?
Coffee at dawn ☕
Marvelous photos! I may have to look up your camera. I am near a wetland, but can’t get shots like that.
JPL
Amazing pictures!
JeanneT
Is that an egg cluster behind the tiger salamander?
Elizabelle
I don’t mind a salamander to start my day with. Not at all.
Good photos, JR.
BroD
Super salamander shots!
Major Major Major Major
Nice!
J R in WV
@JeanneT:
Yes it is, a set of eggs. There’s another one under its chin. I’m not sure which eggs go with which species. I confess, I have a neighbor who is a biologist by training, with all the textbooks and all, and I’ve never taken the time to look these guys up in detail except for the tiger salamander, which is pretty noteworthy, with orange or bright yellow spots on a black body.
Differentiating between species is sometimes fatal to the specimens, so I won’t do that either. Lost that urge some time ago.
You need a camera that is ready to take a picture exactly when you push the shutter, as all these guys can disappear into the leaf litter on the bottom of the pond in about half a second. My first camera took much too long to make the exposure, I took hundreds of photos of dirty pond water before getting a newer model of camera.
eclare
Great photos! I got to escape my bland little cubicle for a few minutes!
J R in WV
@JeanneT:
I think those eggs behind the tiger salamander are actually tiger salamander eggs, because the growing larvae inside are already so big. Most aren’t that big by the time they hatch and start swimming. Plus the tiger salamander stayed so close to them for such a long period of time.
Kelly
I’m considering a Panasonic FZ-1000 and would appreciate any jackal’s opinions on the device and it’s competition. The 1″ sensor is a big improvement over my phone or my old point and shoot. 8×10 prints are big enough.The overall size and weight suits me. A larger sensor would make the lense larger and heavier so 1″ seems like the sweet spot for me. It’s around twice the weight of any other camera I’ve owned. The 400mm equivalent lense should be plenty of reach for the occasional wildlife shot I while walking or xc skiing. F2.8 at the wide end is nice and bright. Most shots will be landscape or grandkids. It’s been around awhile so it’s significantly cheaper than newer 1″ superzooms.