Hahaha, IDK (I think the only places that sell machetes nearby would not sell to a person that looks like me and/or do not accept refunds). Welcome to the forum, by the way!
Living in Brick City is a constant experience of disappointing realization after disappointing realization. When it comes to the nativity status of species I’ve never seen before, I don’t think I can do anything about it especially since the whole city is overpoliced impromptu “gardening” is suspicious. Also, I don’t trust CVM for everything, but when it detects another invasive I post the observation with that ID and hope someone around here can contest that with a similar-looking native species. Every confirmation of an invasive is more depressing than running out of battery, in my opinion.
Driving along, I see a Red Fox. It disappears. I fumble with the camera as it pokes its head out from behind a tree, get a terrible picture. It dashes toward a nearby bush. My photo just shows hindquarters and tail, but it’s identifiable! Hurrah! And then I woke up.
I would recommend using a hand-lens or binoculars to augment your camera if you have access to them! My phone photos are cruddy in general but it definitely helps
That darn nuisance of having to recharge your spare battery has gotten me, too…
Been there, done that for both of these. Now my charger is always in my board luggage, and I have three spare batteries in my camera bag. Why three? Because I’ve still managed to be out in the field with two uncharged spares.
Camera issues aside, I get frustrated when I revisit places, typically rock outcrops, where I used to be able to observe rare plants years ago and all that’s left since the pandemic is trampled earth or bare rock with boot prints all over. So much for getting another phenology data point, let’s settle for an observation of evidence of Homo sapiens…
My most recent frustrations came during an early morning drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, trying to get ahead of the leaf-looker crowds. Lots of people already out and about for sunrise, but that’s expected during the busy fall color season. Frustration point 1 - stopping at a popular overlook to find the rocks covered with graffiti. Frustration point 2 - another overlook with fresh carvings in the bark of the most prominent tree. Frustration point 3 - several doggy poop bags decorating the sign at the next overlook. Frustration point 4 - a long row of cars parked roadside (because the parking lot was full) on top of the ladies’ tresses orchids that grow in that roadside strip. I didn’t even make an attempt to stop at that point. I went five more miles down the road for a short hike in a spot that I knew fewer tourists explore. But even there I ran into frustration point 5 - a whole mat with a community of rare rock outcrop club mosses and lichens dislodged and flipped around with roots up, far from its original site. Someone must have ripped it out of the crack in the rocks where it was growing and carried it there before dumping it. Why do that? What do people get out of vandalizing nature? Coming across such evidence of Homo sapiens certainly puts a bit of a damper on my iNatting experience.
as well as our own best ally. Humans are more than capable of stemming most of the damage we’ve caused - we are inventive and passionate. And we can’t do that without hope.
I so badly wanted a photo good enough to ID this wasp with a stinger longer than its body. I have never seen anything like it. But it didn’t want a picture. So I ended up with this: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/322101583
Can’t see much in the photo, but I suspect it is not an aculeate wasp, but a parasitic one (I would guess ichneumonoidea, since it appears to be fairly large) and the “stinger” would be an ovipositor
My flash got too wet a couple weeks ago, and the battery stopped working. So many pics on this shot have had to be “continuous light high iso macro” which hopefully when I am processing those images wont be so bad. I have gotten it going again a couple times. But certainly is making shooting harder. Its pretty much the only device I dont carry spare batteries for. I will correct that in the future, but so far in Ecuador, none of the cities I have been through have camera shops, so not much options until I get back.
I think that this is the right place for one of my very favorite Walt Kelly “Pogo Possum” strips; drawn for Earth Day 1971 as a revision of a poster that he did for the very first Earth Day in 1970.
My other half is a professional photographer. He puts the most essential camera gear in his carry-on. He learned the hard way after he got permission to photograph a well-known country singer in the US. Qantas managed to misplace his suitcase that had the crucial lens and camera so that was the end of that show.
Only problem is that camera gear is heavy. Carry on is camera backpacks and nothing else.
I went out with my photo and audio equipment. When it started to rain, I moved from a field into a small wooded area. Because it was only raining lightly, I set up the microphone under the trees and stood nearby—quietly, so as not to disturb the recording. Suddenly, two badgers emerged from their sett and sniffed among the trees, right in front of me. Unfortunately, my camera was in my backpack. Less than a minute later, the badgers recognized me and disappeared, startled, into their sett.
Yes, so disappointing when my phone camera focuses perfectly on some random dandelion but inexplicably won’t focus on the really cool bug I’m trying to photograph haha
My twelve-year-old camera lost its On/Off switch on Saturday!! I had noticed this really cool tick questing on a bush, and took some very blurry photos due to the descending night, but then, when my hand blindly grappled for the switch (I know every bump and touch of my camera better than the back of my hand), I felt nothing. Confused, I looked down…and it was gone. I panicked, then thought, what if it fell off in the camera bag? Success! It was there! I even found how it fit in there, and planned to take it to a camera shop to see if it could be reattached. And then…it happened. I dropped the tiny switch in a bed of leaves and mud. Then I REALLY panicked and got down on my hands and knees, getting all muddy and miserable and not finding the piece. Eventually, it got to dark and I had to leave, knowing it was still out there, I even knew where I dropped it, but just couldn’t find it. So close, yet so far.
It still works to take photos, but I have to keep sliding the battery in and out because it is perpetually on…I took it on a five hour iNatting trip and it came very close to dying because of this. And now it’s malfunctioning because I kept messing with the battery…sigh…my only camera…I seriously hope it can be fixed.
