I have been limiting my blogging activities lately due to trying to figure out what is grabbing resources at my web host. I ‘ll post more about it when it is resolved. Until then, I’ll share a new image shot in my backyard recently. I still intend on doing my “Every 10 feet” project, but haven’t been able to dedicate some quality time to it yet. What attracted me this particular set of stamen were their alignment and their ‘standing tall’ presentation. Sunshine was also coming in from the side giving the translucent tubules an incredible glow.
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Please bear with any possible issues any visitors may be having here, or comments not showing up. I am experiencing some issues with my hosting service that I am trying to resolve. I already lost some updates and perhaps a few comments. Thank you for your patience. It is the first time I am experiencing this particular issue with my host of “Excessive Resource Usage” and think it may be related to some WordPress plugins I have installed.
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a tract of wet, spongy land, often having a growth of certain types of trees and other vegetation, but unfit for cultivation.. Swamps were generally seen as useless and even dangerous..
These are a couple of definitions I pulled off the web regarding the word ‘swamp.’ I have often wondered about the negative associations with this habitat and their origins. The references to ‘unfit for cultivation’ probably gives a lot of hints about the historical negativity. If a piece of land cannot be used by man – it is deemed ‘useless.’ That says quite a bit about our regard toward certain habitats. What an arrogant species we are to label and assign value to everything according to our use for it. We see this same thinking pattern in arguments for pro-drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, that it is a barren, useless piece of land. To humans perhaps.
So today I went photographing in Lakeville Swamp, a preserved area covering 76 acres with more than 400 species of native plants. There is no camping, no hunting, no bike path, no boating – only a simple primitive path. I went specifically for Showy Lady Slippers as this is their blooming time of the year and happen to only grow in swamps. It never ceases to amaze me the diversity of plant life found here. Clearly some species find this type of land of great value, and in many other swamps across the country. On my way out I noticed this cedar tree root looked like an eye. I couldn’t help but think it was the “Swamp Spirit” watching this human cautiously and with suspicion.
Have no fear Swamp Spirit, your land is protected here – regardless of what some may consider the worth, others know the true value. We leave you to manage yourself, and may only visit now and then to say hello. (But if you could do something about those mosquitoes..)
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I don’t spend enough time in my own yard photographing the many critters that come to visit here. I have been pretty fortunate to catch a few rare ones, like the Coopers Hawk that was visiting for awhile. But I haven’t really spent enough time photographing the more “common” visitors, like squirrels and chipmunks. Both of them are pretty comical to watch at times, you would think I have thousands of pictures of both. But I don’t.. hardly any actually. So I am going to make an effort to change that.
I happened to really like this particular shot of this chipmunk that I just shot today. Â. Life is hard as a chipmunk – just when you get your ears pierced, some other jealous one wants to rip it away. Â. 
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I heard a fantastic story on my NPR podcast today, an interview with the authors of a new book on the songs of insects, Wil Hershberger and Lang Elliott. You can hear it here. As they mention in the story, there is an abundance of information about bird song, even frog songs, but hardly any (perhaps this is the first) on insect songs. So these guys decided to tackle that area in documenting these particular sounds of nature.
We all hear them in our backyards, or through our walks in the woods – and it is terrific that these guys have put together something that allows you to associate the song with the type of insect. Wil and Lang have also created a site and a blog in promotion of the book and this area of study, so check those out also.
Good work guys, looking forward to receiving my copy.
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