The Nature Thread

Hello Bob, beautiful flower, surely the spider belongs to the same family.

Totem pole Vancouver, B.C. June 2011 Totem poles are common along the NW coast of North America. They each tell a story of the family or extended clan of that tribe of Native Canadians or Americans. They are NOT religious symbols or akin to tombstones in a cemetery. Genuine examples have only 3 colors on the wood (usually cedar). The red is from rust and ocher found in the environment, black is from the charcoal from campfires, and bluish green is from the copper (malachite) commonly found in the area. When early missionaries came to the native peoples, they mistakenly thought the totems were religious symbols and started destroying them as they attempted to convert the native peoples to Christianity. Many great totem examples were needlessly destroyed. Totems were meant to seen and read over and over by the clan's family members and then the totem was supposed to naturally decay, fall over, and continue to disintegrate on the forest floor. In the early 20th century, it took a lot of convincing of the different tribe's elders to allow permanent preservation of the totems in Canadian and American museums, parks etc.

Praying mantice in Toscany, Italy.
I love the way he seems (or is...) looking backwards at me to see what the **** I am doing...

Greetings from France,

Eddy

nothing to do with minerals but all about nature and in slow motion that will knock your socks off! Some incredible shots - a mother bat feeding on a cactus flower with a nursing bat-let holding on for the ride for instance, and sparring hummingbirds.

[www.youtube.com]#!

enjoy!

Mt. McKinley, Denali National Park, May 25, 2011. The first view is from the North side looking South and the second view is from the South looking North. The best viewings of the highest peak in North America, 20,320' elevation, are in May and early June as the mountains are usually shrouded in clouds. Only about 10% of tourist viewers see a cloud free view of the mountain. Although always covered with snow, the very top gets very, very little yearly snowfall, but no melting, just a bit of sublimation. In a few small localized areas, digging down a few inches can reveal snow that "fell" many hundreds of years ago. To climb the mountain you need a permit showing you are qualified and understand the requirements and hazards. Nevertheless several rescues are needed every year.

A crazy looking tree we found while canoeing on the flooded Pochuck Creek last fall... 90 degrees does make a difference. The reflection off the water was amazing that day.

Interesting tree, Glenn. Here is an interesting growth on a tree I encountered the other day.

A few years ago I blew a water pump near Coso Junction in Inyo County, California. While waiting for the tow truck admiring this and some other spring flowers kept me occupied. California Poppies are a hardy breed and seem to thrive almost anywhere, even in this seemingly sterile desert pavement if there is a bit of rain.



Cheers!

Steve

My all times favourite, a rare Papilio machaon butterfly. Pitured in 2010 in my Garden.
Cheers
Martin

MARJORIE GLACIER calving, Southeast Alaska, May 25 2011. Most Alaska glaciers are retreating; that is their melting and slow crumbling(calving) at their front terminal end is faster than their inexorably slow forward and downhill movement. Glacial ice starts as compressed snow higher up in the mountains. As the snow is compressed into the glacial ice, it takes on a bluish color due to change in light refraction thru the ice. Gravity and the weight of the ice starts it moving down the mountain grinding up tons of underlying rock as it moves. Water into ice is very hard to compress, but if you were to take exactly equal amounts of a routine freezer ice cube and glacial ice cube, the glacial cube would weigh a bit more and yield a slightly higher amount of water and also take a bit longer to melt. As the glacier calves, the ground up rock (silt) is deposited at the bottom of the bay or fiord (fjord), slowly filling it in from the bottom up. The water is so silty that fish and most other water life cannot live in the silty water.

This is a pic taken standing on our access driveway, today 2nd Feb. This is the10th day of a rather large flood. We probably wont be able to cross for another 5 days. All are safe and well , and we have plenty of supplies........ Greg


PS. I usually upload the pic into the message, but the pic utility upload Virginia Rockhounders I usually use has been hacked, does anybody know another similar site for uploading into messages?

This gives real meaning to the old phrase "I'll be there - the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise".

When out field collecting with your best rockhounding buddy in the US or Canadian rockies, be careful what you wish for! "You know, someday I really would like to see a Grizzly Bear!" This is a grizzly sow and 2 cubs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 2010. There are recently more casual sightings, like this one, than ever before. The easiest ways to recognize grizzlies from the brown phase of the Black Bear are the grizzlies' rounder face (shorter snout) and the hump on the back above the front feet. But, really now, do you want to be close enough to make that positive id???

These little fellows, yellow-bellied marmots, are common in our part of the world and watching them is entertaining. They can be a problem, however, as they have a fondness for rubber and they have been known to sample car parts. A couple of cubs (kits?) have been sent underground by this rather grizzled parent but curiosity get the better of him. Photo by T. Rose

Cheers!

Steve

Just in case you have ever wondered what they went through before they became deep fried rings....

Harvested onions, near Yerrington, Lyon County, Nevada, 2003



Cheers!

Steve

This gal hangs out in Amity, I've seen her about a dozen times now but this time we were lucky enough to have a camera ready.
They call them pie bald deer and I have seen quite a few over the years but I have never seen one this white, she's awesome !!! Must have something to do with the white Meionites around here LOL

Sweet Pea (AKA 'Hairball) relaxing. Just about as natural an activity as one can expect from a house cat.



Photo by Rosegraphics.

Cheers!

Steve

Buchart limestone quarry then and now. Victoria, Vancouver Is, B.C. Or rock collecting vs gardening! Late May 2011

Wow ,Looks like a place I'd want to see.

Thank's for sharing the pictures Bob.

That's a beautiful quarry Bob.

Steve, great cat photo. Here are my beasties, a Ragdoll and a Norwegian Forest Cat.