Wilderness Systems Commander 140

Our latest recreation toys are a pair of Wilderness Systems Commander 140 kayaks.  They are actually a hybrid canoe/kayak form and are mostly intended for fishing.  We are using them for birding and general nature viewing.  After testing a number of kayaks, these were by far the most stable for carrying the dog around in.

We are able to put both of them on our truck's roof rack.

Cardinal Nest in Roses

I have been surprised several times by a female cardinal flush out from one of our rosebushes in the driveway.  I went and took a careful peek and found a nest with three eggs.

Northern Cardinal eggs 2013-06-09 - iPhone 5

Update 2013-06-14 - Two eggs have hatched and baby birds stretching for food but not yet making any noise.  I am not sure exactly when they hatched but they are much bigger than the eggs and look like pictures of week-old birds. I am guessing they hatched very shortly after the first picture.

Northern Cardinal hatchlings 2013-06-14 - iPhone 5

Update 2013-06-16 - Sad news, checked again this afternoon and the baby birds are missing. They were still there yesterday.  I am not sure what critter got into the nest and made off with them but a larger bird is the most likely culprit as the nest itself is intact.

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction

This evening, the planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury were in conjunction following the setting sun.  The three planets formed an almost perfect equilateral triangle spanning a region the size of my thumb.  I was afraid we would not catch this event since the weather had been stormy for the previous several days.  We got a break in the clouds in the evening so Danielle and I drove out to a spot near the Lake Georgetown dam where we could see the western horizon.

In the image below, Venus is the brightest planet at the bottom, Mercury is the dimmest up and to the right. Jupiter is to the left.  Zooming in on the original image, I was able make out the moon Europa below and slightly to the right of Jupiter and the moon Callisto up and to the left.

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction - Georgetown Texas, 2013-05-26 21:45
Canon 60Da, Canon EF 70-200/f4L.  Exposure 0.5" at 200mm, f/4, ISO-200

Update 2013.05.31 - Five nights later, we had another break in the clouds though the low haze was still problematic.  The planets had now rearranged themselves to form a straight line.  In the picture below, Jupiter is in roughly the same part of the sky but is now at the bottom of the grouping.  Venus and Mercury have both climbed rapidly into the sky. Venus, always the brightest is in the center and Mercury at the top. In the upper left corner of the image you can also make out the magnitude 3.5 star Propus in Gemini.

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction - Georgetown Texas, 2013-05-31 20:58
Canon 60Da, Canon EF 70-200/f4L.  Exposure 1/10sec at 100mm, f/8, ISO-1000

Danielle also got a shot but from a different vantage

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury in Conjunction - Georgetown Texas, 2013-05-31 21:00
Canon 450D Mod/OWB, Canon EF 100mm/f2.8 Macro.  Exposure 1/25sec at f/3.5, ISO-400

White Tail Fawn Season

It "fawning" season again.  Our neighborhood has a large suburban population of whitetail deer.  For the third year in a row, fawns have been dropped inside our fenced-in backyard.  This is frustrating because the mother deer then feels obligated to harass our Labrador when we are playing ball.  This weekend, we had animal control help us move one of the fawns safely out of our yard and into the adjacent greenbelt after the dog was beat up twice.  We are still trying to get the second one out.

This is a nice shot of a fawn we found in the front yard the next day.

Whitetail fawn - Canon 60Da and Canon EF 70-200/f4L at 200mm, f6.3, ISO-2000

Update 2013.05.29 - Here is yet another fawn Danielle found "hiding" in front of our garage door behind the trash bin. It most only be a day or two old based on its size.

And here it is again the next morning.

Black Vulture

Along the San Gabriel River, near my home we have quite a number of both black and turkey vultures that roost in the evening in a few specific trees.  During the day, we usually only see them gliding high up in the sky.  I ran into this fellow by itself late yesterday afternoon in a lower branch near the water preening and flapping its wings. I am wondering whether it is one of this years batch of juveniles.  I was able to take some pictures without the usual harsh back-light resulting from aiming the camera to the tree top.

Cropped and scaled images taken with Canon 60Da and 70-200mm/f4 L  lens at ISO-2000, 1/2000sec, f/6.3.

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar on Dill

We regularly plant parsley in the backyard to feed the caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly,  Papilio Polyxenes. This year we planted some dill as well.  Today, we found a couple of caterpillars have established themselves.

When disturbed, the caterpillar extends a smelly appendage called an osmeterium from a slot in the top of its head.  The strong smell is supposed to discourage predators.  I was able to smell something different than the overpowering odor of dill, but it was not that obnoxious.  Here, the osmeterium is partially extended.

Here is another closeup of the osmeterium extended out further.  As it extends, it behaves like two fingers of an inside-out latex glove that invert as you inflate the glove.

Assuming the birds don't sneak in and eat them, perhaps we will see the metamorphosis later this year.

Hummingbird Tongues

This weekend, I was stalking the hummingbird feeder again.  The Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds were once again replaced by the Black-Chinned Hummingbird clan.  At least, for the adult male individuals present, this was the case.  With the females or juvenile males, I am a lot less certain of my identification 

I was fortunate to get a sequence one with its tongue still sticking out after feeding:

Hummingbird tongues turn out to be pretty complicated appendages as described in this interesting video. Nothing whatsoever like I had imagined.   In addition, the lower half of their beaks are able to snap shut very fast based on a "snap-buckling" effect as described in this article, allowing them to catch insects on the fly.  I had not realized how much of their diet is not nectar.

I also imaged another individual with a big dob of pollen on its beak:

It is fascinating to contemplate the fact that reflected in the tiny hummingbird's eye is a recognizable image of the backyard.

All shots taken with Canon 60Da and Canon EF 70-200/f4L lens from approximately 5ft away at 200mm,  f/6.3, 1/1250sec, ISO-2000.