Moon through telescope

Last night I took out my little Bushnell spotting scope and just for the heck of it took a look at the moon. I haven't looked at the moon through the scope in a while, forgot how wonderful it looks. I wondered if I could get a shot somehow with the camera, so I put on the macro lens and held it up to the eyepiece and fired away. Some of the shots were not too bad. Now I need to get another tripod and line them up for a steadier better focused shot. Of course it would be best to get a camera adapter and just attach the camera to the scope, but I don't have one yet, so this will have to do for now.

Moon

Playing with the camera past couple of nights, shooting the moon. Finally bought me a cable release for my Rebel XT. Use it once, you wonder how in heck you ever got along without it! The moon being eaten by trees was shot with the 75-300 mm zoom, had trouble seeing to get good sharp focus.

Bombus, halictid, and the purple flowering raspberries

What nectar-eating creature could resist an offering such as this? The purple-flowering raspberries, like many other plants this year, are just bursting with a profusion of blossoms. I can't recall ever having seen such large clusters of flowers on these shrubs. I wish I had more time to just stand and admire them, camera at the ready, the bees and other insects are taking advantage of the bounty.

This little halictid bee worked over this blossom pretty thoroughly. These are

among my favourite insects, one of the first bees to come out in spring and dazzle the eye with their metallic green working their way through the bright yellow dandelions.

We've been discussing Bombus, the bumblebees, on the nature list. I'm wondering how many species we have in this region, my amateur offhand observations give me the impression of 4, this without having examined them closely. There's the big ones, I call those the B52's. Then there's the "midsize guys" (gals, but don't tell the bees, it doesn't rhyme). Then there's the little duffers, mini-bumbles, about 1/3 the size of the B52's. In the mid-sized range there's the red-butt bumblebees, they have a wide reddish stripe across the abdomen. The B52s move about purposefully, with that recognizable drone. The midsize guys always seem to be in a hurry, frantically buzzing about. The little duffers act more like honeybees. It's amazing that they can fly so well when you see the size of the wings in proportion to the body. They remind me of furry little cherubs, pudgy bodies being held aloft with undersized wings, some kind of magic keeping them airborne.

Polyphemus moth

Tuesday morning (July 6) I noticed a male polyphemus moth hanging on one of the moon lights. I got my plastic box/cage and popped it in there, kept it in a cool room until late afternoon. I took it out and set it on a chunk of old wood and set about photographing it, it wasn't quite cool enough, it started to vibrate the wings. I got about 20 shots, most of them slightly out of focus due to the movement of the wings, and then it took off. This is the 3rd live one I've found this year, plus the wings of one found on the ground by the postal stop in Glenburnie.

Hairy tailed mole

Doing a little catch-up, been so brutally hot and humid this week didn't feel much like photography or chasing any critters. Got most of my work done in the mornings and then vegged out for the afternoons. Wednesday afternoon I did a load of laundry, hung it on the line, and came back down around to the house. At the spot where we stack our firewood, there was a small pile of sticks and debris left behind. As I came by I heard loud rustlings, the pile of sticks was moving, and I wondered what on earth was under there causing the commotion. 2 moles came up out of the pile, one of them ran out into the open. Fortunately I had my towel with me, I dropped it on the mole and scooped it up. Mole didn't like that, there was some squeaking and struggling in the towel. I took it into the house, and, knowing that moles can't jump, set it in the bathtub. Mole came out of the towel and skittered around on the porcelain, little feet pedalling like mad, not making much progress. I got my plastic box/cage, shooed in there, and took a closer look. It was not one of the star-nosed moles that I usually find, I noticed the nose right away, pink and pointy, sniffing in all directions. I didn't flip it over to see if it were male or female, it was a hot day, 86F in the shade and humid, I didn't want to stress the poor little thing any more than I already had. I grabbed the camera and took a few shots, then took it right back outside and set it loose about 18 inches from a hole beside the pile of sticks. Little mole sniffed about, recognized familiar territory, and made a beeline for the hole. Managed to get a couple shots of it on the ground, and one as it scrambled its way down the hole.