More Wildlife

 Most of the time wildlife ignores my game cameras - they're supposed to be "black", no red glow from the infrared illumination. However, sometimes animals clearly detect something they don't like. Maybe a slight glow or a high-pitched whine?

This black bear isn't sure what he's detecting.

And this coyote was also disturbed by the camera.

I think that's a bat that dive-bombed the coyote.

Sometimes you don't need sound to know what's going on!

Skywatching

2024 has been a good year for celestial phenomena, and October is the standout month!

Aurora

The aurora borealis (northern lights) were visible from most of the United States on October 10. Even our adult children could see the aurora from way south (Georgia) and light-polluted cities (Pittsburgh, suburban Chicago).

From our deck looking slightly north of east. The streaks in this 5-second exposure are airplanes. There are at least 5 planes in the field of view. The constellation Cassiopeia is at the far left.

I managed to catch an exposure mostly void of airplanes.

The sun on October 11 as viewed through a solar filter. Flares from sunspots cause the aurora a day or two later.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

We have a mountain blocking the western horizon, so we had to wait for the comet to rise a bit above the setting sun before we could see it. Then we had three cloudy nights, followed by a full "super" moon. Finally, we a chance to see the comet on October 17 & 18. On October 19 it was getting quite dim in binoculars.

October 17. The comet rises above Fore Mountain, which was illuminated by the full moon.

October 17. A closer view of the comet.

October 19. Venus is in the lower left.

A closer view of the comet.

I'm mildly annoyed that recent cell phones take better sky pictures than my Canon 77D - just point at the sky and click. The sensors and software are impressive. (Of course, they also cost more than my camera.)

Wildlife Videos

You never know when a trail cam video has a little surprise at the end.

Occasionally I've seen a rabbit or squirrel and a deer in the same photo, but these turkeys seem totally unconcerned that the deer is about to step on them!

Let's make it a parade!

Drone Pix

 Lon got a small drone as a birthday present - a DJI Mini 4K. It's super easy to fly and takes amazing pictures. It's less than 250 g, so it doesn't need to be registered with the FAA as long as it's used strictly for personal use. (You still have to take the TRUST safety course and exam before flying, but that's (1) useful knowledge, and (2) takes less than 30 minutes.)

Overhead view. We're flying from our deck.

Looking down Morris Hollow.

I stitched this panorama together from two photos, from Griffith Knob on the left side to Clifton Forge at the right.

Video works well, too.

Cloudwatching

One of our favorite evening pastimes is watching clouds from our deck. While we really wish it would rain here, we frequently get great views of thunderstorms off to the east.

July 10, 8:09 PM. Massive storm front to the east.

July 10, 8:21 PM. The southern end of the storm has changed significantly.

July 10, 8:47 PM. The tops of the storm are illuminated by the setting sun.

July 10, 8:33 PM. Radar shows this line of strong storms is almost 100 miles to the west of our location.

A nearly identical cloud from July 4, 2023 shows that storms frequent this area in July!

High Bridge Trail

 On July 5 & 6 we traveled to Farmville, Virginia to ride the High Bridge Trail.

The trail is a rails-to-trails state park that now starts in Pamplin City and ends about a mile short of Burkeville. Originally 31.2 miles long, a recently opened (April 2024) 1.1 mile extension into Pamplin City makes the trail now 32.3 miles. Farmville is very near the mid-point of the trail, and is also about the lowest point of the trail. As the home of Longwood University, Farmville has a good number of tourist amenities and makes a good "launch site".

On Friday, July 5 we rode from Farmville to the eastern end. This section includes the High Bridge - over 2400 feet long and about 125 feet above the Appomattox River. We started early to avoid the excessive summer heat, and saw a good bit of wildlife along the trail, including deer and turkeys.

The High Bridge as seen from the eastern end.

Looking down the bridge. It seems to go on forever.

The Appomattox River is near the eastern end of the bridge. It is not a very big river and quite muddy.

There are three pull-outs on the bridge. This is the easternmost one, looking east.

The High Bridge as seen on the USGS Topo Map. The built-up earthwork on the western side is impressive - especially considering that the railroad was built in the 1850s without modern (i.e. mechanized) earth moving equipment. It has obviously held up well for over 150 years.

On Saturday, July 6, we rode to the western end of the trail. It was mostly a tunnel of trees. The best part was the downhill grade from Pamplin City to Farmville - a drop of almost 400 feet in 17 miles.

At the end of the trail we both picked up our cell phones to take a picture.

The end of the trail in Pamplin City.

An interesting map of Virginia in the breakfast room of the Hotel Weyanoke - made from "tree cookies".

A closer look at the overlapping tree cookies.

Trail camera visitors

 Caught on camera in the last two weeks.

A barred owl coming in for a landing.

New born fawn.

Same fawn a few days later.

The fawn is getting steadier on its feet every day.

We've been able to see the antlers progress from barely visible stubs to a full spike over the last month or so. They're still growing and covered with velvet.

Mid-July addition: A small bear wanders in front of the camera at the front of our house.

Aurora Borealis

The Northern Lights (aurora borealis) were somewhat visible tonight (early AM, May 11) from our location at 38°N. With the naked eye, the northern sky, normally very dark, was light. Camera sensors are more sensitive to the red colors of the aurora at this latitude, so made it more visible.

A plane crossed the field of view as I was taking this 8 second exposure.

The Little Dipper in the red glow from the aurora.

Tracing the Little Dipper in the previous photo.

Castor & Pollux (Gemini) low on the horizon.

Sunday afternoon:

The source of all the auroral activity: Lots of sunspots at the maximum of the 11-year solar cycle.

Spider Webs

The spiders have been busy.

First the spiders made these small webs (about 3" in diameter). Then pollen from trees (mostly black cherry right now) stuck to the webs and made them highly visible. Finally, the evening sunlight had to illuminate them just right.

Clearly, the webs are a few days old since they are falling apart.

Turkey Time

It's turkey mating and nesting time. Since mid-March, we've been seeing turkeys on our game cameras. It's time to share.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but two hens are mixing it up.

The tom is trying his best to be noticed by the hens. No go.

So he tried to impress the camera.

Choose me!!!!

Two weeks later, it's still no interest from the ladies.

Playing hard-to-get.

Still won't notice me.

What more can a guy do?

The Bats Emerge

8 April 2024

The second big event of the day - watching the bats emerge from their cave at dusk. With over 10 million bats, the Frio Bat Cave has the second largest population of Mexican free-tailed bats in Texas - probably in the world. It’s the largest population that is accessible to the public. It can take up to three hours for all the bats to exit the cave. We watched until it got too dark to see the bats. During that hour, we estimate we saw between 2 and 3 million bats leave the cave!

The gate opens at 7 PM for bat viewing. A long line of cars had already formed for the dusty drive in.

Ready for the bats to emerge.

Bats flying out of the cave.

Bats flying out of the cave.

Bats flying out of the cave in slow motion.

The chaos of bats coming out of the cave.

The bats organize into a stream. A red-tailed hawk (upper left) is ready to pick off one at a time for his evening meal. A merlin also came for his dinner.

Streams of bats from the two main cave entrances converge.

More bat video in slow motion.

A river of bats.

The bats head out to eat insects over agricultural fields. They look like smoke in the distance. They even show up on weather radar.

An Afternoon at the Frio Bat Cave

8 April 2024

After the eclipse, we hung out at the Bat Cave, rather than leave and return later to see the bats.

One of two main openings to the cave. The other opening is usually off-limits to visitors.

The cave is still mined for bat guano during the winter, when the bats have gone to Mexico. (10 million bats produce a lot of guano!) In the past, the guano was roasted in this kiln to make nitrates for fertilizer and gunpowder.

An end view of the kiln.

Lon, with a view back to the road, parking area, and the news crew’s vehicles.

Texas Hill Country.

Our vans in the parking area, along with ready-to-ship guano. This is where we had our picnic lunch and dinner.

Since we were the only group at the cave in the afternoon, the ranch manager let us see the other large entrance. Guano operations had been suspended for the summer, but it was thick on the floor.

In addition to being a home for bats and cave swallows, there was a large bee colony in the cave.

One of several holes in the ceiling near the main entrances. These holes are too small and too steep for the bats to use.

Sage could be found throughout the viewing site.

Prickly pear cactus was also ubiquitous.

A green lynx spider eating a bee on a prickly pear.

We finally got to see a pyrrhuloxia - southern cousin to the northern cardinal.

We were entertained by a rock wren who had a nest deep in the large rocks that served as “bleachers” for the bat cave. She was constantly bringing back insects to feed her nestlings.

Rock wren with cricket or grasshopper.