Thursday, April 2, 2009

"My Town" Wild Animal Shoot Out

Those of us who know our very talented Butler and Bagman think Bagman tried to play a practical joke on us by trying to send us all out into the woods to stalk lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my! But Butler made it a little clearer.

I did my "jungle" time in places like Cambodia and Thailand, so unless I am paid to stalk anything in the jungle or even my back yard, I will take the easy way out. Being extra busy this week, I did.

Ans since there are no rules in our town shoot offs, instead of stalking I shot what was in front of me (except for one photo that I will explain later) while out on regular assignments. To make my photos more interesting, I filtered all except one.

Oh, we have a few new additions to our town shoot out this week, so please take time and visit their sites and see what other photographers came up with. We are all dying to see what B&B has in store for us.

Stay tuned for our Friday 13, assignment.


Be sure and click to enlarge all photos for filter effects.


I will start with buzzards. Being that we are surrounded by marshlands, we have a lot of buzzards around these parts. I find them quite interesting.

Drying the wings.



An unsuspecting kayaker passes a Turkey Vulture that seems to have an eye on her.


These buzzards were fighting for a perching place on top of the chimney on one my favorite old houses.



Taking off.



For you continued vulture enjoyment, here are some facts:

The Turkey Vulture is protected by international Migratory Bird treaties. It is against the law to kill one in the state of Maryland.

They enjoy playing games. Almost every evening when they return to the roost there will be about half an hour of follow-the-leader, tag, and speed soaring, if the winds are favorable.

Turkey vultures can raise only one brood a year, consisting of 1 to 3 (but usually 2) blotchy-looking eggs. Both parents share the responsibilities of incubating and caring for the brood.

Turkey Vultures are often seen standing in a spread-winged stance. This is called the "horaltic pose." The stance is believed to serve multiple functions: Drying the wings, warming the body, and baking off bacteria.

The Turkey Vulture's primary form of defense is vomiting. The birds do not "projectile vomit," as many would claim. They simply cough up a lump of semi-digested meat. This foul smelling substance deters most creatures intent on raiding a vulture nest. It will also sting if the offending animal is close enough to get the vomit in its face or eyes.

In some cases, the vulture must rid its crop of a heavy, undigested meal in order to lift off and flee from a potential predator. In this case, the regurgitated material has not yet been digested. Most predators will give up pursuit of the vulture in favor of this free edible offering.

The Turkey Vulture often directs its urine right onto its legs. This serves two very important purposes. In the summertime, wetting the legs cools the vulture, as the urine evaporates. In addition, this urine contains strong acids from the vulture's digestive system, which kill any bacteria that may remain on the bird's legs from stepping in its meal.

On the flip side, they also defecate on their feet to keep them warm.

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Seagulls are not rats with wings.





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A redbird sitting in a tree with his back to me.



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Pigeons sittings on wires.



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Blue Herons.




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A bevy of birds.



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Quackers





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Seagull and Pelicans.



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Shells and one of our famous Maryland crabs.





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Caught this cat (can I say tiger?) stalking prey.



If I had not been there his prey would have been this squirrel. This little fellow was on the other side of the bushes so engrossed with his prize, he did not detect the cat. I did not filter this photo because that cute little acorn in his mouth would have been lost.



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Speaking of tigers, here is one at out door. Oh, don't feel sorry for her. She was enjoying the screened back porch and heard us opening a can of cat food. We are slaves to our cats, nothing more than automatic can and door openers.



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I took this last year. OK I cheated a little. These are cows in corner of our backyard. Being from Georgia, cows are an everyday site. But around Crisfild, we just don't have too many cows, and I have no idea where they came from. But if any of you know a what black cow box is, there are standing by it.

A black cow box is a black box made out of plywood with screen on top. The bottom is open and black flies, not being very bright, fly up under the screen and die. The black cow box got it roots at some ag university that was trying to find a way to lesson black fly problems on farms. It sure works. When the black flies head our way for the season, the black cow box keeps our yard fly free. Guess those cows were pretty smart. Anyway, they left a few hours later. Still have no idea where they came. Perhaps alien cows?



I know buzzards don't say much about our town, but they were in my line of site, and so I shot them.

Crisfield, however, is teaming with beautiful wildlife, so we invite "all ya'll" (I said that for Si) to come on down, up, or over, and enjoy the beauty that can be found all around our town.

If you fancy taking to the woods, you just might meet some big game, or even an alien cow or two. And don't forget, we have the best fishing around these parts. If you don't have a boat, check with one of our head boat fishing captains.

If you are not up for fishing bring some string and try a little "chicken necking" for crabs. Whatever you do, Crisfield is a great place to kick up your feet and forget about the world.

22 comments:

GingerV said...

this was great, I love the special effects. you say filter - on the camera or special effects from an edit program? I think (except for your other web site) these are your best yet.

aurbie said...

GingerV: Thanks. I have camera filters but they are such a bother. I have the full Adobe Photo CS3 Professional. It is expensive but it does about about a million things. I figured since my subjects were a little on the boring side I would make them into art using the filters.

Vanessa Bates said...

hahaha! Your kitty must be spoiled :) These were too cool!!

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

Great shots Patty and a day early to boot!!
I'll go ahead and post mine early as well. GingerV has already picked the subject for next week since we told her it was her turn.
I love your pictures :)
Have a great weekend and....

Steady On
Reggie Girl

hensly said...

Great job with the filters. (I gotta get a copy of CS3) I also liked the picture of the Maryland blue crab... Crab Cakes, Mmmmm!!!

Cherie/ Butterfly Dreamer said...

I love birds and I especially love redbirds. Great work !

Loida of the 2L3B's said...

Dearest Patty,

Yeah, Butler and Bagman really made me do the yucky thing.. Dug the sleeping worms from their slumber just for this shoot-out..

This is why I love your blog so much.. You made me long to go there as always.. You see, there's no buzzard or any big wild birds here in Shenzhen (at least in my backyard). I suspect, some birds feels they will always be in the brink of being eaten.. Threatened here that's why they are all there in Crisfield, enjoying their stay and feeling safe.

The Chinese loves to eat exotic and out of this world fauna. Thanks to your International Migratory Bird Treaties. I hope Shenzhen should start to comply with that too.

Besides, it is so hard to take a photo of what's left here.. They are too small to get shot at..(see my wildlife shoot out). Ohh being too small maybe the reason why they still exist. Because they are "too small" to get eaten..

Well, just a thought.. :(

Bagman and Butler said...

Wonderful! And I think there is a big difference between having the full Adobe and using it...mastering it. The full Abobe. I like the sound of that. I also love your pictures and blew them all up.

Barry said...

I cheated (a lot) with mine this week too, including a shot of a stuffed animal!

Drat that B&B!!!

Of course your cute little kitty stole the show, but the shot I liked best were the pigeons on a wire. That's such a dramatic picture! But even enlarged I can't figure out what that background is?

Help.

Gordon said...

Patty, you really put thought and effort into your posts. I enjoy them very much. Than you for the great shots, and the insightful commentary. Gordon

The Pink Birdhouse said...

Patty, would saying that you have great pictures be an understatement!! I love the one of the crab, I can almost taste those Maryland crab legs now, YUM! And my other favorite is the squirrel, mostly cuz I am so partial to them. I love to watch them in the yard here running around the tree, chasing each other. Ours are the red ones, and a couple of years ago a mommy had her babies out of the nest, and was carrying them one by one in her mouth back to the tree! If ONLY I had had my camera right then and there, what a great pic it would have been. I never forgot that little motherly act, and how sweet the baby was dangling, and watching me as mommy walked past me at the front door as if to say, "save me, I don't want to go back to the nest just yet"!! :-)

Si's blog said...

Great pictures. You did a fantastic essay.

Did not get the word, have been away from blogging for a couple of days, so did not see about "wild animals". Guess mine for today is about wild plants.

Do have one wild animal standing there holding a couple of flounder.

HalfCrazy said...

I have to agree with Reggie Girl. Good thing the Town Shootout doesn't have any rules else I wouldn't have posted my version of Wildlife LOL.

I really like the filter effect in the Turkey Vulture photo! That's a great shot, both are unaware that you're taking a photo of them!

Those are some nice facts! I especially like their form of defense!

aurbie said...

Thanks everyone! I have visited all the sites, and I think everyone used their skills and imaginations in unique ways. It was a fun assignment. I have been rushed all week, and I have more rushing to do today. I hope to make a few posts and do some more "visiting" later this evening, as well as catch up with some emails.

I think St. Augustine joined us last week. This week, Hawaii joined us. Please everyone, take time to click the above links and do a little wild animal visiting around the world. We are better than National Geographic!

Next week's Friday Shoot out from Ginger V, first 3, 4, or 5 blocks on your "Main" Street. Some of you may have to improvise. That is what makes this all the more fun. Remember the rules are, "No rules."

Missy said...

I like your filter effects. I did post my photo shootout but only wild birds LOL. You got plenty of photos but I like the most is the solo duck :-) so cute

Tess Kincaid said...

I especially like the "taking off" shot. And cool effects, too. Fun post, Patty!

Sarah Siwicki said...

The effects were pretty neat :) Love the squirrel with his acorn, too cute !

Girl Tornado said...

I love all your wildlife shots, and all the info on the turkey vultures is VERY interesting, thanks for the background. Very neat filter effects! Oh, and your kitty is quite adorable. :)

Kathy in CA said...

Love the filters! So intriguing. :) I had to "cheat" a little since our wild turkeys aren't out and about in great numbers yet this year.

Thanks for sharing!

J9 said...

OK, I finally got mine up, and your's are phenominal as always. I especially enjoyed the crab image!

Unknown said...

Patty,
Love your shots...I enjoy "filtering" my shots as well, using flickr pro...the Full Photoshop rocks however...

The assignment was a blast! Can't wait to go back out again...

http://lifeiznow.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Hi, My name is Jenni, I am now stuck in TN, but I miss Maryland so, so much. We lived in Chrisfield for about 3 years. I am trying to locate our old pastor, his name is Bob Sariccio. I would very much like to find out where he is now. I think he moved to Fla. We were there in - 1999 - 2000 - 2001. I want to say the the church we were attending is a Assembly of God Church. Anyway, if you have any ideas of how I can find "Pastor Bob", I would appreciate it. Thanks, Jenni