So we'll stick with the frogs for today... Anya spotted this little fella when we were out for a nice little nature walk for her birthday last week. I am really impressed with just how simple yet effective his camouflage is. That simple dark stripe along the head really allows him to sit among leaves on the forest floor and almost disappear.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/25th sec at f/8. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Even without leaves on top of him, you can see how well he can blend in...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/25th sec at f/8. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

The other thing that I saw a ton of during this hike was mushrooms, so we'll get to those soon.

Stay tuned.

- Bill

Ok - I know I've been AWOL for like a month. I still have to process all the hundreds of photos from the Balloon Quest, and I've acquired a few other sets of photos that still need to be processed. We've had a ton of stuff going on here - most of which included construction/demolition work that resulted in being absolutely filthy and exhausted. Additionally, I purchased a new PC and was in the process of getting it setup to be the new photo processing machine. Since the construction work has been handed off to the contractor, I've been able to finish (at least mostly) configuring the PC and processed one set of photos on it last night. Let me tell you - it absolutely burns through them and certainly will make processing photos much quicker (not having to sit and wait for about 30 seconds for each photo to load will be amazing!).

Oh! I forgot... one of the days recently included a couple trees coming down after a storm. As we assessed the situation, Anya found a Grey Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor). Since this is something I've been wanting to find for years, I had to run inside and despite dim light conditions managed to get a handful of shots...

I promise I'll try and get back to posting more regularly. I really want to take advantage of all the wildlife and macro opportunities our new property is allotting me - I just need to get into a better balance of work versus play!

Stay tuned!

- Bill

Well, if you've been playing along at home, you should recall that we've had pseudoscorpion here previously... so now we have a scorpionfly as well.

Unfortunately this isn't the best image (especially since the depth of field starts to blur out on its namesake scorpion looking tail), but it was the best one I came back with. I'll have to keep an eye out and see if I can locate another one of these and get a better photo next time.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/120 sec at f/8. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Doing some quick research revealed that the tail is not a stinger like that of an actual scorpion, but rather the male genitals. Additionally, scorpion flies appear to be predatory, and this one looks like he is in the middle of a meal - let's hope it is a mosquito!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Bill

I don't seem to have much motivation to process photos these days, but I finally plowed my way through a huge stack of photos that have been sitting on memory cards waiting to be processed and uploaded. So since it has been almost a month since I've posted anything, I'll just share a big assortment today to get caught up. Perhaps I'll get out and collect some more photos here soon.

Just mouseover the thumbnails for the larger version to be displayed...

And now for some vertical oriented photos:

Thanks for viewing and hopefully I can get back to a more regular posting schedule here soon.

- Bill

Anya found this pretty little lynx spider for me the other day... Striped Lynx Spider (Oxyopes salticus). I've seen other lynx spiders before, but they usually are not very cooperative with the camera; this one gave me a good series of photos from different angles and magnifications.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Bill

Ok - I know you arachnophobes out there are going to hate this post as I put something super cute right next to something you probably think is disgusting, but I'm just so amazed by this that I have to share.

So spiders are obviously nothing new for me here, and to be honest if I was able to see them with more frequency, neither would frogs. I've always loved frogs, they fascinate me - when we owned the pet store, I had a field day buying and selling so many exotic species of frogs! I've seen some tiny frogs (breed poison dart frogs and you'll see TINY!), but I wasn't expecting what I found the other day when Anya and I took the dogs to the park for a walk.

Hopping across the path were these absolutely tiny frogs - so small that at first glance, I thought they were just crickets. However, upon further inspection I realized my error and was floored by how cute they were. We returned the next day with a couple collection containers so we could catch a few to bring home to photograph in a more controlled environment (and to not be in the way of other folks trying to use the path).

So where does the spider come in? Well, earlier in the day, Anya caught a jumping spider (a Phidippus audax... yeah, I know, I've gotten to the point where I actually know some of them by their scientific names by heart now) in our kitchen and trapped it in another one of the collection container.

Here are some photos of both the spider and the frogs at equal magnification...

1x magnification	1x magnification	2x magnification	2x magnification

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw. (for all shots)

I know - your first reaction is going to be that these photos are just on different scales and it just appears to be that they are so close in size (honestly, I think the spider is actually a tiny bit bigger), but trust me - these are accurate depictions. In fact, the lens I was using will only focus at specific magnifications, it doesn't work any other day... so if I set it to 1:1 magnification, I can only take photos at 1:1 magnification.

So I have to ask... what is your reaction to this? Answer the poll below and let me know what you think!

- Bill

Our Red-winged Blackbirds are growing quickly... it might be tough to get too many more photos because I don't want to scare the babies and cause them to try and leave the nest before they are quite ready, but for now we've been trying to document how quickly they are growing...

Six Days Old

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/160 sec at f/8. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw

Eight Days Old

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw

I never thought about the benefit of getting to experience more stages of the life cycles of the various wildlife we get to see on our new property, this is rather fun to be honest!

More coming, so stay tuned!

- Bill

Since I've been sharing photos of various bird nests, I think it is only fair I share a photo of some spider eggs...

The white ball behind this spider is full of thousands of tiny spider eggs. This mother wolf spider will carry it with her until they hatch, at which point the spiderlings will climb up on their mother's back to hitch a ride for a few days until they are ready to spread out on their own.

I've never managed to find a wolf spider carrying an egg sack before, so this was a bit of a treat for me. We stopped our work in the yard so I could get my camera and take some photos. I only managed to get three frames off before she bolted for cover and I lost her in the undergrowth, but luckily the shots I did get off turned out to be nice sharp images.

Technical Data: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

I'm trying to get caught up with processing photos, so hopefully I'll be able to continue sharing more springtime photos.

Stay tuned!

- Bill

Ok - quick post tonight to share one of the more intimidating insect faces I've seen in a while... I present to you, the Six Spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata).

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Bill

Back to the macro lens for today with a tiny jumping spider about to make a death defying leap...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/100 sec at f/8. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Hopefully all the spiders and some of the bugs (not mosquitoes and ticks and such) found somewhere warm to bunker down through this stupid last bit of really cold weather we got.

- Bill