Grand Canyon of the East

I went to Niagara Falls recently, and the next day went to the lesser known Letchworth State Park, known locally as the "Grand Canyon of the East". The latter is by far the best, judging by the number of pictures I took. And Letchworth State park didn't charge an arm and a leg to look. In fact if you go in early it's free.

I've always wanted to take one of those long exposure waterfall photos.

"Grand Canyon of the East"

After years of seeing deer on a regular basis I finally had a camera ready to go.

The Lower Falls

The Lower Falls looking past the old stone bridge.

The Middle and Upper Falls and the high bridge

Fungus

The Middle Falls

Rainbow at the Middle Falls

Chipmunk

The Upper Falls

It's a boy!

According to wikipedia, this is North America's largest native moth. Definitely the largest in my backyard. Google "hyalophora cecropia" and you'll find out how impressive the caterpiller for this giant silk moth looks. It is also known as the robin moth. Typical wingspan is from 4.3 to 5.8 inches. This one was about 5 inches, and male, as you can tell by the feathery antenna.

A very impressive 5 inches or so...

A different view

It's a boy!

My First (hopefully only) Snake Bite

Today I got my first snake bite. I had three teeth to pull out of my finger, and they were quite amazing really - like little pieces of glass (with some blood). Here they are:

Don't be scared - they are so tiny I had to use a microscope for these shots

Here's the culprit when he still had all his teeth - an Eastern gartersnake. Not venomous, and according to some webpages, with a painless bite. Maybe that's if they don't leave their teeth behind.

Beautiful Scales



Mmmm - you're tasty!



You can see the tongue opening and some belly scales here

Summer Buddies

Canoe season begins for me today! Today we stopped in a little cove for a sandwich and were lucky enough to drift directly towards these guys enjoying the sunshine. If we had not been drifting we could never have got this close so quietly.

Melting ice

As an engineer I can't help but notice everyday examples of radiation heat transfer and thermodynamics. Here are a couple of leaves (good absorbers of heat from the sun) that melted leaf-shaped holes through the ice (good reflector of heat from the sun) in my yard. Even the stems left their mark. I like how the blue of the ice looks so cold. Lately our weather has been colder than Alaska some days.

Beautiful Wood Pattern

I was cutting some wood and came across this wonderful pattern of knots. Interesting, and almost perfect.

Wings...

It would be fun to fly, but my wife said no way when she saw me looking up autogyro kits online. So I keep myself content looking at wings of birds instead. They are cool.

Wild West

To me there is something uniquely American about this scenery - the dry grass, evergreens, and old rusty steel and other signs of some settlement. I just about expect a cowboy with a six shooter to ride up and say "Howdy". Taken up in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, CO.

Spending the weekend in Paris...

This is my favorite way to get away from it all: Take the canoe to Nimisila Resevoir, where there are no phones and no motorboats, just lots of birds, turtles, beavers, deer, and green.

Sharp Goose

I really love this picture because the sun was so bright that day that our cheap camera chose a small aperture and short exposure time and took the sharpest picture I have ever seen it take, with a beautifully frozen in time drop of water falling off the beak...

Osprey

I took this picture last Summer at Nimisilla reservoir. These ospreys catch fish with their large talons and turn them to point forward and be more aerodynamic as they fly back to the nest to eat them. There are at least three nests at the lake. The lake freezes over in the winter, so they go somewhere less cold.

Baby mouse...

I found this little guy in the basement. Only about 1 inch long, and very easy to catch. I let him go in the woods after taking a few pictures of him. Then I caught three of his siblings and let them go too. They were just too cute.

Dinnertime at Robin's Nest...

It's a video, so click on it and enjoy!

Sunset Silhouettes

Get my good side...

Turkey vulture: Ooh a camera - get my good side!

Turkey Vulture: No not that side - it's got no feathers on it. Try the other side.

Me: That's just one ugly bird from the neck up. But the six foot wing span is quite impressive.

I took these shots two days ago on Stoner Rd in Green, Ohio. I had smelled something dead in the area the week before, and then as I drove home after work this was right by the road and flew up as I drove by. Luckily it was still there when I went back with my camera.

Brand new...

In honor of the beginning of posting my favorite photos, here is a photo I took today of some brand new little life forms: baby robins (at most two days old).