Pics from Riverbend Park, along the Potomac River
Or not. My server won't let me post pics. Getting pretty irate at the number of times I can't post. Just a pic or three from Halloween back around 1983 at Penn State
As some bat species across the eastern US continue their declines due to White Nose Syndrome, I am posting a pic I took in 2005 in the Monongahela National Forest (West Virginia). At the time, this bat was known as the Eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus). DNA work showed that this bat is not really a pipistrelle bat, so it was renamed as the Perimyotis subflavus. Taxonomy is always on the move.
That said, this bat seems to be declining in numbers due to White Nose Syndrome infections during hibernation and it may be considered for endangered species status. These are beautiful little bats, and we can only hope they survive this plague. I generally am behind the camera taking still photos of our cave work on expeditions. But on the trip to the Gomantong Caves of Borneo last summer, Guy van Rentergem got me to talk about several of the biological bits of the caves on video. The ecology of the caves is cool, and here is Guy's latest video production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlmIOvcqong It is winter, and we get snow. Drove up to State College, PA on the front of the snow, which was coming in from the south and west. Skies were snowy and roads were still just wet as we went north. We out-drove the snow storm around Breezewood, PA, and the last run up to State College was snow free. But just because I finally got to drive snow-free, the white stuff came overnight while we were in State College. About five inches of the stuff. Beautiful, but something to deal with, I wish I were on a photo trip, as there was much to work with, but I took a few pics in State College, and here they are: And some tracks to think about... This post was supposed to go up last night, but after making the long drive home I fell asleep at the mouse and am getting it up now.
This photo, taken from a boat off Vega Island on the coast of Norway just a bit south of the arctic circle. But we were there to fish, not chase pots of gold, so I am quite sure it is still there.
Today there was a fairly big snow storm. At least for this area. We got three inches of snow. Not amazing for places north, but for here, it was interesting. I didn't give this much thought, as I have much experience driving in snow, and headed out to Lake Fairfax to see about taking some photos in the snow. Upon arrival I saw a fox in a field with a bunch of geese. The fox ran off before I could get a picture, but I did get some pictures of the geese. And, among the Canada geese was a... Wait...what? The bar-headed goose is native to east Asia and not Virginia. So, what is up with this?
Seems likely that this goose escaped from captivity, possibly from the nearby Reston zoo. No solution yet on why I found this bird at Lake Fairfax, but seems like it will be figured out soon. |
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September 2021
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