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Few pics from this Halloween. We really had a fun time, but just not much to photograph. 
Bats at house spiffy for the holiday.
Green flames at a house going big for Halloween.
And how it should be, a true devotee to the holiday.
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I like walking around Burke Lake. It is a 4.5 mile loop and with my side bits comes out to a five-mile hike. I hadn't been out locally for a while, so chose this hike to do on a beautiful day. First up, a shot of the lake and the colors. The colors weren't amazing, but they were quite nice. 
Two Canada geese on the lake in front of trees in Fall
And, how bad a fisherman do you have to be to get two of the same rigs in a tree. Well, here is a photo of two bobbers, two snap swivels, and two of the same rubber lures all in a bunch hanging in space from a tree. Someone was having a bad day. 
Bundle of fishing gear hanging from a tree. Bummer I could not reach it to throw it away. Fishing gear in trees is hard on the birds that get caught up in it.
Things started to get a bit more art-like after this, as I didn't find standard wildlife shots. So next up is a yellow jacket. It was basking on a leaf, and I had on my telephoto lens, so got the best pic I could without changing lenses. Kinda a good thing, as it flew off seconds after this photo. 
A yellow jacket. Which one, I am not quite sure of, but it looks like an Eastern yellow jacket (Vespula maculifrons)
This next photo, of an eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), I was dubious about when I took it. It had all the hallmarks of a great shot of a squirrel with fall foliage behind it, but seemed impossible to get the lighting right. I think I did okay with it. 
Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) on a sunny fall day
Two final pics. The first is of a great blue heron, a species I continually say I will stop posting pics of. But they are mostly gone from this area now, headed south, so I post this wishing them well on their journeys. 
A great blue heron fishing at Burke Lake
And then there is this. I don't post much art here, but from a photo I took today here is a sumi-e interpretation of fall in northern Virginia. 
Fall as I see it with sumi-e art
Under a big pit in the lower Gomantong Cave in Borneo, I found and photographed this jawbone. No idea if it is a fossil bone or just a modern bone. And then, there is the ID from the comments section...  Jawbone found under a pit in the Black Cave. Mr. Wallace has identified it as the lower jawbone (hemimandible) of a wild goat (Capra aegagrus). I will take him at his word, as he is far more expert on such things than I am.  A cricket from Sabah, Borneo. The genus of this cricket is under revision. Could be Diestrammena, but current literature puts it in the Genus Paradiestrammena. At the species level, it could be sarawakana, or djobergi, or a new species. As my readers know, this is not a friends and family blog, but sometimes I get a couple images at a family event and post them. This is such an occasion. My son was invited to a birthday party at a laser tag arena. Couldn't turn that down. I didn't try to get permission to shoot photos in the laser maze, although that would have been fun. Instead I just had a very enjoyable afternoon with the kids and parents (while the kids were zapping each other in the arena). So here is a pic of Matt blowing out the candles on his birthday cake. They turn off all the lights for this, so it is almost solely shot in candlelight! 
Matt blowing out the candles on his birthday cake
And I couldn't resist taking a photo of this. For a dollar you can be batman... 
Batman, the video game
I keep posting Borneo pics, as I have a lot of good photos from my last trip there.
But tonight my server won't let me post anything Sorry for the lack of a photo. kc There are three types of cave swiftlets. Mossy nest, black nest, and white nest. Here is an example of the mossy nest swiftlet. 
Mossy nest swiflet nest from the Coffin Caves hill, Sabah, Borneo
Kryptonite has always been the bane of Superman, and now there is a photograph of it close up. Not molecular detail, but the best so far. I took this photo quite a few months ago, and have lost the sample, but at least there is a photo.  Kryptonite close up This is our sixth or so visit to this corn maze. It is a lot of fun. 
A clue in the maze. Each section has a clue, where if you answer the question correctly you learn the proper direction to continue. The flags are in case you get hopelessly lost, and can wave them around and a guide will find you and get you out.
Yes, there is real corn making up the maze. And yes, they harvest it after maze season.
A turkey vulture was circling to dine on anyone who could not make it out
Among the corn, there was a lot of grass kinda things.
How to sling a mini pumpkin a long distance
An airborne pumpkin as the sling shot recoils. This shot went 150 feet
Mini pumpkins for sale.
Indian pipes are, in my opinion, wildflowers. They do not use chlorophyll for energy, but are parasitic. And all that makes them pretty cool plants.  Monotropa uniflora, a plant that needs no chorophyll. |
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