So, for tonight a few pics from near Dallas, Pennsylvania. The area is great for photos, but too busy working to get much.
Sorry about the recent miss, but summer is busy. So, for tonight a few pics from near Dallas, Pennsylvania. The area is great for photos, but too busy working to get much.
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I had more photos from my last trip to Melrose Caverns, but wanted to get up the cave shots. Here are some more pics from the site. But then I realized that this pic was more interesting sideways... And I forgot to include this frog, which was found well into the cave in a pool. No clue how it got there, but it was captured and removed to a wetland. I had a fine idea to separate and post things from Melrose in an orderly fashion. It's getting all mucked up. But here are more pics from Melrose. On 3-11 I posted a photo of a Harvestman (daddy long legs) in Grand Caverns, Va. Bill Shear was kind enough to send along a proper ID after project coordinator Carol Tiderman sent my pic to the specialists. I thank Bill and Carol for helping me out with the species ID. Identifying photos is worthy science This is a Harvestman (Erebomaster weyerensis), photographed in it's type locality (that means the original site from which it was found). Grand Caverns used to be called Weyers Cave before it was commercialized and hence the name.
Pretty cool find and hope you enjoyed the background info. First up is a bit of animal scratching on the wall A springtail (Collembola) non-cave adapted and a mosquito-like thing photographed on the surface of a cave pool (click on the photo and you will also see that the blob in the middle is also a critter of some sort). Of note, finding small things on the surface of water in caves is actually a good way to find what lives in the cave. This spider, maybe two millimeters in body size, was spotted on some dry calcite. Okay, technically this is an Opiliones, popularly known as harvestman or daddy-longlegs, and thus I probably shouldn't call it a spider even though most folks think of them as such. NEW: I have an ID. This is Erebomaster weyerensis And to finish, some hydromagnesite balloons. I will put up more pics of this bit at some point.
Melrose Caverns, located just north of Harrisonburg, VA is a former show cave (mid-1900s) that is being restored by cavers at the request of the owners. It is a win-win, as cavers get to go caving and study an interesting cave while the owners get a lot of free labor to restore the cave (a mile of electrical cable has been removed from the cave, along with many bags of stuff left in the cave either from the former commercialization or just folks who littered the cave). Having just been there this past weekend, it looks amazing. The cave is getting into great shape, history is being documented, and the cavers are doing one awesome job of things. But lots more to do, and for my part I took a few pictures. Nothing amazing, I was mostly just mostly taking macro shots, So this is part 1 of Melrose Caverns And then you go in the cave.. More to come...
Couple of things rattling around today. No rhyme or reason, just some things that might be interesting.
First up, a caving video made in Helictite Cave, near Burnsville, VA. This is a pretty spectacular video of an ongoing cave dig, and was just posted by Zeb Lilly. http://vimeo.com/83864997 And then there is this video about Smokey Mountain salamanders that is quite well done for school kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNe6W54bLkA This article about what seems like a massive scam related to bat protections in the UK is worth a look on the bat front. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9827052/Holy-bat-protection-Thats-cost-me-10000.html Last link for today. If you enjoy my macro invertebrate shots, and can handle macro invertebrate feeding pics, then this guy Nicky Bay has some pics you ought to have a look at. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/bug-meal-photos/?viewall=true And a pic for today. |
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Keith Christenson Wildlife Biologist Archives
September 2021
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