Frankly It’s a Gull

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  Things have been busy around Brianland lately  thanks to some creative work going on in the Halloween Decoration arena, Project Auunoooold activities (yes, that effort is STILL going on) and. of course. the general holiday gatherings and such.  As a result, my throughput on the Blog has suffered a little and for that I apologize.  I was a little shocked today when I looked at the calendar and noticed a) I only had three posts so far this month and b) there wasn’t a whole lot of boxes left on there.  Good thing is whenever I get in a bind I can always put a bird post out and that is exactly what we are going to do today.  Ladies and gentlemen I introduce you to…
Franklin's Gull on the Mississippi

The “laughing” Gull.  Actually, that isn’t the technical name of this bird (thus the quoting), but thought it would be a clever play on the picture above.  It does look like it is having a fun time hanging out on the shores of the Mississippi River.  Linda and I were up there on a shoot  in the Quad Cities.   For the curious, the Laughing Gull pretty much hangs out along the Southeast coast of the US which puts it out of range for this particular shot.

Franklin's Gull on the Mississippi

I was out taking some shots along the shore when noticed this specimen foraging alone.  Usually I don’t spend much time on the Gulls because of their abundance and the number of times I’ve been given rude looks by locals who spot me giving them any attention at all – one things is for sure, shoreline locals HATE the Gull and don’t appreciate it when they see someone that might be encouraging them to hang around for any length of time (this especially refers to people on Mackinac Island who openly chastised me for taking a picture of Gull there – I looked at them, listened to their whine and then continued shooting but good to know where they stand).

Franklin's Gull on the Mississippi

Hit the jump to read more about this colorful Gull.

Continue reading Frankly It’s a Gull

Bugging Out

And now for something complete different.  Thought it was time to switch it up a little on the Blog and probably more of a driver to finally get a collection from the small world out of my queue.  This is one of those posts that makes me cringe through the entire process.  First, taking the actual picture puts you waaaay to close to these creatures.  Second, processing them forces you to zoom even closer into the shots to check crispiness and worst of all, researching what it is we are staring out gives me a serious case of the heebee jeebees.  Taking that lead.. here’s a bee
Small World

An immediate confession is needed here.  I suck at identifying insects and arachnids so be forewarned, I’m going to leave you hanging on some of these but most of the time I should be able to get you close.  In this particular situation close means I can identify the subject as a member of the bee family, but much more than that would be a stretch.  If threatened with waterboarding I’d take a guess that it is a Common Eastern Bubble Bee based on numerous reference shots.  On the learning side, that beige blob on the hind leg of the bee is called a Pollen Basket where the Bee places pollen grains (who’d a thought) in for the trip back to the hive.

Next up one I probably owe a HUGE apology to.   I believe this is a Big Dipper Firefly or more commonly referred to in my neck of the woods, the Lightening Bug.

Small World

The Insect Identification website (link here) makes a point to mention how harmless these creatures are and how you should never put them in a jar because it stresses them.  The good news I didn’t STRESS them by putting them in a jar.  Nope I basically slaughtered them by the thousands when I was growing with a yellow wiffleball bat.  Literally thousands if not millions.  Midwest kids are generally damn good baseball hitters for what I believe is due to the bioluminescence of these bugs — err more correctly “beetles” posses.  Every Summer night we were out in the dark smacking the hell out of them with our bats (or tennis racquets if that happens to be your sport) in order to watch the chemical light show splatter into the darkness from a well place swing.  If you can nail a lightening bug in the dark you can hit a giant baseball with ease.

Small World

I can still remember putting the bat away at the end of the night and it still glowing brightly from the night’s home runs.  It may not have been eco-friendly but it kept us from planning more devious activities.

Hit the jump to see bunch more insects collected since my last bug post.

Continue reading Bugging Out

Tell Tail Hawk

I’m back with another request for bird identification help.  I shot this Hawk while on a shoot along the Mississippi River up in the Quad Cities.
Credit Island Hawk

To be more specific, I took this on Credit Island in Davenport in the December 2012 timeframe.  Yeah, yeah, I’m waaaay behind but the good news is I’ve been able to start processing again (now completed Jan and Feb of 13 in a desperate attempt not to fall more than two years behind).  Enough about my struggles … we have a bird to talk about!!!

Credit Island Hawk

This particular Hawk was a surprise find while out on the island looking for Eagles.  They tend to congregate along the Mississippi providing an excellent opportunity to expend the portfolio.  Having hit our standard shooting spot, we took our normal loop through Credit Island.  The Eagles along that stretch of the island have figured out they can hunt in peace in the large trees across the channel so pickings there are usually thin – from the Eagle opportunities.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunities for other feathered friends and sometimes even those with fur.

Hit the jump to read more about this Hawk.. oh, and my guess to what it is

Continue reading Tell Tail Hawk

Seeing Red

Figured it was about time to tear myself away from robotics and animatronics for a bit to at least get a quick post out.  I’ve been spending a lot of time working up some new Halloween prop structures to add to my Haunted Trail collection next year.  I know, I know it is a long way from now (Linda reminded me of just that fact earlier today), but my new PVC form structures design is now fully jointed and just begging to have some servos added to it.  I haven’t worked with this stuff since college so a little rusty on – watching a lot of videos and reading what I can to figure out what options are out there.  Tomorrow is a run to Menards to get some materials to make a few motion sensors as a start.  When I noticed it was suppose to snow (again) tomorrow including our first accumulation. I thought it was fitting to feature a post on one of my favorite Winter subjects.

Cardinal

That’s right, the Northern Cardinal.  There are a few things I always find very pleasing from a composition perspective and one of them is photographs of Cardinals in the Winter months.  Typically the Winter days can range from a rather drab day to an all out white out depending on how the season is going.. oh sorry, maybe I should refer to it as “how the ‘climate change’ is going” just to fit into the cool crowd that doesn’t realize climate is suppose changes when you move out of California.  The best part of photographing Cardinals is it doesn’t matter how bad the weather is, the Cardinal always stands out against whatever backdrop you happen to be around.

Cardinal

These happened to be taken in our backyard a year or so back.  If there is one bird we have plenty of here in the Midwest it is the Cardinal.  I think my record for number of those fiery birds is 26 at one time.  They definitely like our feeders with Sunflowers.  By nature, these birds tend to hit the feeders, grab some seed and then fly back to the safety of the branches in the trees just off the porch – definitely not at the same skittish degree as the Nuthatches or Chickadees).  It is always better for us nature photographers when you have a predictable subject.

Cardinal

Hit the jump to see some more shots of this beautiful bird .. and maybe I’ll throw in bonus bird!

Continue reading Seeing Red

A Screaming Redemption

Screaming Pumpkin Race 2014

Greetings all!  I bet the doubters out there were all a buzz about it being soooo late in the month and the post count was stuck at FIVE.  No worries although for the record the amount of pictures and text in those five easily exceeded a standard month’s output.  I even told you the theme of this offering during the last.  Of course, those long time followers assuredly know that the end of October typically brings with it the last official race of the year.  Once again, I was able to field a team to compete in the Screaming Pumpkin Half Marathon Relay (link here).

Screaming Pumpkin Race 2014

Hit the jump to see more pictures and reveal how this race went for us!

Continue reading A Screaming Redemption

No Porcupines, but At Least a Deer

Guessing those who read my last post may need some Um to counteract the scary Yang from the last post.  I was looking through my queue of posts and noticed this set of shots.  Nothing says calm and tranquility like a shot of a harmless deer!
Deer in the Porcupines

There, your nerves should be returning to normal.  This also seemed appropriate due to the fact that my local park, where all my training occurs, is loaded with people trying to kill these creatures.  Nothing says a training run like jogging past a person coming out of the woods in a Ghillie suit.  One thing for sure is the deer population is down in our specific area which is often referred to as Big Buck Country.  In fact, I have not seen a buck this year at all and just a few does that have crossed the road ahead of me while coming home from work.  In the past Chronic Wasting has been pretty hard on them, but as of late the main killer has been Bluetongue which is a particularly nasty insect born viral disease.

Ooops, I think it heard me say that.

Deer in Porcupines

Hit the jump to see and read a bit more about this particular shoot – oh, and see something I haven’t done for a loooooong time.

Continue reading No Porcupines, but At Least a Deer

How Far Will You Go – The Haunted Trail 2014

Time to get back on the path.. the Haunted Path that is!  As mentioned in previous posts, we held our Annual Halloween Cookout October 4th.  This was earlier than usual thanks to a race I participate in being moved from a Friday to a Saturday.  Although it was stressful in the past having the race on Friday night it allowed me just enough time to get everything in place to have the party the following night.  Then we were overlayed with a friend’s party that pushed us to the early October slot.  One thing for sure, it was definitely better going not having run a half marathon the night before.  Unfortunately there was a lot of rain leading up to the party date, but luckily it broke on the 3rd allowing me to finish clearing the trail and getting at least the danger areas cautioned off.  That left me an early morning to start getting things in place for standard elements (firewood, torches, general cleanup).  My friend Paul came over at noon and we started the long process of setting up the trail.  This year we made a couple of key changes.  The first thing we did was cut the path short and utilized a loop back to the start.  That essentially eliminated a very steep hill our guests had to navigate at the end.. in the dark – we definitely got some thanks for that.  The second major change is this year we took a different approach to the decoration order.  Last year, you may recall, we produced some tears (link here).  A badge of honor for us.. but probably not the nicest thing to do to your unsuspecting guests.  To address that we opted for a “How Far Will You Go” approach.  Translated – the farther you go .. the scarier it is likely to be.  Your choice, turn back whenever you start getting uneasy or the kids start shaking.

For starters, the path has grown over the years and now has more decorations than I can feature in this post.  Instead, I’ve picked out a few shots of new decs or wanted to provide a few comments on.  The full trail can be found on the EddieSoft Gallery Site (link here).  Be sure and check that out to experience the full Haunted Trail experience.

So, the start of the trail was filled with the tame air-blown decorations.

Haunted Trail 2014

Nothing too scary here and something the kids will have no problems with.. unless they happen to be afraid for large purple arachnids in which case maybe not so good of a start.

Haunted Trail 2014

Hit the jump to experience more of the trail .. if you dare!

Continue reading How Far Will You Go – The Haunted Trail 2014

Little Boy Blue

Like the old adage says “All Scary and No Aviary Makes the Heart Grow Wary”  So that doesn’t happen to all my precious readers out there I’m going to give you a break from the recent batch of Halloween posts to bring you a bird shot.  This particular set of shots was taken  during our Red Rock Canyon visit back in November 2012.  Now I’ve featured the Mountain Bluebird before (link here) and the Eastern Bluebird (link here) has even made an appearance once or twice, but this is the first time I’ve brought out the Western Bluebird!

This little bird was hanging out not far from the side of the road fairly close to the entrance.  This happens to be another one of those classic times when I really thought I was just shooting an Eastern Bluebird and really didn’t think much of it at the time.  The Eastern was already checked off my list, but I NEVER pass up a bird in the field.  Time and time again I go into the digital darkroom thinking one thing only to come out fully surprised.

Hit the jump to read more about this colorful bird!

Continue reading Little Boy Blue

Project: The Rise of Thanatos

I’m back with another new addition to the Halloween Haunted Trail!  Surprised I can still function after writing the last post on a Killer Clown shudder (link here).  While I was on the subject of Halloween decorations figured it made sense to go ahead and post about the other decoration that consumed all my spare time leading up to our party.  I have to give Pinterest a little bit of credit on this one since someone had pinned a picture of a Grim Reaper decoration.  There wasn’t any instructions with it and it really appeared to be more of a professional prop than a DIY.  That picture sparked an idea of creating something similarly themed.

2014 Halloween Decoration - Grim Reaper

What do you think?  I basically leveraged some of the clown structure ideas but the bulk of the frame was a lot simpler.  Linda slipped a bit on standards for her decoration night shots and ended up clipping the right eye on although it does look pretty sinister – just know that it does indeed have two glowing eyes.  It is also pretty tall – forgot to measure it before I put it away, but it is up there!

2014 Halloween Decoration - Grim Reaper

Like last time, hit the jump if you want to see how this was designed and constructed

Continue reading Project: The Rise of Thanatos

Project: Gonna Need New Shorts

It appears the teeming millions are getting restless and have moved on to outright taunting and casting disparaging remarks on the lack of output this month.  Normally I would give some elaborate excuse as to why I’ve been negligent from my duties all in an effort to mask likely pure laziness.  Fortunately, in this particular case I’ve just been really busy.  The first part of this month was dedicated to the Annual Halloween Party and the days since them has been either spent on my day (often leaking into nights as of late) job or processing hundreds of photos for this and upcoming posts.  In an effort to prevent burning effigies figured it was time to get something out…I don’t want to here anything about nightmares out there.. you demanded a post.. I picked this one!
2014 Halloween Decoration - Killer Clown

If you are like me, you are probably looking for another pair of shorts about now.  Before you grab your AR’s and head into the woods, I should assure you this menace is just a decoration.  Anyone that has been a reader of this blog in the month of October know I enjoy Halloween even more than Christmas.  Each year we have our Annual Halloween Party and along with it usually comes a homemade decoration to add to the collection.  A popular part of our party is the Haunted Trail (link here).  Each year it gets bigger and bigger and each year my additions get more elaborate.  This year was a big year for new designs.  This killer clown was one of two for this year – yes, you will get to see the other one in an upcoming post. Here’s a night shot from the trail .. damn, this thing still scares me every time I look at it.  Thought it would provide some therapy to get over my phobia .. failed

2014 Halloween Decoration - Killer Clown

Hit the jump if you want to see how I went about making this decoration.  The best part of this is that it gives me an easy platform to produce new additions for years to come.  There were three goals going in – “scare-ability”, “pose-ability” and  “storage-ability”.  Think I hit this one out of the park!

Continue reading Project: Gonna Need New Shorts