November 13, 2009
My buddy Alex and I both work with bats. Alex is studying the effect of controlled burns (a.k.a. prescribed fire) on bat activity. When properly implemented, controlled burns are beneficial to both the wildlife and the forest. Actually, fire is necessary for some ecosystems to persist.
Yesterday was the day for the fall controlled burns so I thought I would post a few pictures.
For this burn, the goal was to ignite the fire around the edge in a systematic fashion and let it burn toward the center. Here the guy in the background is spreading the fire around the perimeter using a drip torch.
If you are looking for “media grade” 100 ft flames than you will be disappointed. This is a controlled burn in the east not a national disaster in California.
After the fire goes through there is the long process of “mopping up.”
Water is used where need but generally a little goes a long way.
The fire leaves a nice clean forest ready for the new sprouts in the spring.
Tags: bats, forestry, habitat
Posted at 21:09 EST in Biology, Research.
October 24, 2009
It started as a cool, cloudy, wet day in this big mid-westernish city. But leaves were falling and I couldn’t resist. I hit the woods but my luck was limited at best. I did find a fire lookout tower that provided a bit of a view…
Boring I know -but hey this is Ohio. Nothing like a mountain when you’re looking… Actually I should have done better -but at the moment I was standing, if you want to call it that, on a 2×3 foot platform 80 feet in the air with 40mph winds threatening to blow everything I owned over the side. Let’s just say I was thinking a good bit more about holding on than I was about taking the picture. I did get this.
Oh well, I tried. Things got a little better when I found Cedar Falls.
Not bad, but it would have been better with less beach. It does crop to a 4×5 format nicely though. Notice that overhanging rock -I brought it out of the black by a little flick of light from my sb-800.
This turned out ok too… lucky for me. Many of them didn’t. There was this other little issue of falling things -precipitation. Not that I mind really -it helped clear out the swarms of people and my camera doesn’t mind a few drops. But my lens… for some reason I didn’t notice the drops.
I lost dozens of images to the spots. Oops. Guess next time I will pay more attention.
Tags: color, flash, weather
Posted at 21:02 EDT in Photography.
October 3, 2009
Sometimes even the simplest things in life get a little confusing when you look below the surface.
In such times it is best to lean together and hope in the end it comes out straight.
Posted at 22:59 EDT in Photography.
September 26, 2009
It seems like forever since I have been able to spend a little time out with my camera.
Finally today I slipped out to Highbanks Metro Park to get a bit of fresh air.
It was nice and wet… and getting wetter but I stayed out anyway. There wasn’t much for wildlife but I really enjoyed this snail. Trouble was he was moving -snail’s pace or not it was too fast for a picture in a dark wood. The best I could do was open up the aperture a little bit more than I would have liked and turn up the ISO.
Out of 50 frames there were a few sharp ones.
I’m hoping that it won’t be too long before I’m out again.
Posted at 23:13 EDT in Photography.
