Giant NEMO devours child on birthday

Fortunately our nephew survived the attack.

The Weird Plant Thing

Galaxy Zoo

For the past couple weeks, I've been identifying galaxies at Galaxyzoo.org.

Although it seems slightly intimidating at first, identifying galaxies is a fairly simple process. After a brief tutorial and test, a series of photographs featuring galaxies are presented which need to be identified as spiral, elliptical, or merger. The images, of which there are apparently over one million stored in the database, range from distant blips on the screen to beautiful arrays of lights and shapes.

I find this to be a nice diversion during the day when a break is needed. Occasionally I capture a pretty shot like the one above.

Yumi

Young Bucks

It is probably safe to say that for every doe born, a buck is also brought into the world. However, for the swarms of doe that will grace our walks and bike rides on the many trails behind our home, bucks, even young ones, are fairly rare to find.

Today, two young boys were quietly searching for food. They weren't too happy to see me, as the picture may indicate, but they did hang around for a reasonable amount of time in the darkness of the thick trees as the sun was fading.

My guess is, as the baby fuzz disappears from the antlers, so will their calmness to folks like me who gawk over their existence. Fortunately I was able to take a soft shot of these two.

Silver Girl

Baby Praying Mantis

I was watering a sunflower plant I have growing on the deck last evening when I saw a small bug walking one of the leaves. On closer inspection, I realized it was a praying mantis - that is to say, a baby praying mantis, probably not even 1/4 inch long.

I never invested in a macro lens, but it was tempting to tell the creature to stand tight while I ran out and bought one. A wiser head prevailed and I did the best I could with a telephoto and then a wide angle lens. The shot here isn't nature book quality, but it is a neat documentation of something I had never seen before.

You're Not Mom