MicroSafari – Stentor the MicroTrumpeter

This episode of my Microsafari series features one of the most distinctive single celled protists - Stentor! Watch this video and learn why I call it the "MicroTrumpeter". I hope you enjoy this foray into the micro world and feel free to share this with all the young (or old!) science lovers in your life!

The entire series can be found on my YouTube Channel.

MicroSafari – Snakes on a Slide!

With apologies to Samuel L. Jackson's film "Snakes on A Plane," I could not help but title this Microsafari episode "Snakes on a Slide" because that is what most of my students think of when they see the long snakelike ciliate protozoan named Spirostomum. As you'll see in the video they hold a world record and are important in many aquatic ecosystems! 

I am creating these Microsafari explorations to open up a new world of science exploration to young people --- please feel free to share these with the young scientists in your life as well as with any science teachers you know! It's greatly appreciated! If you want to find more Microsafari stuff- I'm using the hashtag #MICROSAFARI to allow folks to follow & share these more easily! 

2013 Blue Lion Year in Review- Part 1 of 6

As 2013 winds down and I review my photography of the year, I have been enjoying spending time looking over the images I have produced this year. 2013 allowed me to explore my true love of nature photography through my amazing trip to South Africa and the Ngala Game Reserve in July as well as more local spots such as the Hagerman National WildlifeRefuge in North Texas, and the jewel that is the Texas Discovery Gardens in Dallas. I was also able to “shoot” some people in 2013 as I explored more Civil War reenactment photography at local events in Texas. Thanks to my wife’s love of theater, I have also started to dabble with doing cast images and some head shots of local community theater productions here in the Dallas Metroplex.

For this year’s review, I have selected 30 images that represent a combination of my personal favorite shots as well as my most widely viewed images on my website (http://www.bluelionphotos.com), social media such as my Facebook page and my Twitter account (@BlueLionPhotos).

This review will occur in six parts with this post being my 10 “honorable mention” images. The remaining top 20 images will be divided into four more postings until the final image in revealed in a posting all by itself.

 I hope you enjoy this journey through my photographic year – I welcome your comments below as I savor getting to know how my images impact you the viewer! Each of the images is viewable and available for purchase by clicking on the image here, which will take you to my website. 

Young Lioness ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

Perching Owl Eye ~ Texas Discovery Gardens, Dallas, TX

Watchful Cheetah ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

"Fence Sitting" ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

Young Male Lion ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

Northern Harrier Hawk ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

Spring Blue Bird ~ Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Glen Rose ,TX

Hedwig  - I was thrilled to meet one of the actual "avian actors" who played the part in the Harry Potter movies.

Ellies at Sunset ~ Ngala Game Reserve, South Africa

Blue on Blue ~ Hagerman NWR, Sherman, TX

Continue exploring the next five images in my 2013 Countdown - http://bluelionphotos.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-blue-lion-year-in-review-part-2-of.html

A Primate Primer: Part 2

Today's post is the second episode of my introductory presentations on primates. This longer video covers some details about prosimians, New world monkeys, and Old world monkeys. The video concludes with a look at my assessment of some of Hollywood's most famous primates....


Just click on the video to view it. I recommend clicking the "full screen" icon in the lower right to make the video larger. I look forward to your feedback!

A Primate Primer - Part 1

This post represents the beginning of an expansion of the scope of the Blue Lion Blog to include my work with biology education as well as my nature photography. Over the more than 20 years of teaching, I have had lots of parents express a desire to be able to visit my classes to learn some of the topics their children come home and talk about over the dinner table. In order to make this something of a reality, I have decided to take certain concepts and create  short five to ten minute videos that can serve as introductions to topics that are not always covered in traditional biology classes. Over time, I hope to develop a wide range of these videos that can serve as a mini course for people who wish they knew more about science, but never has a positive science experience in school. 


Initially, the choice of topics will relate to what I am teaching in class as these productions will serve my middle and high school students as well as the readers of the Blue Lion Blog. As such, the first "installment" deal with and introduction to primates as that is the topic of the coming week for my students as I prepare them to better understand human evolution. 


Just click on the video to view it. I recommend clicking the "full screen" icon in the lower right to make the video larger. I look forward to your feedback!

THE TOP TEN BLUE LION PHOTOS OF 2011 - Post 1 of 6

    Now that the rush of the Christmas season is over and I have some time to start reflecting on the year that has been 2011, I thought I’d share with you the most viewed images from the Blue Lion Photos website this past calendar year. A major aspect of this year has been the growth of members of the Blue Lion “Pride” from all over the globe. 2011 saw visitors from 108 different nations representing 2847 cities look at the posts here on the Blue Lion Blog.

In addition to the geography of those visitors, social media has given me four audiences. While there is overlap between them, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Networked Blogs allow me to offer each audience a unique mix with the images I post to each platform. As such, different Blue Lion followers may have seen different combinations of the photos I am presenting here as the “Top 10” photos of 2011.

I shall be posting these images in pairs until I reach the top two. These will be presented individually, culminating on New Year’s Eve with The most viewed Blue Lion Photo of 2011.

NUMBER 10: “Pretty in Pink”

 

This Pink Flamingo was photographed at the Fort Worth Zoo. Their pink color is due to the presence of carotenoid pigments in their diet. These same pigments cause shrimp to turn pink when they are cooked. Flamingos living in areas without much carotenoid will have a much paler color.

NUMBER 9: "Artist Point at Yellowstone Falls"

This is the famous view of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River as seen from Artist Point on the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Ansel Adams made this location famous when he photographed it in 1941. Back then, Ansel had the chance to get closer than park visitors can today, so modern takes are slightly different!

Come back tomorrow for the reveal of the 7^th & 8^th most viewed Blue Lion Photos of 2011.

Thoughts on an Eagle's Eye.....

After having a great morning at the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center (BPRC) here in North Texas, I thought I'd share an image that I talked about with fellow photographers at the BPRC today.

In particular, we were discussing the fact that owls have small feathers on their eyelids and the discussion got around to the additional fact that many birds also posses a nictitating membrane which serves as a "middle" eyelid that allows the bird to blink without having to move the larger outer eyelid. The nictitating membrane allows most birds to blink but lets them to retain their vision as the membrane is usually semi-transparent. This membrane also moves differently from the usual eyelid as it closes horizontally over the eye rather than vertically. Occasionally when photographing birds, you may capture this nictitating membrane in mid blink and it creates a most interesting view as you see here. In this image I think the eagle looks like it could be a character out of the X - Men comics and movies.

Tawny eagle with nictitating membrane in place.

Here's an image of the same Tawny Eagle moments later....

By the way, you do not posses a nictitating membrane, but the corner of your eye next to your nose does have the remnants of an vestigial nictitating membrane called the plica semilunaris. To see other interesting animal postings, visit Camera Critters!

Beautiful Indian Blankets

I was very pleased earlier this week to discover a field of one of my very favorite native Texas wildflowers growing less than a mile from my house! Once the weather  and wind cooperated I was able to get out today and shoot some of theseWonderful flowers. They go by several names, the most popular of which are Firewheels, Indian Blankets, and Sundance flower. the scientific name is Gaillardia pulchella . The genus name is in honor of a French legislator who was a patron of 17th centrury botanical research, Gaillard de Charentonneu.

The name Indan Blanket cones from a Native American legend that a weaver wanted to honor the Great Spirit by weaving a blanket that had all the colors of the sunset. Upon his death, he asked to be buried in his masterpeice so that he could present it to the Great Spirit in the Afterlife. As recogition of the gift, the Great Spirit covered the plains in this flower.

This flower was significant to the Aztecs as well, but for a vastly different reason. Their story of the creation of this flower was that it was originally pure yellow. However, once the Conquistator Cortes spilled the blood of the Aztec people, the center of these flowers became stained red.

This widely distributed flower is found as a spring bloom in much of the south & southwest and a fall bloom farther north. It prefers full sun and dry soils. Gardeners compalin that if you water it "enough" it does very poorly. As such it's a great choice for a garden trying to conserve water!

And Justice was Served....

To honor the work of the brave soldiers who helped bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.

No more needs to be said.

Click in the images to see either in their original gallery

Visit Wordless Wednesday for more non-verbose offerings....

Nature's Fury

This week across the United States has been an amazing week for severe weather. Twice in the past few days North Texas has had brushes with severe weather in the form of high winds, hail and multiple tornadoes. Luckily for me, our town of Allen missed out on the worst of it, but we did have a stunning display of one of Mother Nature's greatest predictors of severe weather. These photos show the mammatus clouds that formed over much of North Texas on Monday afternoon in advance of an outbreak of severe weather. These clouds frequently serves as advance warning of a severe thunderstorm before it actually arrives.

The one thing these images do not convey is the sense of motion that occurs with these systems. In the span of only a few  minutes the lobes of these mammatus will shift and change. This gives the atmosphere a feeling that it is "boiling" in advance of potentially "apocalyptic" storms.

Click in any of the images to see it in the original gallery.

I hope you avoided this week's nasty weather and can enjoy these images from the safety your computer!

EASTER BUNNIES!

To everyone celebrating the Easter Holiday here's one of my favorite images. It's titled "Three of a Kind" for obvious reasons. These three bunnies were discovered by some of my students hunkered down in the quadrangle of our school during the midst of a construction project which had disturbed their nest. Thankfully, Mama Rabbit was found a few hours later and the whole brood was able to relocate via the "Bunny Protection Program" to a ranch in East Texas to live out their lapin dreams.


I hope your Easter weekend is filled with many joys - Our newest joy is the addition of a new Scottie Dog yesterday to help fill the void left by the passing of our 16 year old German Shepard mix, Cassie. Our current Scottie, Rumpus, is adjusting to life with his new (and very active!) housemate we've named Mr. Bumbles.

Click to view this image in the original gallery

SHARPTOOTH!

This week's Wordless Wednesday  & Camera Critters post rather speaks for itself ...  :)  

"Raggie"

Sand Tiger Shark

Click in the image to see it in the original gallery

Nature's Nice Surprise!

Here in North Texas we are being pleasantly surprised with a very good local crop of wildflowers. Late winter predictions were pretty dismal as we are dealing with a profound drought throughout much of the state this year.However, it seems the the area around Ennis, Texas is having a stellar year, and this year's month long Bluebonnet Festival is a rousing success. I have been there the past two weekends to shoot this year's carpets of bluebonnets (lupines for you out of staters!) and Indian paintbrushes and the views have been very rewarding. I 'm heading back on Saturday to see the downtown area fully decked out for the actual festival events and to shoot some areas that were not quite in prime form last weekend. If you are within a day's drive of Ennis, I strongly recommend you visit in the next two weeks! You will not be disappointed! You can use the Bluebonnet Festival link above for detailed directions from the folks in charge of things in Ennis!

Click in any image to see it in the original gallery

Visit Skywatch Friday for more stellar skies!

Moaning Jaguar

On this WORDLESS WEDNESDAY, I'll let this Jaguar do the talking!

Click in either image to view in the original gallery

Oxbow Sunset

This week's SKYWATCH FRIDAY / SCENIC SUNDAY post takes me back to Grand Teton National Park and the oft visited Oxbow Bend observation point. This view looks toward the massive Mt. Moran across the Snake River. On this night late in June, I was luck enough to capture the brilliance of sunset on the fleeting clouds. The richness of the color was due in part to the presence of smoke in the atmosphere from California wildfires that had been burning the few days prior.

Oxbow Sunset

Click in the image to see it in the original gallery

A (digital) Floral Bouquet

Here's this week's post for WORDLESS WEDNESDAY. Click the image to view.......

ENJOY!

Wandering along the Bluebonnet Trail

Bluebonnet Carpet

Bluebonnet Pond

One of a Kind

Don't Fence Me In

Springtime Palette

Click in any image to see it in the original gallery



Enjoy more floral fun at TODAY'S FLOWERS

This was a small slice of MY WORLD

This weekend I had the great pleasure of visiting the town of Ennis, Texas. Enis is the home of the Ennis Bluebonnet Festival and the Bluebonnet Trail. This celebration of the blooming of the State Flower of Texas lasts for the entire month of April and they have been lucky to have a great crop of flowers on hand to start off the month. According to all predictions, the drought we've seen here in north and central Texas was supposed to really put a downer on this year's crop of bluebonnets, but if this weekend is any indication, the season looks to be pretty healthy! On this first weekend of the festival, the crowds were small and the roads that make up the "trail" were well marked. I strongly recommend visiting the website for the festival and getting an up to date map with current conditions and specific areas with the best blooms as these will change throughout the month.  Enjoy my sampling of this weekend's Texas Color. I may well return there nest weekend!

I Too Have Shot Elephants!

With all the furor over Go Daddy's CEO Bob Parsons internet video posting of his Zimbabwean elephant hunt, I thought I'd use this week's Camera Critters post to share images from the two chances I had to "shoot" elephants. Like Mr. Parsons, I am proud of my "shooting" of these amazing animals. Since my interaction and observation of them in the wild  has allowed me to be able to better educate my students and others about the lives the stunning animals lead. Unlike Mr. Parsons, my "shooting" resulted in  no harm to any of these animals.
My first chance to see elephants in the wild was in Botswana at the Chobe National Park in July,2006. Chobe is known for its amazing concentration of wild elephants which is supposed to be the highest in the world. These images were taken either in or close to the Chobe River.

Mother & Child

Young Poser

Savannah Sojourn

My second interaction with wild elephants was during my 2007 visit to Madikwe Game Preserve in South Africa. These images were taken when two local elephants wandered out of the bush & join us at lunch for a "drink". I am more than happy that I did not have to pay their bar tab!  The lodge's pool is a frequent stop for these elephants who have learned it is a reliable and  clean water source.

Elephant Cocktail

Enjoying a Drink

Trunk Rest

A final note on the last images. Watching this elephant, I learned that elephants, like people, are either "right tusked" or "left tusked".  As such, wild elephants will rest their trunk on the preferred trunk and will also use that side  for a greater degree of their daily tasks. This partially explains why most elephants have one tusk that is more worn down than the other. As you might expect, the difference is accentuated with age and greater wear. 

Wyoming Skies

One of my favorite spots on earth is the northwest corner of Wyoming where you'll find two gems of the US National Park System. Both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks offer the visitor a tremendous wealth of stunning sights from the waters of their lakes and rivers to the brilliant colors to be found in the skies from dawn through dusk. This week's SKYWATCH FRIDAY & SCENIC SUNDAY post is a view of the godlight at sunset from my perch up on Mount Washington looking toward the west in Yellowstone National Park.

Wyoming Godlight ~ Yellowstone National Park

This week's second image is taken from the banks of the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park looking up at the early morning light kissing the peak of Grand Teton Peak.

Teton Dawn ~ Grand Teton National Park

Click in either image to view in their original gallery

Signs of Spring!

Ahhh.... Spring is truly arriving here in North Texas. I'll allow Mother Nature to share her show with you  - She speaks far more eloquently than I ever can!

White Throated Sparrow

Purple Wing Violas

Dark Eyed Junco

Click in each image to see it in the original Blue Lion Gallery

Enjoy Visions of other places through MY WORLD

A place where images do the talking- WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

More Feathered friends? Try WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY

Fabulous Floral Fun? TODAY'S FLOWERS