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Gray Tree Frog

Watch Here

Remodeling has to wait as a gray tree frog makes a temporary home on the work site. I spend days in the forest looking for them, without success. So they come to me this week. Apparently it enjoys the comfort of a roof slate and funnel. This is nothing unique for my deck, they visit often as seen here,  Flower Container

When I see this frog on my deck or flower pot or garden, I cant help but wonder about chapter 1 of The Sixth Extinction. ( Elizabeth Kolbert) Wildlife preservation and the vanishing natural world surly grabs our attention.

Amphibians survived the dinosaur extinction just fine.  Are they in peril now?

“Life is not a substance, like water or rock; it’s a process, like fire or a wave crashing on the shore. It’s a process that begins, lasts for a while, and ultimately ends. Long or short, our moments are brief against the expanse of eternity.”
― Sean Carroll, The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.
–Margaret Atwood
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Cormorants

Once used as living fish hooks.

There’s scarcely a bird in the world as unfairly maligned, deemed the world over as a dreadful seed due to its awkward proportions and reportedly ravenous appetite for bait fish.  But this discomfited family is of an ancient lineage, one of the oldest of all the birds and with similar ancestors reaching all the way back to the dinosaurs. Below, Plymouth Waterfront.

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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My Choice

Photoshop CS6 (wont pay for monthly CC) 99.9% of time, this is my first option for workflow.
Lightroom (my choice for white balance and noise correction)
On1 Photo Raw (I need to run this on my i7 – 5960 computer for best performance. But will run I7 920 with a bit of patience.)
Luminar (windows) and Luminar Creative Kit  (mac only) (verdict is still out, but so far, I like it.
Topaz  (best all around plugin for filters)
Nic Color Collection  (never count this collection out)
Gimp (when on Linux)

Imagenomic (not as often as once, but still has it’s place)

 

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Earth, still going strong

Recently, I came across some splendid nature videos on YouTube.  It was here I found NaturesFairy’s channel.  One such video titled, ( My favorite thing to do every spring is to go out searching for Wood Frogs) is something we often do in our area as well . Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There’s been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years.   Today, a telephone pole was knocked down by a motorist in my neighborhood.  The consequence, no electricity.  Accordingly, I opened the shades to bring a full spectrum and dynamic light into the room to read by.   I have read The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert, (Massachusetts) several times.  NaturesFairy video, directs me to reference it once again on the topic of Frogs. Amphibians in general. (read the first chapter)   Helen Keller has said that modern life has removed us too far from a direct contact with nature.  A quotation I happen to be in agreement with.  Are we are witnessing a similar mass extinction event happening in the geologic blink of an eye as Kolbert writes in The Sixth Extinction? I judge we will be ok, or at least the planet will.  It’s nice to see  someone be concerned about our natural world and our diverse natural science and  NaturesFairy’s videos  are up to the task.

Wood Frog

Gray treefrog?

Our thoughts, visions and fantasies have a physical reality. A thought is made of hundreds of electrochemical impulses.

Carl Sagan, 1934 to 1996

 

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Oliver Mill Park Herring (Click Here)

it’s not spring unless the herring are swimming up local rivers, en route to their summer spawning areas. So put down those cell phones, pack up your young explorers and scientists, and experience nature at its finest in Middleboro Massachusetts, at Oliver Mill Park. Enjoy local history and a whole lot more.

 

Chloe at Oliver Mill Park With GoPro Hero 6

Six Minutes Of One Of The Greatest Shows On Earth

Click Here For Our Video

Check back for more videos including April 8th videos.

Northern Water Snakes, Oliver Mill Park

Great Heron

 

News Alert News Alert News Alert

 

“A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to
sea and do new things.”

More Images from Oliver Mill

More Here

And Here

More

Water Snakes at Oliver Mill Park

I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.–Henry David Thoreau

 

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News Alert, April 10

Osprey back at Nelson Memorial Park, Plymouth, MA.

Armed with only a 300MM lens, we were at a disadvantage for close up shots without disturbing the Osprey. Better than no images at all.  Tomorrow is just a few hours away.

Click on images to enlarge

 

Short Video

“Illusions can be pleasant, but the rewards of truth are enormously better.”

 

 

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LOL

When I grow up, I want to be a Scientist just like Hollywood actors, sports figures and politicians along with some of my friends who insist the Earth is only 2500 years old.

“Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.”
― Carl Sagan