The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning
Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.
Other creatures in our world
An iridescent ball appeared on the kitchen wall:
Despite the silvery shine under LED lighting, it was a Golden Tortoise Beetle:
The iridescence shows up better with a bit of underexposure:
Transparent armor: who’d’a thunk it?
Mary spotted one in the garden some years ago; I’ve never seen such a thing.
Rolling into Vassar Farms, we encountered a Canadian Canada Goose (*) family:
The gander pulled straight up and hissed as we rolled by at what we thought was a respectful distance:
Their little fuzzballs retreated in good order under the fence toward the pond; they don’t need much survival training.
Word has it a goose family (perhaps this one) built their nest near a path around the ponds and defend their turf with sufficient resolve to deter even singletrack bikers.
I occasionally see snakes along the way, but none that hiss:
We approach rail-trail curves with a bit more caution than some folks; I’m at about the spot where that rider began losing control and didn’t quite wipe us out.
Update: They’re “Canada Geese“, with (AFAICT) a legal distinction between Canadian tourists and resident Yanks during the hunting season. Thanks to David for the reminder!
Mary spotted this critter atop the roof and, much to my surprise, it waited courteously until I deployed the camera:
It looks, walks, and acts just like a pigeon:
… but we’ve never seen one with those feather patterns & colors. It’s not in any of our books, so it may be an escaped domestic pigeon.
Those feathers require plenty of body maintenance:
As nearly as we can tell, it’s wearing a green leg band with three digits that might be 904:
If this was your bird, it flew through Red Oaks Mill NY just after noon on 1 May 2017 …
Early spring brings out large turkey flocks and provides a window into their otherwise rather private lives.
Despite all the strutting and posturing by the males, the ladies call the shots. When we see a hen go hull-down like this, we know what’s about to happen:
Getting into the right position seems remarkably awkward and requires some cooperation:
When her head and tail pop up, you know the thing is going right:
And a back massage always feels so fine:
Then he’s back to strutting & posturing:
We hope they’ll show us their chicks …
Taken with the DSC-H5, hand-held through two panes of 1955-era window glass: ya get what ya get.
The first pleasant day after a long string of snow and rain got us outside again:
The honeybee at Mary’s elbow escorted us for a bit, then flew between us and continued on her mission.
Despite appearances, she passed a few inches from my helmet:
We all agreed: it was a fine day for a ride and a flight!
We’ve often seen turkeys perched on horizontal tree branches and split-rail fences, but this is new:
Apparently she wanted to use the bird feeder atop the post festooned with plastic squirrel deterrence. Not being Elastigirl, she couldn’t quite stretch from rail to feeder, eventually gave up trying, and flapped to the driveway.
We’ve been turkey-watching for nearly two decades, it’s been eight years since we saw a turkey on the patio, and a few days after I set up the yard camera, shazam, this bird shows off for my friend in Raleigh while I’m in the Basement Laboratory. I’m insane with jealousy.
In point of fact, turkeys seem perfectly aware of people inside the house, so it’s not surprising they avoid the patio. When we move close to a window, the flock decides it has business elsewhere and, generally without haste or confusion, flows over the hill and away.
Obviously, I must set up motion detection and capture some images …
This must feel soooo good:
Just close your eyes and soak up the warmth of the sun:
Turkey vultures look imposing, even with all that flight hardware tucked away:
However, I think this is a low-status bird, because those splashes on the left wing look a lot like bird crap…
Taken with the DSC-H5, zoomed all the way tight with the 1.7× teleadapter, handheld on a lovely sunny day.
Update: Because I write these posts a few days in advance of their appearance, I didn’t know yesterday’s weather would look like this:
That’s a screenshot from a Raspberry Pi streaming camera I set up so a friend in North Carolina could gloat.
I suppose the vultures huddle in a tree, as do the turkeys, and await better flying conditions.
Enjoy the sun while it shines!
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 