Back in my favourite ditch, in August, searching for anything interesting with six legs, I tried using the tripod. The weeds were so thick and tangled that every time I inched forward, everything around me would shake, and this startled a grasshopper. Actually it startled many grasshoppers, all of which leaped away in random directions. This one landed in spider silk.
As it struggled to free itself, I might have felt bad were it anything other than a hopper. But they were present in their uncounted billions, and they can do serious crop damage, so that assuaged my guilt. Guilt-free, I focused and prepared for the spider to arrive and claim its prize.
Meanwhile the grasshopper thrashed and struggled to free itself... and did! Off it went. The spider was nowhere to be found. Maybe it had already eaten. Maybe something had eaten it. Whatever the cause, this hopper lived to munch and mate its way through another day.
Drama in the bottom of a ditch - who knew?
These prairie ditches, btw, are mostly shallow, clean, and dry by late summer. Not unpleasant at all.
Photographed at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: grasshopper insect trapped spiderweb silk snared struggling close up macro wild prairie roadside ditch diptych Rosefield SK Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2023
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Two views of the 1939 Pontiac that many of you have seen multiple times before, sitting in a cow pasture - the same field it has rested in since the early 1960s. My favourite car in the world.
I have been told on occasion that this is an "eyesore" and "offensive" to behold. In which case, move along, this isn't the Flickr page for you. There is a fine line between art and trash, and that line interests me very much. Fortunately, most people are able to see the beauty here.
I used two different lenses for these shots, btw; the diptych was an afterthought. For the top one, the Rokinon 8mm fisheye; for the bottom, the Nikon 14-24mm. So the proportions are slightly different in each, as is the background, and it doesn't matter.
Photographed in May 2022 and December 2021 at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: car automobile 1939 Pontiac trash art abandoned forlorn shot up bullet holes diptych strange beauty decay rust tourist attraction rural pasture prairie Rosefield SK Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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This fellow was the self-proclaimed expert on Elk - and all large wildlife species. I watched him carefully. He talked a good line. He was confident. He was very good at assessing what was a safe distance from the insane, testosterone-pumped bulls (at least up to this point). He led the way.
There were half a dozen photographers shooting the rut that morning. None of us followed the expert when he walked out to the end of a gravel bar in the Athabasca River. At least three big bull Elk were on the opposite bank, and the river isn't wide or deep. And there was no cover out there in the open; no stunted trees to slip behind and minimize a human profile.
When this bull began crossing the river, I thought there could be some action. Mister Intrepid held his ground until the very last minute, and then quickly retreated; nothing happened. Because nothing happened, it could be argued that his decision making was sound, but I thought he was pushing the limit unnecessarily. The previous day, he had told me he creates and sells wildlife videos, and to encourage him, I bought one from him. Watching it after I got home, I learned that he carries a .44 Magnum (with permit, not easy to obtain in Canada) on back country hikes in very wild places, tracks grizzlies, and if he gets charged by one after putting all kinds of pressure on it by his intrusion, he has "no choice" but to shoot it. Oh, and God is on his side, so I guess that makes it okay. All the above is depicted graphically on the video, which I subsequently destroyed. I am just reporting the facts. Pardon my anger. I've had memorable moments with interesting people that I met here and in other locations over the years. This was another - but for all the wrong reasons.
Photographed along the Athabasca River in Jasper National Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: Elk Wapiti Cervus canadensis wildlife animal mammal ungulate bull male rut rutting season river too close pressure on wildlife greedy for the shot hubris man photographer Homo sapiens arrogance privilege me first diptych two 2 sequence Athabasca River Jasper National Park Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies Alberta Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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This bull Elk stood at the edge of an old sand pit and showed everyone how far he could toss mud and grass. Pretty far, actually. When he had ripped up more turf and finished renovating the mud wallow, he got down and had a good roll in it.
Photographed in Jasper National Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: Elk Cervus canadensis wildlife animal mammal ungulate bull male antlers rut rutting season display mud mud hole mud wallow wild nature Rocky Mountains Canadian Rockies Jasper National Park Alberta Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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Amid the crowds of Pine Siskins, doves, grackles, orioles, and grosbeaks at Laureen's feeders (following a late spring snowstorm - see previous two photos for description), at least one Red-breasted Nuthatch made an appearance. I watched it make several trips, snatching a seed and quickly flying away. When it worked its way down a tree trunk - typical nuthatch behaviour - I thought it was searching for insects and larvae hidden in cracks in the bark. Evidently not.
Red-breasted Nuthatches cache seeds for later retrieval. I caught this one doing exactly that; it must have been hiding the seed in its crop. At the time, I thought it had found an insect. Only during processing, viewing the image full size, did I realize what it was up to. Caching is more common in late summer and fall - yes, nuthatches overwinter in Saskatchewan - but perhaps the unexpected snow fooled them for a day or two. The snow was gone by the following afternoon. Now, almost two weeks later, the prairie is incredibly green.
I made this shot in my artist friend Laureen Marchand's backyard, near her feeders, where hundreds of birds gathered in the aftermath of the freak May snowstorm. She is @laureenartist on Instagram, and her site is well worth visiting.
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis wildlife bird tree-clinging bird nuthatch diptych two caching seed cache tree tree trunk spring snow weather the new normal? wild prairie village Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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