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I think I’m sticking with my critters this month. This is actually a more developed stage of the last mantid I posted. Still not fully an adult.
Photo of the Day - January 2021
- Thread starter Apple fanboy
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It's the spiny flower mantis. In their early stage with their unique antennae in that earlier pic I always think it's like a tiny black reindeer walking on me. Also interesting that they start out black and then grow into mostly white.
Apple fanboy
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Just one of our regulars.
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While I was out on the deck shooting the Hooded Mergansers, something came zipping past, flying really fast, and I saw it land on the chains surrounding the pier. Shifted the camera over that way and I was delighted and surprised to find that female Belted Kingfisher I'd shot last summer! This time she was a lot closer, but annoyingly was not facing me. That's OK, I'll take what I can get when I see this elusive birdie!
Apple fanboy
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Beautiful!
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Thank you! I'm right chuffed, I'll tell you! Those Kingfishers are hard to capture, as they move very quickly and often do not land in a place which is easy to photograph. By the way, she really was further away than she looks here, but I used Topaz Gigapixel to do magic things with the pixels and to make it easier to then crop the image and still have something decent. I don't usually need to use Gigapixel with the A7R IV but I have found it to be very helpful with the RX10 IV, since that camera has just a 1 inch sensor and resolution can quickly go out the window when trying to crop. In a situation like this one, cropping was definitely necessary. I had only casually stepped out on the deck with the RX10 thinking I'd get a few shots of the Hooded Mergansers, but if I'd known what I was going to be able to capture I would've had the Bazooka on the tripod out there! Oh, well.... I bought Gigapixel a couple of months ago and have been very pleased with it once I figured out the way to best take advantage of what it does.
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Giant rainforest mantis.
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They are one of the few insects I can appreciate the esthetics of.
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I believe just a little shy of 2 inches. That's fully grown. You can tell they are fully grown when they have their wings.
They are the only insect that can turn their head which does seem to give a visual sense of intelligence. The main eyes (they actually have 5, 3 smaller ones in the forehead) have what appears to be a black pupil but it is actually an optical illusion that will appear to be looking right at you no matter what angle you are looking at them from. This is probably an evolutional defense that gives the impression to stalking predators that they've been spotted and are being watched.
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Never thought about it. I think you're absolutely spot on with this.
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Orchid mantis
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Before I saw the caption I kept staring at that, wondering if it were a flower or an insect! Or both....!! Fascinating!
This morning the lake was partly iced-over and we had a bunch of geese out there trying to figure out how to best navigate the new landscape of water and ice. Grabbed a few shots, of course..... This is my favorite:
This morning the lake was partly iced-over and we had a bunch of geese out there trying to figure out how to best navigate the new landscape of water and ice. Grabbed a few shots, of course..... This is my favorite:
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This still makes me smile. How do the cats manage with the mantids?
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Hope you took some video too. We may need to start a similar thread like these but for videos.
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