Nature on the Edge

Escape

Nature on the Edge — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:48:45 +0000

A place and space just to be…..

Filed under: Baboons, Baboons on the Urban Edge, Weekly photo challenge Tagged: Chacma baboons, postaday, urban wildlife, wildlife photography, Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge

Patterns

Nature on the Edge — Sat, 11 May 2013 22:22:03 +0000

Nature the designer, has a way with patterns. Some may be well defined or repeated while others may be completely random.

This post is in response to WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge. For more information on the topic pop over to the site for Sara Rosso challenge

Filed under: Macrophotography, Weekly photo challenge, Zebra Tagged: Cape Mountain Zebra, guinea fowl feather, nature photography, polished ammonite fossil shell, postaday, Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge

Tricoloured Tiger Moth

Nature on the Edge — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:29:45 +0000

I always like solving a good mystery and recently i had the chance to connect these dots ….. It’s quite startling that this hairy orange caterpillar is the larva of the elegantly patterned Tricoloured Tiger moth. The eggs it lays look so much like small seed pearls, and out erupt these hairy little critters. In our garden we have a policy of catch and release (banished to the wilderness) particularly when it comes to the hungry hordes of the caterpillar league; and this is one worm that the birds tend to avoid!

Filed under: Macrophotography Tagged: False Bay, nature photography, Simon's Town, Tricoloured tiger moth, tricoloured tiger moth eggs., tricoloured tiger moth larva

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above

Nature on the Edge — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:27:08 +0000

Showing a rugged exterior, this is the topside of the shell.

The inner layers, capturing the contours of ‘mother-of-pearl’ lining a perlemoen (abalone) shell.

Filed under: Macrophotography, Weekly photo challenge Tagged: abalone shell, abstract patterns, From Above, macrophotography, mother-of-pearl, perlemoen shell, postaday, Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge

An Autumn Brew

Nature on the Edge — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:01:18 +0000

A pending storm brings a strange translucent light.

Time for the setting sun.

The sea swirls in cast opalescence.

Riding high.

Filed under: Seascape Tagged: False Bay, nature photography, Storm patterns

Weekly Photo Challenge: Culture

Nature on the Edge — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:08:23 +0000

This week’s photo challenge “Culture” is set by photographer, Aaron Joel Santos, who is based in Hanoi, Vietnam. I took a look at his blog and website as his challenge was to pose “curiosity”. His comments set an interesting challenge :

Culture is a bit of a loaded word. In a photograph, it can embody everything and nothing. So where do we draw the line? Shopping culture, hippy culture, Asian culture, Thai culture, ancient culture, and on and on. These phrases have different meanings. For me, as a working travel photographer, being able to show culture, in all of its various guises, is crucial to the success of an image.

There are obvious elements that go into making a great photograph: perspective, color, contrast, subject matter, and lighting, to name a few. But for this challenge, go for that little something extra — that piece of the image that makes a viewer want to see more — to delve deeper into the culture you’re photographing. I’ve always said that I want my photographs to make people curious. So that is your assignment here: inspire curiosity with your photography.

It set me thinking about the broad aspects of the subject, and to “context culture”, where geography and history provide a context for understanding the differences between cultures. Curious? What do the Huli wigmen of Papua New Guinea, the Himba people of Namibia and the Tuvalu people of Tabuaeran have in common?

Filed under: Weekly photo challenge Tagged: culture, Himba, Huli wigmen, hunter - gatherer society, Micronesian., pastorialists, postaday, semi-nomadic, Tuvalese, Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge

False Bay: Autumn’s alchemy

Nature on the Edge — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:18:10 +0000

The first of the Cape’s seasonal Nor’westerly storms came barging in this week bringing strong winds of up to 70 km/h, battering the city and dropped 50mm of rain in just 24 hours. But this morning False Bay was wreathed in gold as an autumn dawn spread it’s magical touch. The birds were up bright and early with the claxon call of the Egyptian geese cutting through the morning’s quiet harmony. They’re broody at the moment, and two pairs are vying for territorial rights. Testy for sure and with their heightened decibel levels letting the whole world know. Less insistent and more melodious were the varied calls of the sunbirds, wagtails, blacksmith lapwing, prinia, hadedah ibis, but yet there was something else…… a plaintive, bleating call – much like a small child crying …..

Autumn’s golden rays herald in the day.

The Egyptian geese lose no time in getting going at first light.

Keen foragers, check over the intertidal zone.

Foraging for ‘greens’.

Sea lettuce.

Simple green, nutritious algae.

The oyster catchers have a distinctive call, a ‘beebah’ siren call.

An exhausted young seal pup mewls quietly as it struggles with exhaustion.

Cape fur seals pups are weaned by nine months, but remain vulnerable at this young age.

One that didn’t make it. There tend to be more seal casualties when the seas turn rough and stormy.

Filed under: Cape Fur Seals, Egyptian goose Tagged: bird photography, False Bay, intertidal zone, nature photography, oyster catchers, seascape, wildlife photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

Nature on the Edge — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:40:02 +0000

The subject for this week’s photo challenge is “Up” and Sara Rosso has posted an example of a spectacular shot of buildings reaching high into the blue sky. She poses the challenge as being either a direction, an orientation or even a movement. I’ve chosen to use the latter in a tilt shot using an upward movement. Here a golden dawn lights up a copse of pine trees.

Filed under: Weekly photo challenge Tagged: abstract, golden dawn, nature photography, postaday, tilt shot, Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge

Penguin Chicks: From Fluff to Tuxedo

Nature on the Edge — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:33:35 +0000

For the African Penguin parenting is a serious task, both male and female must take turns to provide a constant supply of food to feed their chicks. As they grow their appearance changes from cute fluffball through a period of looking quite seedy as their chick down is gradually replaced by sleek gray/blue feathers. They fledge within 60 – 120 days and leave the colony to make it on their own, spending a period of between twelve and twenty-two months out at sea before returning to their natal colony to molt into their adult plumage.

This post is in response to WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge: Change. Pop over to the WordPress site for further posts on this subject.

Filed under: African Penguin, Weekly photo challenge Tagged: African penguin, Boulders Beach, nature photography, postaday, wildlife photography

A Jumping Spider, Dancing Butterflies.

Nature on the Edge — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:14:40 +0000

The chill of autumn has started to bite signalling a change of seasons and right on cue are sightings of the beautiful velvety Cape Autumn Widow butterflies. Hundreds can be see hovering above the grassy banks along my coastal hiking path. Dainty creatures flitting to and fro. The reference book says that they will deposit their larvae eggs amongst the kikuyu and low shrubs. I’ve began to suspect that hordes of caterpillars will soon be descending into my seaside garden. Only plants of a hardy nature thrive next to the coast and one of the species that does well is statice, or sea lavender. The fine, lacy flowers come in shades of blue, lilac and pink and they are prized as cut flowers for their ‘everlasting’ quality. Whilst the flowers have an almost papery texture, the leaves are a power house of green vitality. Of all the plants in the garden these are the ones which are mercilessly munched down to the stems and in the past a bristly caterpillar has been the culprit. I’ve not been able to track down the identity, but have a very strong suspicion that they are the offspring of those gorgeous dancing butterflies. Already there are the signs as tiny, skinny worms appear by the day. Investigating further i discovered to my surprise that Salticidae – Jumping spiders have also taken up residence. Known for their acrobatic flying stunts, they’re dubbed the bungee jumpers of the arachnid family. Attached by silk strands they’re able to launch into the air after flying insects and should they fluff it they able to return safely along their shoot lines. They’re also equipped with four pairs of eyes for excellent all-round vision. Would it be that they’ll be tempted to a juicy fat worm or two? I wonder?

The handsome Widow, note the orange and blue spots.

The papery bracts of lilac statice.

A voracious appetite.

The most delectable leaves.

Larvae hatch.

The acrobat, Salticidae – the Jumping Spider.

Poised and ready to jump. Note the two pairs of frontal eyes, another two appear laterally.

Filed under: Caterpillar, Insects Tagged: Cape Autumn Widow butterfly, comical behaviour, Dira Clytus, jumping spider, Salticidae, sea lavender, Statice