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[OM] Thanks! [was A walk in the Santa Cruz mountains]

Subject: [OM] Thanks! [was A walk in the Santa Cruz mountains]
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 16:39:04 -0800
On 10/28/2014 4:33 AM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
Woodpecker, big maple and the last one. Very nice.

Thanks! Our one native species of Maple here has much bigger leaves than Eastern species. Those leaves can be up to two feet across.

On 10/28/2014 7:30 AM, Don Holbrook wrote:
Well done, as usual, but quaking grass is my favorite.

Thanks! Not typical of the grass. The spider web pulling several heads together 
caught my interest.

On 10/28/2014 10:57 AM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
All are very nice

Thanks!

and I was impressed by the image quality at the long end of the 75-300.

The original looks much softer, lower saturation, etc. Shooting through 4.5 miles of air has a big effect. All those tools of contrast, deconvolution, LCE, etc. have made it look like shot from the air much closer. And recovered the basic quality of the lens. :-)

My only "disappointment" is that you can see roller coasters from the redwoods. :-(

We were not near the old growth grove, but walking along a fire road further south. It mostly walks the line between second growth redwoods below and mixed, mostly live oak woods above. The one overlook was nice.

There's no real shortage of old growth redwood groves. I can think of eight right off hand, and I know there are a few more. From none are anything unnatural but paths visible but occasional contrails.

Sure, it would be nice if more were preserved. But in truth, we've fairly often been alone in pristine, uncut redwood groves. The ones near urban areas can be crowded. Muir Woods is a mess best avoided, but others are more lightly used. The more remote ones are wonderfully uncrowded.

On 10/28/2014 12:00 PM, ChrisB wrote:
I like the colour and depth of those, Moose. But I am most impressed with your catch of a 
"Woody”!  I have only heard woodpeckers, never seen one that close.

Thanks! I know nothing about non-North American woodpeckers. We see a fair number, because we spend a lot of time walking in the woods, 'cause that's where they are. Walking in N. Scotland or across fields isn't going to find them, I suspect.

Most that we see are solitary, including the one Pileated we've been close to. I saw it fly behind a tree in our camp site, and quietly urged Carol to look to her left. She saw it up close a personal, say 6-8 feet away. I didn't, as it was behind the tree from me, and only got a couple of bad shots of its departure.

They are mostly rather busy birds, moving all the time and often creeping against the bark of trees, so good shots aren't easy. This species, acorn woodpeckers are pretty social. I've seen groups of possibly hundreds in groups of large Valley oaks. If you see one, there are others nearby. I was lucky to catch one when it landed on a pine near the lookout where I was standing. All but one other shot was wasted.

On 10/29/2014 1:44 AM, Jez Cunningham wrote:
Yeah - great woodpecker catch.  We have Greater Spotted and Green but not
this type.

Thanks! We have quite few species in NA. This one is limited to the west coast, where its live oaks are. These are non-deciduous oaks with leaves nothing like those of Eastern and European oaks. As the name says, they live on the acorns, which they store in holes they peck in tree bark. That's one you see in the bird's mouth. Just like the millions on the ground where we were camping.

On 10/29/2014 11:16 PM, Nathan Wajsman wrote:
Love the redwoods.

Thanks! It's a cliche shot, but I couldn't resist. There are many, many circles of redwoods that have grown from the root systems of downed old trees. This spot, Cathedral Grove is different, being MUCH larger in diameter. Magical and worth the hike. Once again, no one in there in the long time we stayed, although a few hikers went by outside.

Thanks again for looking and commenting, everyone!

Red Moose

--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
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