Monthly Archives: February 2016

National Parks, Troy's Blog

Fireflies in the Smoky Mountains

While exploring Great Smoky Mountain National Park we came across a brochure explaining the synchronous fireflies. Fireflies are visible  in many areas and we’ve enjoyed and evening or two watching these interesting little insects near our home. I’ve even taken some time to try and photograph their nighttime dances with some success. It was decided that a trip to Elkmont, which is the best location for viewing this nightly light show in June, that night would be an enjoyable way to end a great day in the Smokies.

A Dobson Fly also waiting to see the light show.

According to the brochure, the peak days were already behind us but that there were great light shows for several weeks still to be seen. As we arrived in the Elkmont area our first challenge was to find a spot to park which proved more difficult than expected as we were there a couple of hours before nightfall. Apparently we weren’t the only ones wanted to witness these synchronous fireflies. Eventually we followed others and parked alongside the road and walked back to the viewing area which was being descended on by hundreds of other people. This must be a good show if there are this many people here this early in the evening.

Little River in Elkmont

As darkness began to fall over the area we wondered into the forest next to Little River and found what appeared to be a nice relaxing spot to lose ourselves in the increasing darkness along with others hoping to witness a firefly spectacle. While waiting for these insects to begin their show we explored the river’s edge until a flash caught our attention back in the woods. And then another, and another. The show was beginning! As the minutes went by there was some firefly flashing but nothing more spectacular than we would see near home. After about 20 minutes we decided it was time to retire for the evening as it was a long and eventful day leaving us ready for our pillows.

A single firefly lighting up the night

On our way out of the forest we stopped to talk with another couple who lived in the area. During the conversation they explained that the show had not really started yet and we should stay awhile longer. Soon after there were golden streams of light blinking all over. It was beautiful and exciting to watch. They were all over the place showing off their tricks of flight and color. Now it makes sense what all the publicity was about. We couldn’t imaging what the show would be like during the peak season. Now this was about as perfect as it could be to end a day full of adventures.

The show is getting better

And better

This is definitely worth seeing

National Parks, Troy's Blog

Agate Fossil Beds

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument one of the smallest national parks we’ve visited but an interesting place to explore with some surprising things to learn. Before finding this place because of the Monopoly board I had no idea that fossils have been found in this part of the Midwestern United States. Once again another pleasant surprise from our Monopoly adventures.

Some of the mammals fossils

This park requires only a few hours to explore but has much to offer for it’s size with information on the significance of the area for the Sioux as well as fossils to view both in the visitors center and along trails. In addition there are great views of the plains that make up large expanses of the landscape in western Nebraska.

Looking out at the vast prairie

One of the unique fossils which has been preserved in this national park are corkscrews dug deep into the earth by a type of land beaver that use to reside in these hills. When you see them you can’t help but wonder why they dug these burrows in the shape of a corkscrew. I question if it was to help them get in and out of their underground home. Maybe they couldn’t climb in and out of these deep holes any other way. Still, these corkscrews called, daemonelix or devil’s corkscrews, added a lot of steps each time entering and exiting these dens. A workout just to get up and go outside and retreat back into shelter. Probably worse than stairs in our houses.

There are fossils hiding in these hills

Photos, Troy's Blog

Snowflakes Age

Sparkling like diamonds

My last post on snowflakes showed some of the attempts at photographing a snowflake. While playing around with the camera and trying to get close ups of snowflakes I realized how interesting light reflecting off of them can be so I wanted to photograph snowflakes in the sunlight and see how sunlight reflecting off of these little crystals would look especially after seeing a fresh snow and all of the little sparkling diamonds and their range of colors in the sunlight.

Still some of the original snowflakes form visiable

What I found was a little disappointing but still fascinating. On a recent snowfall I went out about 6 hours after it was done and the sun began to shine. It was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit so still well into the freezing temperatures which should preserve the snow. In this short time most of the snowflakes were no longer in their original shapes but melting together to form larger pieces of ice. There were a few snowflakes here and there that had kept the form in which they landed in tact but not many as you can see in the above photo. The sun is reflecting off of one of these snowflakes only hours old.

The melting snow

Looking at the same bright snowflake from another perspective shows the melting even better and how unique an relatively intact snowflake is shortly after a fresh snowfall. I have never taken time to look closely at a recent snowfall so it was fun to discover how they transform in such a short time.

Attempting to capture individual snowflakes

I tried many different ways to capture single snowflakes and their unique shapes without any success as you can see in the photo above. Still, I find it interesting to see the ridge of larger ice crystals formed by the melting taking place in the sunlight on this juniper tree.

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In areas that have had more time in the sunlight the progression was even further as all of the snowflakes had melted into larger pieces of ice which reflected the sunlight beautifully. As they continue to melt further in the warm sunlight they create icicles. Fascinating and beautiful.

Snow melting and creating icicles

Photos, Troy's Blog

Snowflakes

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One of my goals for 2016 is to photograph snowflakes so here is my first attempt. It was really interesting to see how unique and beautiful snowflakes can be. While learning how to begin doing this I saw several images of individual snowflakes that were amazing. As snow falls they appear white but when looking at them closely you can see the ice crystals which are more clear. Taking the photographs of snowflakes was not as much fun as I hoped mostly because I was tired and cold and not really wanting to be outside at that time after work but sometimes images aren’t convenient and available on our schedule. Once I finished and was able to view them on the computer it became a lot more fun to see the different shapes, sizes, and formation of these ice crystals. I won’t look at snow the same again.

A Golden Snowflake

Since I was photographing these at dusk I needed to take time to work with lower light which meant longer shutter times on the camera and using additional light to get sharper images. After all was complete and I looked at these on the computer I saw how interesting it can be to reflect different colors of light off of these crystals so the time of day worked out well and taught me more than I think I could have learned photographing these at another time of day. With my equipment there isn’t much more I can do to get close ups of snowflakes so next time I want to try different compositions to get interesting pictures of snowflakes. Investing in better equipment isn’t something I want to do at this time.

Each one is Unique