lloydslensphotographyllc

The Water Falcon

The early morning sun breaks over Gauley Mountain to wake up the three rivers area. As my big blue truck rolls by I noticed something odd perched on a piece of driftwood out in the middle of the Kanawha River. I had to rub my eyes and blink a few times. We had always joked and called that partially submerged log “The Gauley River Monster” because of it’s resemblance to the famous Scottish cryptid. But this morning it actually seemed to move it’s head. I pulled into the parking lot of the Glen Ferris Inn and in typical redneck fashion wheeled into a 180 back up the road. I keep a small set of binoculars in the console. I knew that there was no way possible that the log had grown a living head overnight and just needed to see what it was. It’s neck was long like a goose but it’s beak was pointed like a heron. Except that it seemed to have a hook on the end like a bird of prey. The legs were short like a duck and it even had webbed toes. Skin around the face seemed to have bumps and scales like a buzzard. I found myself asking God if he had parts left over from other birds when he built this one. Then it spread out it’s wings began to dry them in the sun. This day I only had my cellphone as a camera and the digital zoom just didn’t bring the bird in with enough clarity to make me happy. But it did access Google and I found a match. It’s a cormorant! I have been around lakes and rivers my whole life but had never seen this odd dinosaur looking critter before.

The bird is considered to be pest by modern day fisherman. However, in Asia they use the cormorant as an aquatic falcon. The bird is given a collar to prevent large fish from being swallowed and then it’s released into the water to dive down. It’s been found that a cormorant can dive as deep as one hundred and fifty feet! The birds return to the raft and wait for the fishermen to remove the stuck fish. They don’t seem to be harmed by this and it actually looks like they bond with the owner.

The ones here are pretty standoffish though. Even my 400 mm lens can barely bring them in for a photo.

A local cormorant standing on the “Gauley River Monster” which is fully submerged in this photo.

I have stopping in these spots on a fairly regular basis and trying to catch them doing something other than standard out on that log. Then finally one morning I caught the feature image. The cormorant took off from its perch and flew in circles slapping the water with his wings. I’m not sure if it was trying to flush out prey or just playing and enjoying being a bird but it was a spectacular show. I have watched a few days and this seems to be something that they do often.

I also thought that because of its reputation as a pest in North America that it was a non native species but they are found all over the world.

The literature on these birds is quite extensive, especially in the cultural references. I could write pages and pages just covering all the little threads on Wikipedia alone but as life would have it time is the limiting factor in everything. And it’s time to metaphorically turn my big blue truck back onto the highway and look for the next subject to photograph.

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Forage Friday #9 Wild Grapes ( just the vine for now )

Color Photography, Forage Friday

Last weekend we missed Forage Friday due to a weather event so this Friday we’re going to pick up where we left off.

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Wild Grapes and Snake Tongue “. The image was taken specifically for tonight’s post. All of the photos on my blog are available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

We’re all familiar with Grapes. The fruit of the vine permeates our culture world wide. Everything from fine wine to to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich uses the grape berries. I have recently learned that the leaf is a huge Mediterranean delicacy. A quick internet search revealed that other parts of the world use the leaves in a lot dishes. However, the leaf is not the focus of tonight’s post. It’s the tendrils that I’m interested in on this foraging excursion.

As a kid we called them snake tongues. And it was probably while doing a silly snake impersonation and using the forked tendrils for a prop that I discovered the flavor.

The tendrils of wild grape resembling the forked tongue of a snake.

The taste of local wild grape tendrils reminds me a little of sweet tarts candy. I normally only grab a few while walking around the mountains. The candy like flavor helps me with dry mouth and it’s a little pick-me-up. Although that later trait is probably due my association with childhood.

I have been curious to chop a few up and toss them into a salad but so far I’ve just used it as a trail nibble like most of the wild edible plants that I’m familiar with.

I believe that the particular variety of grape in the feature image are Porcelain Berry. The reason why I think that is because the property where I took the photos is thick with Porcelain Berry.

Porcelain Berry looks nothing like the grapes in the grocery store.

The Porcelain Berry is a really interesting grape visually. The cluster often contains a variety of blues and reds in multiple tones. They are edible raw or cooked but I’m told that the flavor of the fruit is somewhat disappointing so I have never bothered to try it.

One last thing about the actual leaf. Specifically on Porcelain Berry. Because I have just discovered that grape leaves are edible I did a little digging around the internet and Porcelain Berry leaves are said to only be edible when cooked. Porcelain Berry is not a true grape even though we commonly call them wild grapes. True grapes are in the genre vitis. True grapes leaves can be eaten raw while Porcelain Berry (genus Ampelopsis ) leaves cannot be. I also need to warn you of a toxic look-alike to any kind of wild grape is Canadian Moonseed which contains a substance similar to curare. For more information about Moonseed here’s an old video from my YouTube days.

As always please do independent research and keep in mind that Forage Friday is only intended to be used as a starting point and a conversation starter.

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A Way Of Escape

Color Photography

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Quiet Moments ” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

Sometimes all you can do is “go with the flow”. Not everything is going to be in our control. In fact most things are never going to be in our control. But what we can control is our reaction to circumstances. Now it’s honesty time here. I have not quite mastered the art of the smooth reaction to frustration yet. But I’m working on it. It’s not big things that get me. It’s the army of little things. I can be the person who remains calm at traffic accident generally speaking I know what to do and tend to take charge. But when that mosquito is buzzing in my ear… well, that sense of inner peace is totally busted. And if there’s more than one at a time or if they just keep coming that’s when I really need to go somewhere and repent… again. I used to marvel at all the older guys of my grandfather’s generation. They all seemed to be able to handle anything no matter what. Big things or a multitude of little things it didn’t seem to matter. They took it in stride. Was it because that with age testosterone levels wain and with that is the loss of aggression? Or, was it that fact that they were all World War Two veterans and battle hardened to point that nothing shook them? Certainly, these factors played a role in making them who they were. Being men of faith, they all had a rich spiritual life and there’s no doubt in my mind that was a big part of helping them keep their cool.

I often speak about those quiet places and moments when I have written posts to share with you. But the real secret is that it’s in these spots and times that I get to reset myself. It’s where I go to escape from the proverbial mosquitoes that won’t stop buzzing in my ear. I hope that in some way that I’ve been able to bring you along with me through the visual of my photos.

Tonight’s Feature looks like it’s some far away stream in the untouched portion of my Appalachian Mountains. In fact, it’s about fifty feet away from the main highway. Now, we’re not going to escape from the real mosquitoes here but those proverbial ones don’t seem to be able to leave the pavement. My point is that when things start to get to you that there’s usually a place to escape from the little things that come all at once. And, sometimes the best way to get that peace back is to remove yourself from the situation and spend some time with God.

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Take Time To Grow

Color Photography

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Hickory Seedling 43019″and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

It’s not how you start out but where you end up that’s important. Growing as hard as it can this little hickory tree is barely a foot tall. But if it lives long enough it could end up being one hundred and twenty feet tall. But that’s not going to happen overnight. It’s likely to take hundreds of years of hot summers and icy winters. It will have to survive multiple windstorms and seasons of drought before it can be a giant.

In our age of technological wizardry when you can fix a hot meal and download your favorite feature length film in less than five minutes we have come to expect instant success. We want the “cheat codes” of life. But then what? You can’t cheat life without cheating yourself out of the reasons why winning is awesome. A one hundred and twenty feet tall tree that has never weathered the storms will be doomed to crashing down in the first gust of wind. Like our own bodies, a tree has to develop its strength and flexibility by being exposed to the harsh conditions. It takes time to develop that kind of strength. It’s a battle that often leaves scars inside the wood. Not every tree reaches its full height. In fact, the average hickory tree is only sixtyfive feet tall. About half of its potential. And still we sit beneath it’s branches in awe of its size not considering that at one point in its life it was just another plant growing in a ditch. Most of us would have mistaken it for a weed.

A hickory seedling looks like just another weed

We shouldn’t measure our lives by where we are now. We need to consider that reaching our potential means weathering many storms and taking the time to develop those strong roots that hold us fast.

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Things Are Just Ducky #1

Color Photography, wildlife

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Our Own Little Nest” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The evening sun filters down through the canopy of new leaves near the river and lands just in the right spot to make me notice the slight movement in the pile of driftwood. It was the female pacing along the top of the half submerged log as her mate swam in little figure eights. The water was close to the edge of the road so I gently drifted up close with my big blue truck. I had chosen to stay in the truck because for some reason animals ignore vehicles. As I rolled down the window I could hear them quacking to each other. An amused grin curled itself around one side of my face as I considered the possibility of stumbling upon a married couple trying to decide what to have for dinner. “No, we had minnows last night and I want something different tonight ” I could hear one of them saying in my head. As I snapped the shutter my interpretation of the quacking continued. “How ’bout duckweed?” No we’ve had duckweed 3 times this week and I’m sick of that too.” Finally the male offer the suggestion bugs and stuff. ” No! The female rebuttals, “you can’t have junk food for dinner!”

As I pulled away from the scene the quacking ended and the duck couple waddled off in the direction of the river. I have no idea what they decided on but it’s nice to know that this conversation isn’t unique to humans.

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