Saturday Jan 6. - Printable Version +- Foto Friends (https://www.fotofriends.net) +-- Forum: Photo Forums (https://www.fotofriends.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=14) +--- Forum: Daily pub chat (https://www.fotofriends.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=10) +--- Thread: Saturday Jan 6. (/showthread.php?tid=808)

Saturday Jan 6. - Man From Ironbark - 01-05-2024 Some more arid country stuff. These are known as antlions. They are the ravenous killer larvae that later develop into lacewings. RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Dave - 01-06-2024 Good day, everyone. Thanks for starting the weekender MFI. Interesting about those larvae. I find myself wondering what they can find to eat in such seemingly arid conditions. Here's a Black-crowned Night Heron taken 4 days ago at a local park. The intense sunlight reflected off the leaves, giving the heron an odd greenish tint.     Warning: my NFL predictions follow. Feel free to ignore if not interested. (But I imagine Lorell is pretty excited about her Detroit Lions.) It works like this: 1) In the playoffs it is single elimination - win or go home. 2) Seven teams in the AFC and seven in the NFC will qualify for the playoffs, and they are ranked from 1 to 7 in each conference. 3) In each conference the #1 ranked team gets an initial BYE, while #7 plays at $2, #6 at #3, and #5 at #4. These games make up the Wild Card Round. 4) In the next round, #1 seeds have a home game against the lowest rated remaing team. The other two winners in the Wild Card round play each other, with the higher seeded team playing at home. 5) The next round determines which 2 teams will play in the Super Bowl. My predictions for final rankings and results: AFC #1 Baltimore #2 Miami #3 Kansas City #4 Jacksonville #5 Cleveland #6 Indianapolis #7 Buffalo NFC  #1 San Francisco #2 Dallas #3 Detroit #4 Tampa Bay #5 Philadelphia #6 Indianapolis #7 Los Angeles I think the Super Bowl teams will be the #1 seeds: Baltimore and San Francisco. And I'm picking San Francisco to upset Baltimore in a close game. RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Adamphotoman - 01-06-2024 Hi Peter, Dave, Your Heron turned out well. I like the green tint. We used to live on Vancouver Island where there was a rookery. Noisy and prehistoric sounding creatures.Those Herons were much larger. RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Rich - 01-06-2024 Interesting Peter, agree with Dave. Good capture Dave! At first glance I thought the branch across his body was his other leg! Greetings Grant. Here is the Chief Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills. This was taken in 2004. It has changed quite a bit since then. I added dramatic clouds later. RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Luv2shoot - 01-06-2024 Dave, YES, you know that we are excited about the LIONS making the playoffs.  It has been an exciting season for them and for all the fans in the METRO area.  Did you happen to see the bad call made by the refs after Detroit scored the "WINNING Touchdown" that caused it to be called back?  What a shame, right?  Baltimore is really tough.  I think you might make some money if you bet on them. Peter, regarding the ANTLIONS being ravenous killer larvae.  Who do they kill?  Are they the ones that made the indentations in the reddish sand? Dave, the black-crowned Heron is a good capture.  I am glad that you are out there taking photographs with your Canon.  The green matting works perfectly with the green tint of the photo. Hey Grant, has the snow stopped yet in your area? Outside right now the snow is falling gently to the ground.  It is pretty when it does that, sort of mesmerizing.  Rich, I would like to go see Mount Rushmore as well as this extraordinary creation.  I bet it is breathtaking in real life.  It is a monster size too Dave, your door thing the other day made me think of this shot that I had taken of an old trunk at the train museum. RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Man From Ironbark - 01-07-2024 Antlions get their name from their prey, ants. The conical indentations are made by the larva that is at the bottom of the hole. It continuously flicks the grains of sand back to the top and clearly is a master engineer of moving dirt. Any ant walking past is going to fall in and the constant flicking of the grains of sand make it very difficult for the ant to escape. There is footage out there somewhere of how quickly their pincers appear to grab and drag the ant under the sand. They aren't particularly handsome.     I do like the green tint effect on the night heron, Dave. In Australia we fabricate big things like the big banana or the big pineapple. Throughout Australia you can see hundreds of over-sized objects. It all started with the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour. Big things lots of them Our hills, we simply dig big holes in to extract whatever riches lay within. We have no sculpted rockfaces like Chief Crazy Horse or Mt Rushmore. Very dramatic photo, Rich. The trunk lock study is quite well captured, Lorell. You got the light just right. RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Adamphotoman - 01-07-2024     Peter, Now that little monster is what scary movies are made up from. Good day Rich, Lorrel, A well rendered capture. We too have a gentle light fluffy snow falling. Easy to shovel. RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Rich - 01-07-2024 Thanks Lorell, yes, you should come to see both monuments. You will like them!! Lovely trunk latch that says old! Good composition! Thanks Peter! I prefer not to get close to that insect. Grant, another frosty day in the north! Good one! Weather service says we could get  6 inches of snow and sub zero temps, Oh joy! RE: Saturday Jan 6. - Man From Ironbark - 01-08-2024 They are only dangerous to ants at first, then they become lacewings and be a wonderful predator for the pests in your garden, before they lay their eggs for the next cycle. Here's the eggs.