cottage photos

[Wolfus_305]

Hey everybody,
I hope I'm posting this in the right place. here are some pictures of things from the cottage last summer.
the first spider was in the solarium, nearly gave me a heart attack
the brightly coloured spider was an inch from my face when i looked up from gardening, almost another heart attack
the next one i found interesting, it was a waspy looking thing that landed on the window and it proceeded to eat what i can only assume is/was a dragonfly

[stephanbakir]

Love photo #2, garden spiders have that crazy face on their rears, almost looks like a wasp on the picture you provided

[Wolfus_305]

Thank you!
I was terrified. I was minding my own business pulling all the 12 foot tall stinging nettle out of the garden and then I was pulling out smaller weeds, I lifted my head and then an inch from my nose was that spider, just sitting there. I jumped backwards out of the garden soooo quickly! and then once I recovered from the terrifying incident i ran to get my camera

[JaySteel]

Great series of shots. At least you only ran to get the camera and not something to squash the spider with!

Best regards,
Jason

[Wolfus_305]

Nope, spider was outside minding it's own business, not fair for me to squash it, plus i have a feeling i'd need big construction boots to do so, it was HUGE! :P

[Wolfus_305]

Here are some other pictures I got off my old computer

[stephanbakir]

Great lookin' monarch! Wish we had more of them here. I see 1 or 2 a year these days:(

[Wolfus_305]

since I was little the monarch population has REALLY declined, we hardly see any at all now :(

[Wolfus_305]

A few more pictures. In one of them there was a waspy/bee-like thing digging a round hole in the ground, anybody know why?

[Wolfus_305]

and a few more pictures

[Stormy Night]

Loooove your pictures! Most of them are calendar worthy :-)

[sickvenom]

Love the photos. Some of them are pretty good!

[Wolfus_305]

Thanks you guys! I used to enter tons of contests but I never won anything, oh well :P

[stephanbakir]

A few more pictures. In one of them there was a waspy/bee-like thing digging a round hole in the ground, anybody know why?

Picture one is a Pine beetle, they are actually quite tasty:P You hear them hissing allot on summer days.
Picture two is a Luna moth caterpillar. They look amazing and if you haven't seen one, look up Luna Moth on google :)

Cant identify picture 3

[stephanbakir]

and a few more pictures

Do you see bears regularly? The one ones we see are when we go camping deep into the bush.

[Wolfus_305]

Those are the caterpillars my neighbours used to study and raise on our trees, they looked amazing, we got to watch them grow up :P I think I have one of those moths pinned somewhere at the cottage.

yes, I hear those bugs all the time, we've got a fair amount of them at the cottage, i love their long antennae

We used to have tons of wildlife, bears, moose, deer, squirrels, rabbits etc. then the person accross the river from us and the person down the street from us started hunting everything (even out of season). last summer we had no bears, no rabbits, 1 squirrel, no deer, no moose and not a single fox. The bear used to always tip over the compost and bend down the bird feeder poles

I think that's actually a cecropia caterpillar. He used to study all sorts of moths and bugs, i know for sure that he raise polyphemus' several years. he also used to catch moths at gas station lights and breed them :P he was a cool guy, don't see too much of him any more though

[stephanbakir]

don't see too much of him any more though
That's a shame, being exposed to cool things regularly must have been fun:P

My bad, i saw it and thought it looked like a luna moth caterpillar http://naturalsciences.org/microsites/education/treks/caterpillarology/images/Luna-moth-caterpillar.jpg

It does look more like a cecropea but i don't see the circles going down the side and it has really small spines on the top, great looking caterpillar either way
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/49/189434979_20c0e9dff4.jpg

[Wolfus_305]

As they molt (i think that's the word for when they shed) they change colours and something happens with their spikes on top i think.. can't remember what though

This site has some nice pictures of them at different stages Cecropia Caterpillar Growth: Moth larvae photos & videos. journal. (http://lifecycle.onenessbecomesus.com/caterpillar.htm)

It was so fun, I miss it a lot. I'm still that girl that can spot caterpillars in trees from far away (ahah his training worked :P )

there was a huge disaster though, when the area got sprayed for gypsy moths it was the windiest day of the summer and it ended up killing tons of wildlife

[stephanbakir]

That blows. We had something similar at my cottage, they did some logging in the mountains and when it rained it made the streams really dirty and most of the trout died off, we went from catching 15-20 a day easily to 1-2 a week (we released them all from that point on to allow them to repopulate but its still pretty bad.

[Wolfus_305]

Wow, I think things like that are just so horrible! nobody seems to think of what could happen

[stephanbakir]

It probably wouldn't have taken much forethought, considering its a known problem.
Hows your cottage now?

[Wolfus_305]

The cottage itself is good. up in the muskoka, ont, area.
Still not too much wildlife because the neighbours are still hunting everything. But they aren't allowed to hunt on our property and we have lots of gardens to try and encourage birds and bugs to stay around our place :P
We had no rabbits or deers eat the garden last year, no bear knock over the compost. it was quite sad really.
Oh, that reminds me, i can't find the picture because i don't know what computer it's on, but when i find it i will post it. There was this little thing at the garden and we thought it was a hummingbird, but our bug neighbour told us it was a rare moth, a hummingbird sphinx.
here's a pretty decent video of one: YouTube - Hummingbird Sphinx Moth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFh6TwVXY1w)

[belovedboas]

Loving the spider pics my dear, got a few T's myself. I love seeing spiders in their natural habitat,

cool pics all around:):)

[stephanbakir]

The cottage itself is good. up in the muskoka, ont, area.
Still not too much wildlife because the neighbours are still hunting everything. But they aren't allowed to hunt on our property and we have lots of gardens to try and encourage birds and bugs to stay around our place :P
We had no rabbits or deers eat the garden last year, no bear knock over the compost. it was quite sad really.
Oh, that reminds me, i can't find the picture because i don't know what computer it's on, but when i find it i will post it. There was this little thing at the garden and we thought it was a hummingbird, but our bug neighbour told us it was a rare moth, a hummingbird sphinx.
here's a pretty decent video of one: YouTube - Hummingbird Sphinx Moth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFh6TwVXY1w)

That moth is a beast!

[Wolfus_305]

Thank you Greg! I like spiders, but I prefer walking up to them, not being surprised when they are inches from my face :P

Yes!!! isn't it the coolest thing ever!!! I love that moth! (i still can't find my picture of it. oh well. when i do i'll post it)

[stephanbakir]

One day on vacation i woke up with a tarantula on my leg:P Was a fun experience lol, first words out of my mouth were COOL!

[sickvenom]

Wolfus_305, as a professional photographer i must say your photos are great. care to share what gear you use?

[sickvenom]

A few more pictures. In one of them there was a waspy/bee-like thing digging a round hole in the ground, anybody know why?

wasps will sometimes live in the ground. at least the ones here in the u.s. do.

[Wolfus_305]

Wolfus_305, as a professional photographer i must say your photos are great. care to share what gear you use?

You can call me Kendra. I just use the canon powershot G9. I have a macro lens but I am usually too lazy to find it and put it on the camera. I don't have a tripod for the same reason, I like taking pictures of bugs and living things and if I run to get a tripod I'll lose the shot. I got my first camera 5 years ago when I was in gr 8 and I fell in love with taking pictures

OHMYGOSH! if I woke up and there was a tarantula on my leg I would be out of that bed so quickly and screaming and completely freaking out :P

[sickvenom]

You can call me Kendra. I just use the canon powershot G9. I have a macro lens but I am usually too lazy to find it and put it on the camera. I don't have a tripod for the same reason, I like taking pictures of bugs and living things and if I run to get a tripod I'll lose the shot. I got my first camera 5 years ago when I was in gr 8 and I fell in love with taking pictures

awesome! love talking shop with other shutterbugs. you really should give that macro lens a try. it's a whole 'nother world. but you are right, the subjects will not always stick around long enough for you. i have been a paid professional for over 10 years and i have never entered any contests. i'm not against them, i just never did it.

the grasshopper on the flower is worth framing.

[Wolfus_305]

Thank you for the kind words :)

I am picking out flower pictures to put in the kitchen cabinets that I started working on over a year ago, it's about time I finish them.

Sometimes I got out with my macro lens on, I've used it, I like it, I just don't always have time for it.

[Wolfus_305]

Finally found the hardcopy of the hummingbird sphynx moth

[stephanbakir]

I need to find me one of these.

[mrherpdotca]

Great pics!!!

Our family cottage is in Bracebridge and we have only seen a couple bears in 30 years. They scare the **** out of me!

[DFowler]

Really nice photos. Hope you were inside taking a picture of the bear :)

[Wolfus_305]

I only know how to quote once..
Stephan: they are incredible to watch, we get them at the flowers near our small pond in July and August, hard to tell them apart from a hummingbird as they move just as quickly


Great pics!!!

Our family cottage is in Bracebridge and we have only seen a couple bears in 30 years. They scare the **** out of me!
That's awesome, we are just outside of bracebridge along the Muskoka river

DFowler: I woke up and our sealed barrel of birdseed was tossed all over and chewed up. I looked around, didn't see anything. went out about a half hour later to clean up and then mom yells from the cottage "The bear is there!!". I took those pictures from the solarium

[mrherpdotca]

I only know how to quote once..
Stephan: they are incredible to watch, we get them at the flowers near our small pond in July and August, hard to tell them apart from a hummingbird as they move just as quickly



That's awesome, we are just outside of bracebridge along the Muskoka river

m

So are we!

We are off Fraserburg rd about 20 mins from Bracebridge!

[Wolfus_305]

So are we!

We are off Fraserburg rd about 20 mins from Bracebridge!


you need to be kidding, that is exactly where we are!!!

[mrherpdotca]

So weird. If you look on google maps we are on white eagle trail. You take Fraserburg to Purbrook to white eagle trail. It's been our family cottage since 1978. You are now the 3rd person I know that by coinencedence has a cottage in the same area.

Cheers.

Chris

[Wolfus_305]

i know exactly where that is :P

we're off fraserburg then colony road and we're on one of the little side streets up there. we started building in 1991 and although it's finished we are always finding things to add and/or change

[stephanbakir]

Great pics as always :)

[mrherpdotca]

Beautiful area!
Unfortunatly for me because of life, kids, work etc we have only been up a couple times per summer for the last few years.

Cheers.

Chris

[Wolfus_305]

Thanks Stephan :)

Yeah, I got a job last year and didn't make it up for the summer or for march break because i was working, I miss the cottage. it's just so peaceful, no bustle and hustle like the city

[stephanbakir]

The first and last pictures you just uploaded are AMAZING, and the pupa is cool too:P

[Wolfus_305]

Thanks, I always find it hard to take pics of the monarch crysalis's because i never find them in a natural setting, they've always crawled onto the cottage or pile of cut lumber or something annoying :P

Hmm not sure why some of those turned out so small.. the one of the road (it's hard to tell in the small picture) but we had a really bad storm and the side of the road washed away. we had a worse storm later (but i don't have pictures) and there were craters in the road as deep as i am tall, some of our roads completely washed away, the river flooded the banks by at least 100 feet, power and phones were out for 7 days. it was hell. mom needs her coffee in the morning and apparently bbq coffee isn't very good :P

[Wolfus_305]

storm clouds rolling over us on our way to Combermere.

we have two bunches of these yellow flowers in one of our cottage gardens.. the bunch on the right side was covered in these little red bugs all summer, the ones on the left didn't have a single bug..

my favourite rose this year

My dad, my friend and I worked for a few days to move the gazeboe, re-do the entire foundation and move it back. one of these days mom came down to the river, we were expecting a snack.. she thought we would go up to the cottage if we were hungry. she went back up to the cottage but before getting there she found this caterpillar, brought it to us and said "here's lunch"

[Wolfus_305]

I tried to get a series of pictures of monarch caterpillars throughout their lifespan because I thought it would look really nice as a set of pictures. I came close... the only step I missed is right after it emerges from the chrysalis when it's wings are all crumpled. I have a good reason for missing that step though :P I was sitting on the swing near our pond garden watching the humming bird feeder...no humming birds though. Ants were climbing up the pole and getting to the feeder, but then wasps would come by, literally PICK UP the ants and THROW them so you could see little ants flying through the air. I wanted to see who would win :P

Caterpillar

[Wolfus_305]

monarch continued...

[Wolfus_305]

My boyfriend and I got up super early 5:30, to go down to the river because I insisted on showing him the mist/steam/fog that only happens in August

[Wolfus_305]

We (my sister, best friend and I) went fishing. I HATE fishing so I only went along because I'm the only one who can take the fish off the hooks. I ended up catching 9 fish, my sister caught one and my friend caught 4. I think this is the biggest fish we caught all day :P I'm not sure what kind of fish they are .. they're back fin thing was really spikey though.

My dad, boyfriend, sister and I, went to a nearby lake to go waterskiiing. I'm not one for water sports but my sister really wanted to try and my dad wanted to go. It is tradition that the boat breaks down. EVERY single time we take that boat somewhere it stalls and we need to paddle to shore, hang out on somebody's dock and wait for tools or a passing boat. This trip it broke down twice. it broke down, we got towed to shore, we changed one of the fuses which we thought was the problem... it ran for a bit but then it stalled again and we paddled to shore. My sister learned to water ski and she also got to drive the boat for the first time while my dad water skiied. the commentary was priceless :P

[alessia55]

those butterfly photos are incredible!

[millertime89]

yeah, I would miss the butterfly too just to watch the wasps fight the ants, sounds way to entertaining!

[Wolfus_305]

Thank you! I watched that caterpillar rain and shine every day!

Aha yes, the wasps actually throwing the ants was VERY entertaining!

[shaunyboy]

great thread kendra

those are some of the best pictures i've ever seen

thanks for sharing

cheers shaun

[Wolfus_305]

Aw thanks Shaun! :)

I love taking pictures! I always have my camera! One of my neighbours at my cottage does nature/bug photos for magazines and he studies caterpillars and such and he would always take me out and teach me and show me and let me use his special camera and tri-pod and light reflector things. And he'd say lets go for a short walk (we'd be gone for 8 hours and he'd be saying "now there used to be a path through here *walks over fallen trees, pushes branches aside, jumps over puddles") and he would quiz me afterwards on things he told me

[marvelfreak]

Beautiful pictures.