Category Archives: creatures

Matters aquatic

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Two oceanic items rolled in almost simultaneously – an update (via email) from J, the shark girl, and bunch of new inhabitants – the result of a collecting expedition that I wasn’t able to go on (drat) – in the touch tank down the hall from my office. I thought I’d mix passages from the email – permission having been granted – with pictures of touch tank inhabitants.

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I had the chance to rock chain mail again and film 3 shark feeds for UNEXSO’s promo video!! Soooo happy to be in chain mail again and to dive with Cristina. Shark girls rock!! Filmed some dolphins as well. Ha ha! The dolphin dive is actually really cool. I enjoyed getting my kiss underwater.

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The Searcher has been my home for the past 3 weeks as I finished the season as a divemaster/videographer at Guadalupe. Most amazing experience of my life!!! White sharks up close and personal and some incredible footage.  My first day on the boat I had my teeth dyed blue (food coloring in my coffee) and ate the heart of a yellowtail (you have to eat the heart of your first fish). I then found 8 storm petrels (bird that flies only at night) in my room our first night at Guadalupe. After all these pranks I was accepted as crew and then joined in on harassing other members.

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I went in the submersible for the first time and I cannot begin to describe the experience. Being that close, as I stood on top of the cage with nothing between me and 17ft shark but my camera, was truly life changing. Never in my shark experiences have I felt so much power from these animals or respect for them. For a brief moment I was in their world and on their terms and it gives me chills as I sit here thinking about it.

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I have to agree w/ J – shark girls rock. I’m looking forward to saying hi and looking at some of her photography when she swings though over Thanksgiving. For those who are interested, the touch tank Flickrset is here.

The San Bartolo murals

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Back in 2001, William Saturno found the San Bartolo murals.

When archaeologist William Saturno went to Guatemala six years ago, nothing worked out the way he planned. None of the local guides could take him to see the carved monuments he wanted to research, leaving him with nothing to do.

“Not being particularly good at sitting around and twiddling my thumbs,” Saturno says, he decided to investigate a rumor that three hieroglyphic Maya monuments had been uncovered by looters in the jungle nearby.

According to the map, Saturno and his guides could reach the monument site by driving forty kilometers and then trekking on foot through the jungle. At the beginning of the road that would take them to the site, however, Saturno’s team encountered a sign that read “Camino en mal estado.” The sign itself was falling apart, Saturno says. “That should have been an indication of what we were in for.”

After an arduous, twenty-two-hour journey, the group finally arrived at the San Bartolo site, which wasn’t the one they were looking for. Exhausted and dehydrated, Saturno ducked into a looter’s trench to escape the oppressive heat. “I shone my flashlight up on the wall,” he says, “and there was the mural.” *

I’ve heard him describe the trip and apparently “exhausted and dehydrated” is an understatement.

One of the Peabody Museum’s current exhibits is “Storied Walls: Murals of the Americas“; two walls of one room are devoted to the San Bartolo murals. There are some photos of the murals, but what held my interest were the 2 digital scan+watercolor recreations by Heather Hurst. Absolutely amazing – religious sequential art.

I’m going to post a couple thumbnails here, but no slide show. If you’de like to see more, please click through to my Flickrset – I’ve annotated some of the picture and all of them ought to be seen BIG.

Bloodletting was an important ritual practice. Stingray spines were used: women – tongues, men – foreskins (at least that’s what the plaque said – looks a little far back to me).

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NPR’s Talk of the Nation on San Bartolo here. I have a video tour of the site stashed somehere – if I find it, I’ll post a link.

Update – Video here. You may have to download and play it locally – it played fine for me under Windows using VLC.

Glass Sea Creatures

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On every walk I take there must be something to study of nature…I think a man can never finish these studies and is never too old to learn from nature. *

Off I went to Cambridge (MA) yesterday. The major motivator (answering the question, “why yesterday?”) was this book-signing event, but it seemed like a perfect opportunity for a two-fer – and so it was. I spent the morning at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum before braving the crowds of Harvard Square and meeting Chris Onstad.

I took so many pictures that I’m going to post them in batches, First batch – glass sea creatures created by the father and son team of Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. The Blaschkas are probably best known for their glass flowers, but I thought I’d start with anemones of the oceanic persuasion. Modeling transparent/translucent bodies of marine inverts in glass is a perfect match of material and subject.

A blanket mea culpa for all the HMNH photos – I think the museum uses extra-reflective glass for the front of their cases. You’ll see a lot of odd angles – that’s me trying to minimize reflection – and a lot of reflection that I couldn’t avoid.

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For the whole set (not a slideshow) click here.

Some photographs

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A good trip to a part of Maine that I’d never visited before – down east/Grand Lake. A cottage in Pembroke is sounding pretty attractive; you’d have the ocean, upland bird covers, trout fishing – don’t know if stripers get that far north. We saw moose, bald eagles, Canada – with that kind of foreign policy resume, it’s only a matter of time before the State Dept. calls. Lots of walking for not too many birds – I think the woodcock flights are still north of us.

I think this is Pink Earth (Dibaeis baeomyces).

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Hawking

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The dogs and I spent the day yesterday serving an assortment of Harris’s Hawks – the local Red Tails are not at flying weight yet.

Dog butt (not one of mine), Harris’s and Pheasant.

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Good reds this year.

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Make honey while the sun shines.

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The getaway.

Sphagnum and granite

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The dogs and I went out in search of wild birds yesterday – we’re all a little stiff this morning. Dinah met up with Murphy (he of the law) in the woods Wednesday afternoon and cut one of her pads – nice timing, what with the day out already planned for Thursday. Luckily, it wasn’t a bad cut (the ones I hate are the slices that cameltoe what should be a single digit); just a shallow divot out of the edge of the pad. Off we went – she ran fine.

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Dinah models our new e-collar. It’s a Dogtra 2500 – I’m very happy with it.

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Lunchtime still life. (Chas – I still pack an axe along – old habits die hard.)