Recent Galleries

Sea Birds and Waders : Photographs of birds taken around the coast and shoreline.

Sea Birds and Waders

Frank Anderson

Photographs of birds taken around the coast and shoreline.

Updated: Jun 02, 2013 1:13am PST

Insects & Other Creepy Crawlies :

Insects & Other Creepy Crawlies

Bill Kraus

Updated: Jun 01, 2013 11:41pm PST

Bats : Capturing a sharp image of a flying bat isn't easy - since there really is no ambient light, its not so much a matter of shutter speed (since the burst from the manual flash will freeze motion) as it is a focusing problem - the camera is manually focused on an area where the bats will (hopefully) fly through. There is also a timing problem, as the shutter lag on a camera is often long enough for the bat to fly out of frame.

Initially I just watched the flight path of the bats and tried to snap shots as they flew by - if I was lucky, I'd might get a few in focus shots. More recently, I have begun to experiment with an infrared beam trigger where the shutter is kept open and the flash is triggered by the bat tripping the sensors. Of course, capturing an image this way is harder than is sounds, as the bats rarely fly through the relatively small, softball sized, point in space covered by the sensors. Also, note that in some photos, you can see the reflection of the bat on the pond surface. And why do most - if not all - of the images show bats with their mouths open? It's because they are echolocating.

Does the flash disturb the bats? There are different opinions on this topic, and I personally will not use visible light flash anywhere near a bat roost while the bats are resting. However, in my experience and those of others, using the occasional flash away from the roost doesn't appear to have any negative impact on the bats - they not only continue to come back night after night, but continue to run their flight patterns even while the flash is being used.

Bats

Bill Kraus

Capturing a sharp image of a flying bat isn't easy - since there reall ...

Updated: Jun 01, 2013 11:30pm PST

Critters : “When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson”
 Will Rogers

Critters

thegypsylens

“When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't ...

Updated: Jun 01, 2013 9:33pm PST

Western Wildlife : All creatures, great and small.

Western Wildlife

amysgallery

All creatures, great and small.

Updated: Jun 01, 2013 4:16pm PST

Hymenoptera, Bees and Wasps : Insect images, Images of insects in the order Hymenoptera, bees, wasps and ants, but no aunts.

Hymenoptera, Bees and Wasps

David Israel

Insect images, Images of insects in the order Hymenoptera, bees, wasps ...

Updated: Jun 01, 2013 6:18am PST

Wildlife/Nature/Birds & More :

Wildlife/Nature/Birds & More

Philphotography

Updated: May 31, 2013 2:03pm PST

Nature and Wildlife :

Nature and Wildlife

ghulamrasool

Updated: May 31, 2013 4:53am PST

5 2013 May 30 Bambi :

5 2013 May 30 Bambi

ccds1

Updated: May 31, 2013 3:35am PST

Tadoba small stuff : Small mammals, reptiles and insects at the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve

Tadoba small stuff

tinlight

Small mammals, reptiles and insects at the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserv ...

Updated: May 30, 2013 9:21am PST