Deer, Eye of Toad & Dragonfly, Oh My

Periodically, friends send me images that are worth sharing! Here's a pair from friend Bob, who caught this deer across the street from his home in Mountain Club. And I have to satisfy myself with an occasional javelina sighting! My neighbors (who have a small koi pond) at least get raccoon visitors on occasion.



The sson, who visited recently, is back on the job with the Natl. Park Service; he just sent me the next pictures, also taken locally. Partly to show off how high the definition of a new Nikon digital camera. And how! The frog eye, followed by the toad eye, is an extreme blow-up from a normal close-up picture of the entire animal.

I have to admit that I'm impressed by the sson's steady hand! Even maxxing out on pixels, if his hand weren't steady, the extreme blow-ups would have been blurred! Or maybe it's the magic of an extremely fast electronic shutter that makes the difference.



There's a reason the toad below is pointing his nose to the heavens -- look carefully at the image in his eye. It's the photographer (to the left)! In fact, if you look closely in the frog's eye (above), you can see the glitter of the sun and the blue sky!



This monster from another planet is actually the head of a dragonfly captured by my granddaughter during the recent visit.

By the way, the sson wants me to correct a statement I made about the toad in the previous post. It is commonly known as a Southwestern Spadefoot Toad; under this name, there should be more Google entries than for Hammond's Spadefoot.