Aquarium 3

So here is another selection of Jellyfish pictures from Monterey Bay Aquarium. After this post I think I will share some pictures of birds that are kept at the aquarium, but first enjoy these beauties.

The large jellyfish in the first few shots is I believe a Black Sea Nettle. A search using Google lens suggested either a Lion's Mane Jellyfish or the black sea nettle and comparing other photos of the different species I am inclined towards the sea nettle. If anyone seeing this knows better then feel free to comment and let me know.

The very delicate, transparent species in the last two shots is a Red-eyed Medusa. Another search using Lens suggested Snow Globe Jellyfish as an alternative but I think the feature which sets this out as a Red-eyed Medusa is the ring of red spots around the rim of the bell, which look like tiny eyes.

Of course had I taken notes when I was at the aquarium I would not have needed to do searches now and I would be able to state with confidence what they are. I often do this, I see something, photograph it and make a mental note convinced that I will remember, but time passes and my head fills up with other more important ( and often less important) stuff, pushing out the facts I wanted to remember. It teaches me, in the moment that I shouldn't rely on my memory. And then as if to prove the point, next time I go somewhere like the aquarium or a zoo I do exactly the same thing, forgetting the lesson I thought I had learned.

The other lesson it teaches me is that despite the many benefits of the internet and all the information that is available online you cannot always rely on it to provide a definitive answer.

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures from these three most recent posts and hopefully you will take note of the lessons that I should learn and not fall into the same mistakes as me. Now, what am I supposed to be doing next...

 

Aquarium 2

 Here is another helping of Jellyfish from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. When I was doing a search to identify what species this is Google's Gemini could only tell me it is a Jellyfish which wasn't much help. There were lots of similar photos online from other visitors to the aquarium, proving that it really is one of the most popular exhibits there.

From the Monterey Bay Aquarium website I learned that this is a Sea Nettle and while many  varieties of jellyfish don't sting this one does. It hunts prey by trailing its long tentacles and frilly "mouth-arms". As prey  creatures (which include young pollock, larval fish, zooplankton and other jellies) touch the tentacles they receive a paralysing sting and then stick tight before being moved to the mouth-arms and then finally into the sea nettle's mouth to be consumed. The bell grows to around 45cm (almost 18" in old money) and the mouth-arms reach 3.6 - 4.6 metres (12- 15 feet). Despite their fearsome reputation they really are quite beautiful and as I said in my last post it is very relaxing watching them.

I will return to jellyfish in my next post so if you have enjoyed these shot please come back for more.

But here is a little bonus for you. As mentioned in the last post I wanted to share a photo of my mate Mark... who is a Hammerhead Shark. There is a children's story My Mate Mark is a Hammerhead Shark by Jeanne Willis. I enjoy reading it with my grandchildren, or at least my eldest grandchild who is 3. At the aquarium he was really excited to see this shark and he could relate it to the character in the story. If you have kids or grandkids its definitely worth a read. Although they can appear quite menacing and like the jellyfish above have a bit of a reputation in this photo he appears as if he is smiling and that makes him seem much less threatening.

Aquarium 1

I have been to various aquariums and while I love water and I am fascinated by the undersea world I didn't think I needed to visit another aquarium while I was on holiday. I figured that there would be better ways of spending my time, seeing something new, and probably for a lot less money. However, I was persuaded that the aquarium at Monterey would be different and that I should go along.

I was so glad I did, I ended up staying almost 5 hours and was among the last people to leave when the place closed at the end of the day. Bear in mind that my grandsons aged 3 and 1 were there too and they didn't get bored at all because there was so much to see.

I loved being able to go outside and watch sealions and sea otters and different varieties of sea birds, I loved the collection of rescued birds in the aviary and the touch tanks were so much fun. The kelp forest was magical and the shoal of sardines swimming around my head in one of the displays was surreal. However the part that surprised me most was the collection of jellyfish.

I think up to now my favourite marine creatures have been (and maybe still are) seahorses, however seeing the displays of jellyfish has really put them in contention for top spot. I could have stood for so much longer watching them because they are so calming, despite the large number of visitors and the heat the slow rise and fall of these pulsating sea creatures, beautifully lit as they were was able to transcend all of that.

Of course I took a lot of photos and here are just a few of them...

These I believe are Moon Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), I will post some photos of different species in the next few days and in one of my next posts I will include a random shot of "my mate Mark" (iykyk) so be sure to look out for that.

Caught Out

 On my way to Santa Cruz one day during my holiday I stopped off at Mount Madonna State Park. I wanted to walk in the redwood forests again before taking a road trip across country. I had paused at a lookout spot to take in the views across the valley over the tops of the trees when all of a sudden this magnificent Turkey Vulture flew into the clearing in front of me. I scrabbled about to change my lens hoping that the vulture would hang around long enough for me to get a few shots. I think that being caught unprepared i didn't get the setting exactly right, a much faster shutter speed that the 1/800 sec that I used would have been preferable but even so I did manage to get some decent shots as the bird swooped and  turned in front and above me before heading off once again in search of food.

These birds were a common sight along the highways in California, presumably attracted by the amount of roadkill. Although they are not particularly pretty birds to look at they certainly play an important role and they look majestic when they're soaring high above on the thermals.

Whenever I travel somewhere new I am always keen to see the different wildlife and on this trip I was treated to some really wonderful sights. I didn't get to photograph them all but I am pretty happy with the results for those that I did. 

If you have enjoyed these then look out for future posts when I will be sharing more from my trip.

Timeless

 For part of my recent trip to the USA I was very fortunate to stay for 8 days in Utah with an older couple  who I had got to know when they were living as missionaries in the UK in 2004. It was wonderful to see them after such a long time, and although sadly the gentleman has some problems with his memory we were still able to feel the close friendship we had formed all those years ago.

I asked him about some of the things he had done in the intervening years and he said "Oh I don't remember that now, but it is all written down in my journal" and his wife explained that until recently he had kept a written record of his life, and she has been putting them in order so that she can write a book for their children and grandchildren so they too can share some of his experiences.

I was thinking about this over the past few days and how I had been encouraged to keep a journal when I was younger but it was never something I took seriously. I never really thought that my life would be interesting to anyone else. Now that I am older, a parent and a grandparent I have tried to recall events and stories that I would want to share and I know there are big gaps and maybe I should have kept some sort of record.

To a certain extent my blog can be a record, not just of the things I have seen or felt interested enough to photograph and a record of some of the places I have been and things I have done but also as I share some of my random musings which perhaps give a sense of who I am. At the same time this is a public document and as a private person I have to hold back on some things too.

Anyway, the photos I have selected for today and the title "Timeless" seem to fit with these ramblings. 

Here are the pictures and the story behind them follows after...

We stayed in California for the first week of the trip and one of the highlights on out itinerary was to visit one of the redwood Forest state parks. We had booked tickets for a ride on a steam train at Roaring Camp/Bear Mountain near Felton. Due to a misunderstanding when we booked and probably in no small part to the effects of jet lag we arrived, believing we were in good time only to be told we had missed the train. However luck was on our side because the previous departure had been delayed and the knock on effect was that our train was also delayed and we just managed to take our seats for a truly memorable ride up the mountain surrounded by the most magnificent trees.

You can see why they are called redwoods from the first two photos which show the inside of one tree which has eroded over time and to a certain extent resembles a slot canyon.

The final two images don't really do justice to the reality of the circle of trees which was like a cathedral in its grandeur. To stand in the centre of this circle looking upwards, hundreds of feet to the canopy was a really humbling experience. It was just me who seemed to feel this because everyone who stood in the circle looked up in awe and seemed to speak in hushed voices. 

In other places on my trip I saw the effects of forest fires, where large areas of forest have been damaged and on my last day, driving to the airport I drove through any area north of San Francisco where a wild fire was burning on the hills along near the freeway and I was reminded of how fragile our planet is and how we need to take better care of our natural treasures.

Misty Mornings

 

I recently spent just over three weeks in the USA, road tripping, visiting family and friends. It was amazing and of course I didn't miss any opportunity to take my camera out.

The first part of the trip was in California, I stayed just outside of San Martin and Morgan Hill where I had great views looking west across the valley towards Mount Madonna. It was nice to stand and take in the view early in the morning before the heat of the sun burnt off the clouds that gathered in the valley overnight which provided a lovely gentle backdrop for the lone tree that stood on the nearby ridge. One morning I even got to watch a coyote hunting in the long grass in the field closest to the house where I stayed.

About an hour away was Santa Cruz and the third image today is from a photo that I took from the beach in front of the boardwalk. Although it was getting towards lunchtime and most of the sky was clear there remained a stubborn bank of low cloud clinging to the coastline just south of the beach creating another misty backdrop that is in keeping with the first two images above.

I have a lot of photos to sort through and share so be sure to look out for the next post.  

Osprey

 Believe it or not, I have been quite restrained when selecting pictures for this post. I have more images of this beautiful Osprey but have held back a few. Enjoy the pictures and then see the story below...

I had gone to Utah Lake State Park to visit a farmers market, with no expectation that I would see anything remarkable given the noise from the PA system and the large number of people that were around. The market itself was a disappointment and had I not been waiting for other family members to arrive I would most likely have left pretty quickly without even venturing to the waterfront. However, I did have to wait and I was so glad because I was treated to a wonderful display as this majestic Osprey was flying over the marina and even fishing alongside pleasure boats allowing me the opportunity to get a few decent shots. 

I have only seen an Osprey once before in the UK and even then it was at a distance due to restrictions around the nest site (and although last year one did land on the beach close to where I live, I only heard about that after it had moved on). So, I was very excited to see this one up close and seemingly unperturbed by the large gathering of people. It made a few passes before flying off to find another fishing spot and perhaps to get away from the pesky Kingbird that was harassing it. 

These images were shot on my Canon 5D mk4 with Canon 100-400mm F4.5 - 5.6L IS ii USM plus 1.4x iii converter. The shutter speed was 1250/s and I think I should have used a faster speed for crisper images. I'll know for next time...