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My apologies to those whose knowledge of the fierce territoriality of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds might make the above scene a perplexing distortion of reality. Rarely will the local male allow birds others than his mate to use a food source in his territory, so a feeding flock like this is impossible, and has a biological spookiness to it, like cloned pets. In a sense, the distorted reality is due only to the integration over time that is a feature of all GigaPan panoramas. It’s just highlighted here by selectively capturing the moments to integrate. This image is a record of one visit to my patio by a male (dark throat) and three visits by females (probably the same one).
In case Mom asks: EVERY ONE OF THE BIRDS IN THE PANO IS SHAUN WHITE (and his boo). (see http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=15884) Notes: The Epic 100 did not capture any birds in the panorama, so afterwards I turned off the imager, set the D40 to continuous shutter at 1/1600 second and single area autofocus, and waited. One can get carried away with this, so I made sure to drop in birds (and insects) only where they were actually photographed in the scene. |
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Since the first image of this garden was made on July 10 (http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=28793), my efforts here have been applied mostly to weeding, mulching, and eating. Normally we would be entering the most delightful three month season of fresh produce, but this year the late blight (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/dining/29toma.html) has killed all of the tomatoes (32 plants of 4 varieties), so it will be an impoverished season. The blight is the same one that caused the Great Famine in Ireland (1845-1852), although I am not yet contemplating starvation or emigration. My potatoes appear to be mostly unaffected, but the fungus-like pathogen might rot the tubers in storage.
Notes: Autofocus was called for, so I monitored the imager and intervened when autofocus failed and a photo was not taken in time (My attention waned and I had to recreate one missed photo.). Also, the kid does not have a twin, or two basketballs. |
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This vegetable garden is in the well-drained sandy loam of a 13,000 year old ice-contact alluvial fan. Soil fertility is enhanced by tilling under 30 cm of tree leaves each autumn, and several cm of composted cow manure each spring. During the growing season, beds are mulched with compost and old hay. Most of the produce is eaten fresh, but potatoes, onions, and garlic are stored, and 2 dozen quarts of tomatoes are preserved.
Notes: This panorama required variable focus, but some areas confounded the autofocus, so the imager was monitored and paused if the camera failed to take a shot in time. The shot was then completed manually before the imager was resumed. |
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The town of Addison is the flattest and the most fertile part of Vermont. The plain extending west to Lake Champlain was the bottom of a glacial lake and post-glacial estuary from 14,000 to 11,000 years ago. The clayey sediments are more than 30m deep in places. The soils are slow to dry and require powerful equipment to work, but the high cation exchange capacity of the clays allows great natural fertility. About 90% of the field crops here are corn and hay for dairy feed -- this is where Ben and Jerry's ice cream starts.
I counted about 180 silos in the scene. |