Desert Toad

@deserted1.bsky.social

Husband of a great wife, father of wonderful kids, proud grandfather, Amateur photographer, AI afficionado, love desert four-wheeling, metal detecting, drones, computers, meteorite collecting, Falconry. Commercial use of my content is not permitted.

An exciting desert road, on top of hills, in the Sonoran Desert, with Saguaros and a mountain backdrop. We drove for a couple of hours without seeing another car or even another human.

A pic of the full moon fron 2 nights ago.

Sunset near Lake Pleasant with a little foreground macrophotography...

A Harris Hawk lands on my arm in slow motion. A beautiful raptor, incredibly fast and agile. Pure joy meeting this boy.

A beautiful 360⁰ pic of Kinsale, Ireland, at Noon, you can see 2 forts, Charles Fort and James Fort, as well as
Archdeacon Duggan Bridge, built in the mid 1970s. In addition you can see the marina, and much of the town, albeit at a distance.

From Wikipedia:
Charles Fort (Irish: Dún Chathail) is a trace italienne fortification, a bastion fort with one section of the outer wall built in star fashion. It is located at the southern end of the village of Summer Cove, on Kinsale harbour, County Cork, Ireland. First completed in 1682, Charles Fort was sometimes historically referred to as the "new fort", to contrast with James' Fort (the "old fort") which had been built on the other side of Kinsale harbour before 1607.

From WordPress:
James Fort was contstructed shortly after the British defeated the Ulster forces of O’Donnell and O’Neill when they tried to combine with the Spanish at the Battle of Kinsale in 1602.

Kinsale was the death knell for the Irish forces and resulted in the Flight of the Earls. The port at Kinsale became a British Stronghold.

Naval base: Kinsale served as an important naval base for centuries, and an underwater chain could be strung between the two forts to scuttle enemy ships during wartime.

RMS Lusitania: The harbor is also notable as the closest land to where the RMS Lusitania was sunk in 1915.

Pic taken while Phone was spun 180⁰ in a 2 second night exposure, when it indicated "hold the phone steady"...

Mottled Orange Pink clouds loitering to deliver another gorgeous Maui sunset...

The Sun sets over Polo Beach...

Wailea Makena, Maui

An 80 mile slightly anxiety inducing drive brought us to the crater of the Haupa'akea Peak, at Noon. The clouds roll over the lip of the cauldron, at 10,000 feet above sea level, and make it hard to judge whether you are looking at the sky or the ocean. The mist over the lower elevations sometimes made it hard to tell how high up the mountain we were.

Beautiful hues dominate the sky near sunset. Pic 1

Sun streaks through the branches at sunset in Arizona

The vapor whale from the SpaceX Launch plods across the sky...

10x zoom of the vapor cone from the SpaceX rocket launch.

Shortly after this pic, the angle slightly changed, and the rocket disappeared, leaving the twilight phenomenon behind.

As the sun drops behind the cacti covered mountains, the clouds light up from rays of light to add dimension and contrast for another phenomenal sunset near Lake Pleasant

Hundreds of black swans lazily float on a lake, just outside the entrance to the sheep farm.

Black swans are a common sight in the Christchurch area, as they were introduced to New Zealand from Australia in the 1860s and have established populations in both the North and South Islands. While the Australian black swan (Cygnus atratus) is now widespread, New Zealand also had its own unique, now-extinct species of black swan called the Poūwa (Cygnus sumnerensis).

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Australian Black Swans:
These are the black swans you'll typically see in and around Christchurch today. They are native to Australia and were introduced to New Zealand in the 1860s.

New Zealand's Extinct Black Swan (Poūwa):
New Zealand once had its own species of black swan, the Poūwa, which was distinct from the Australian species.

Poūwa Characteristics:
The Poūwa was larger and heavier than the Australian black swan, with proportionally shorter wings and longer legs.

Extinction:
The Poūwa is believed to have been hunted to extinction by humans shortly after their arrival in New Zealand.

Current Swan Population:
Today, the Australian black swan is a common sight in New Zealand, including the Christchurch area, with populations found on larger coastal or inland lakes.

Lake Ellesmere:
A prominent location for black swans in the Canterbury region (where Christchurch is located) is Lake Ellesmere (Te Waihora), though a severe storm in 1968 significantly impacted the swan population there.

Hunting:
Black swans are considered game birds in New Zealand and can be hunted during the appropriate seasons.

A distant island, cloaked by lingering clouds, the sky, ok, to me, amber and almost a greenish blue...

4 Australian White Ibis, known as "bin chickens" roam around the park in Sydney Harbor, looking for a snack

Islands dot the beach view from Rotorua in early April on a beauty of a warm day. A sailboarder tries to navigate the waves

A pic of the brick, one of the 1st wireless phones

Fog rolls back on the river Brandon, just behind the Archdeacon Duggan Bridge, Kinsale. A beautiful sunny, cool morning at 8:30, temperature 51⁰, and low wind. This was taken down the road ( Castlepark ) from Kinsale Beach, where folks MUCH heartiest than I were swimming daily in 40⁰ waters.

I put on a fleece at the mere sight.

A wonderful place to visit, should you get to Eire... it's a great food town.

A picture of the Sonoran Desert while on a search for a missing man that thankfully turned up after a few days.

While folks searched for him, eventually, he showed back up on his own.

Frustrating as it may have been for those that knew him, or were helping to find him, this WAS absolutely the best case scenario. No question.

Very quickly, it doesn't really matter WHY someone is gone, because if they come back alive, your prayers HAVE been answered.

I have been on other searches...

He wanted to be pet. I wanted to pet him... but the last second warning makes you look at those sharp, pointy horns makes you wonder how fast he can swing that big old head around , or close the 3 foot distance he was away.

He looked friendly, but you gotta respect a Highland bull.

An island hides in the clouds, at sunrise, in the Tasman Sea, blurring the distinction between the clouds and land.

The lonely island looked uninhabited by anything but birds and maybe some seals, or turtles, but I'm speculating; it did look devoid of humans though, so it was probably doing fine.

In order to find the speck of land on the sea, you had to zoom in on the horizon, in a direction you thought you'd seen it before. It disappeared and reappeared in the myst until the Sun came up and burned off the clouds.

A White Lipped Green Tree frog, chillin' on a branch.

The Daintree rainforest, in the Daintree River, near Port Douglas, QLD, Australia

Viewers watch the geyser erupt from a safe distance, on a bridge.

Pōhutu Geyser in New Zealand's Rotorua is the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere. It can erupt up to 20 times a day, shooting steam as high as 30 meters (98 ft) into the air.

Located in the Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley in Rotorua, New Zealand's North Island

Part of the Te Puia attraction

It also has a strong Sulphur smell

This two foot long baby is less than half the size of an adult... I had no idea they got that big... the adults can be fast and mean, or just protective of their territory.

Folks, should you be chased by one of these in the wild ( a totally real possibility, I know), the trick to remember is "Serpentine", zig-zag to escape, as they apparently can't do that well.

Serpentine!

A RAW photo of the coast of Tasmania at sunset.

As the crew releases the ropes from the dock, the ship moves away about 50 feet away, and the tug awaits the tow rope tossed from the ship, and uses it to pull the cruise ship backwards, to reposition it forward, and allow it it to move forward for the sail off, heading to Melbourne. The Crown Towers building directly behind, the as the Sun shimmers off of it. The tower highlights the many skyscrapers in the immediate vicinity The Sydney Harbour Bridge visible off on the left, where brave souls pay to climb the top of it, in special coveralls, tethered to the bridge by cable. It's a beautiful sunny day instead of the forecast clouds and rain.

Reddish orange hues color the clouds over the desert scenery, as the sun still sits below the horizon, and the air is still not hot. No structures to see, and the spot is closer to the international Space Station than another town, or (thankfully), and McDonald's or KFC.

If you wander far from here, on your own, and you are NOT a capable person from one of the local Indigenous Tribe,
My opinion is...

You gonna die out there.

Surprisingly, although the temp was 102⁰ (and very low humidity), it was basically Phoenix temps, plus brutal merciless flies. Fortunately, for us, the heat had killed many of them off, so they weren't nearly as bad as they could have been. See any Aussie reality show based in the outback, for an idea of how bad they can be...

A double rainbow over Uluru, as the sun rises, and light filters over the red sandstone rock, rust red due to the the iron elements in the soil

Sails in the Desert, 2/1 63Yulara Dr, Yulara NT 0872,Australia.

Picture taken from hotel balcony, long exposure (12 minutes) Expert RAW

Galaxy S24 Ultra

3.50 МВ 13000х4000
12MP
ISO 1600 3mm
-1.7ev I F1.7

25' 1/2 s.

Obviously, the pic would have better definition if that big ol' moon wasn't lighting things up...

A White-Lipped Green Frog perches on a branch, stuck on a rope, next to the small dock the even smaller river cruise boat ties up to. It's kind of hard to see, as they camouflage pretty well...

The next pic zooms in a bit on the critter

Fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, in Port Douglas, Australia can have wingspans of up to three feet.
Explanation
The best time to see the fruit bats in Port Douglas is at sunset when they leave to forage for the night.
The Spectacled Flying-fox is an endangered species that is commonly seen in the Cairns region and Port Douglas.
The grey-headed flying fox is the largest bat in Australia, with an adult wingspan of up to 3 ft 3 in.
The giant golden-crowned flying fox is possibly the largest bat in the world, with an average wingspan of more than 5 ft.
The Pemba flying fox is part of the megabat genus, which are the world's largest bats.
Other information
Fruit bats are commonly known as flying foxes, and their diet is mainly nectar, pollen, and fruit.

"Bruce", the female Saltwater Crocodile, was named Bruce before she started laying eggs... whoops!

She guards her nest, with several eggs in it, on shore, about 15 feet away from the water's edge.

Pic 1

Lush vegetation, easy to walk through...

Nah, you wouldn't make it an hour.

About 80⁰ and seemingly a million percent humidity, it's HOT!

Passing pretty islands with waterfalls on smooth water, on the way to the Great Barrier Reef

Large boats line the entry to the Crystbrook Superyacht Marina, as a couple pilot a dinghy down the center of the Packers Creek waterway.

In the background, the Daintree Rain Forest, the oldest rain forest in the world, at 150 million years young...

A bright flash of lightning illuminates a dark beach in Port Douglas... the brightened sky silhouettes a line of palms that surround the beach, the mountains in the background hold part of the thick growth Daintree rain forest, the beckoning water reflects the flash of light, as the night sky in the left is lit up like daylight

Sunrise in Paradise. Tree branches provide scant cover from the Sun...
The beaches and the mountains greet the sea, in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

$A cloud ring around the moon is an optical illusion called a moon halo, caused by light from the moon refracting through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. How it happens : Light from the moon enters a hexagonal ice crystal The light is bent, or refracted, as it enters the crystal The light is bent again as it exits the other side of the crystal The light ends up 22 degrees away from where it started This creates a glowing halo around the moon Viewing conditions You can see a moon halo when you view the moon from a certain angle The ice crystals should be between 20,000 and 40,000 feet (6,000 to 12,000 meters) above the observer Related information You can also see a halo around the sun, called a solar halo In folklore, a moon halo is a sign that bad weather is coming$