BIRD FIGHT!

Now this was not expected! I got it a couple of months ago and forgot I had it! I've got tens of thousands of pictures, in which there are pictures buried that I have not seen since I took them. Some of my best shots. I must face a huge job to take on--slowly--one shot at a time. So I won't be taking allot of pictures for a while. I've forgotten some of my best shots. More about that later--be sure to read about what I would have done if I could start-digital photography over again from the beginning! Don't end up like me with literally over 1TB of pictures (that's 1000 GB!) that are a mess of repeated files, junk files, and good files, hardly any organization spread over a dozen portable hard drives! I often use two SLRs now. Thus I don't need to change lenses to catch a shot that I was not looking for. And I was lucky to catch this one!


Now that really pissed bird here decided to take it to the next level. I doubt they seriously harm each other--this broke up before I could seen get another shot. I have not moved the birds or modified there appearance at all here, but it might be interesting to note here that I completely removed several large phone, cable and power lines from both of these images which made them really cluttered. I just did this in PSE 4.0. It's an easy trick especially with a background like this picture has. Adobe's awesome programs let you do things like this with ease. I would not change anything that would add to this pictures content. Like make it look worse or move the birds around. I tend to like accurate real shots--right-off the camera. Especially as I am usually a journalistic-style photographer. Not that I don't enjoy trying stuff-but I should note that I would never put up a fact-event like this modified to make it look different or better or worse. One really bad example of this was that stupid picture about "giant spiders" in Iraq. It went all over the Internet. It was a simple shot using depth of field and a couple of basic Photoshop tricks to enlarge the image and make these two look like they were locked together in a horrible mess or gore and massive. In fact, this small superposes of tailless peacekeeping is harmless. It makes me angry when people put out terrible stories like this. I am a bit sceptical about the degree of seriousness of this recent Hobo-spider hysteria. The Internet blows this way out of proportion when there are many other things and even spiders that could have caused these bites and infections. The doctors admit they cannot tell if it was a hobo-spider or brown recluse when someone gets that flesh-breakdown disease well known with brown recluse victims. I am not saying it's all junk, but there are many factors often not noticed or taken into account even by doctors. I have heard ridiculous rumors before. There is that one about the Daddy long-legs
that everybody believed, nearly-- who and why would someone say it's the most piousness spider in the world but harmless since it can't puncture human skin with it's fangs. That is all a lie. Larger specimens could bite, but I stress the point made by the human gunny-pig on the Discovery channel who forced a number of them to bite him in the arm. He was fine. There also have been black-widow venom and general venom tests on mice. I do not approve of this kind of testing and believe it's a crime--but it proved that huge amounts of daddy long legs venom still did not kill the mouse. The black widow caused nearly instant death at small doses. Some people may lack something that makes the Hobo-spiders complex venom far more dangerous then the black widow.

A NOTE ABOUT DADDY LONG LEGS--They are HARMLESS. Even to pets and children.
They do have a hard time pushing through human skin but larger ones can. The bite, which I have gotten many times--is so small that I doubt it would cause a child to cry. A bit of tingling and a pinch is all you feel. Not even 1/10th of a bee sting if you rated it on a pain scale.
Even several bites would not be bad. But do not mess with them, they are very fragile. It is easy to harm them without knowing it. NEVER CATCH A SPIDER WITH TWEEZERS. That
will smash whatever you pick them up with. Ok--I'm getting tired and lecture over for now.
I got tons more pictures to add and thins to do.

In 1992 I recorded a Discovery channel documentary on spiders that had a specialist who said "all spiders are poisoners". That is not exactly true. There is one family of spiders that lack the venom glads. Yes they do produce enzymes to break down there pray, but technically--they lack poison glands and the typical poison system all other spiders do. If I recall I will explain more later, the point is, even real experts with degrees can be wrong and can make mistakes. I have been told that bites from the "hobo spider" are basically impossible to
tell if it came from that of the well-known brown recluse. Or possibly the new lesser problem of "Hobo spiders". The males seen on walls in homes and outside are everywhere, the brown recluse. The feemales live in webs that often remain for a long time. Most spider live one or at max 2 years.


The last moments of sundown in Guam. The island to hard to see. The sunset pictures I have from there are still amazing me. I've got allot of work to do however, I'm putting taking new pictures nearly totally on hold as I say---from my site to answering questions I am behind. I
appreciate any comments about the content of my site. I have a number of tips to write about that I hope may help beginners. I know I am still very much a beginner myself, but as I spend most all my time working on photography I have been learning a great deal I wish I'd have known from the beginning.