A Red Elf
Ann has referred to these so often in her malapropist almost-right way for so many years that I've given up. These immature red-spotted newts that we see commonly on our walks are now officially known on Goose Creek as Red Elfs. (Rigid stickler herpetologists may continue to refer to them as "red efts" but they don't know the enchantment worked on these forest sprites to turn them into ELFS in our valley!)
I've been carrying Ann's Powershot on walks of late, especially trying out its closeup capabilities. So expect a few more bugs-eye views this week, and some views of bug's eyes too, matter of fact. I'll be watching now for the goldenrod insects, a whole 'nother crop of critters to replace the millkweed arthropods, that plant now gone by.
Comments
Wonderful misnomer!! and wonderful photo! Which Powershot model is it? I've been thinking of upgrading to a Powershot and this is very impressive macro (though much of that is down to the photographer, of course).
Posted by: Jean | September 4, 2006 7:19 AM
Funny, my wife's camera is more versatile than mine too. So I carry it when I hike about.
Posted by: pablo | September 4, 2006 7:57 AM
He's cute! And Ann may be more right than we know...LOL
Posted by: kenju | September 4, 2006 9:02 AM
fred- we had a lot of these in western maryland on the children's home campus where i worked. the kids picked them up all the time, but since then i have heard they are poisonous. is that true?
Posted by: amy f. | September 4, 2006 9:37 AM
I saw one in my driveway and thought it was a plastic toy dropped by my neighbors little boy!
Posted by: colleen | September 4, 2006 10:35 AM
Yes, don't eat them. Newt skins are some of the most poisonous substances in the animal world (this one is relatively mildly so compared to some of its tropical relatives.)
Camera is the Canon Powershot A620. The macro I have not had much experience with yet. You can only use it in the wide-angle end of the focal range, but depth of field is not bad. See the Hickory Horned Devil from the post of 090506, for example.
Posted by: fred1st | September 4, 2006 7:59 PM
What a great photo. But this picture takes me back to days of yore, Fred...this guy looks suspiciously like the newts I accidentally froze in Dr. Collins's class. Can't remember just why he had them, or how they ended up in the freezer, but I put them in the refrigerator over the weekend, thinking they just might survive the thaw if I took it slow. When I opened the fridge on Monday, the stench was overwhelming. Evidently newts don't have a very long shelf life. They had all died and had the whole weekend to decompose. Oh, the newtmanity!
Posted by: Curt | September 7, 2006 1:10 AM