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beachcomber who told us of a rocket launch scheduled for just before sunset. Sure enough, here it is.
Launch!
Another day, Cocoa Beach, Florida
Category: Wildlife
Sunrise and More
Another day, Cocoa Beach, Florida
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Canon dslr photographs
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
First Day
Cocoa Beach, Florida
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IPhone 7 photographs and videos
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Offering of Black Skimmer Photographs
Looking for the perfect photo for your web site and blog?
Looking for the perfect photo for your web site and blog?
Browse my reasonably priced stock photography.
License the photo, download and use it.
Click this link for my recently published Black Skimmers Feeding photographs. This link will open a new page to display my Black Skimmer photographs on Getty IStock.
These are different and higher quality images from my posting of earlier this week.
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Copyright 2018 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Valparaiso Connections II
the Chilean difference
Ricaro’s name tag reads, “Oceania Cruises, your world, your way.” I began my two previous blogs with Ricardo, “Valparaiso Separation” and “Valparaiso Connections I.” There’s a lot to be said for the Oceania tours. Every one lead by a knowledgeable native of the host country, fluent in English, we became familiar, some more than others, with them personally, one non-representative example. As were progressed down the coast from Iquique to Cape Horn we met a cross section of Chileans. Unlike other countries, in Chile we met only unsmiling guards on the streets, no protest rallies.
As the tour bus is about to turn down Varparaiso’s Argentina Avenue, here is a flash forward to an elaborate demonstration tableau in the Plaza de Mayo, the Casa Rosada as a backdrop, rose as in the color of bull’s blood used as pigment. The protest was in support for veterans and causalities of the ill considered 1982 Falklands War. We zoomed by the Parque De La Memoria, dedicated to the 30,000 people “disappeared” by the same military dictatorship of the Falklands War debacle.
Our entry to both Valparaiso and Buenos Aires was a cruise over the secret graves of thousands dropped, alive, into the ocean from military aircraft.
What is most chilling is the silence about this throughout our travels in Chile. No memorials, no protests, silence, only stone faced military guards.
The following is from Basílica y Convento de San Francisco de Lima, beneath which are catacombs piled with disarticulated skeletons buried and cared for in the Catholic tradition .
In Lima’s Plaza de Armas we witnessed this peaceful demonstration by pensioners protesting low payments. To be honest, around this time, in Chile, there were huge demonstrations, hundreds of thousands in Santiago, about the same issue.
The Lima crowd was peaceful.
Watched by a heavy contingent of armed police supported by large “paddy wagons” to cart people away. The vehicle marked “Prodegur” (i.e., prosecution) was one of them. Given the history of government disappearances in the region, how brave the demonstrators must be.
Our vehicle turns onto Argentina Avenue, passing under Spanish Avenue and these supports bruiting the “Patrimony of Humanity” status of Valparaiso.
Other murals feature the zinc panels of the Old Town and cultural opportunities. I noticed the pictured flooring is identical that of Hotel Brighton, see “Our Fifteen Minutes of Fame on Conception Hill.”
I wonder how a man of a certain ago scrapes his knees, these appear to be homeless people.
They gives us big smiles and waves when they spotted me / us. The people were open and friendly.
Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Valparaiso Connections I
The Albatross and Valparaiso
We’ll start in the parking lot of the Valparaiso Passenger Terminal, introduced in my last posting, “Valparaiso Old and New”. The terminal was our first stop in Valparaiso, it services cruise ship passengers, it was in the parking lot we met Ricardo, a guide and city native. In his late sixties, Ricardo lived through numbing changes: the political turn left and election of Allende, followed by a military coup d’état (called golpe de estado in Spanish) and rise of a military officer, Pinochet, to dictator. From the 70’s through 80’s Pinochet ruled, abolishing the congress in Santiago, enjoying ruthless suppression of opponents with the full support and assistance of the military. In the late 80’s Pinochet allowed a return to democracy, a new constitution with a bi-cameral (two houses) congress in Valparaiso and elected president. Ricardo was quiet about these times, as are most Chileans and we did not press him.
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The bus passed a carved wooden statue of the albatross, near the terminal entrance. A bird of the southern ocean, familiar to mariners for the habit of following ships, this aspect of soaring the a familiar posture.
Here is a specimen in this posture following the Regatta on February 22 as we traversed the Southern Atlantic between the Falkands and Punta del Este. That day, many albatross soared among the 20+ foot waves, the wingtips very close to the water surface.
The day before, February 21, the Regatta approached the southern most point of the western hemisphere, Cape Horn, coming within a mile of the landing point and monument. At the top you can see the steel sculpture of the outline of an albatross set in a stone plinth.
A cropped version of the above image, the albatross outline is easier to see. Also visible, at the cliff base, the landing, stairs, a platform painted as a Chilean flag, the railings leading up to the Albatross Monument.
All of this to emphasize the unique position and reason for being of Valparaiso of the eastern South Pacific, made evident by the recurring motif of an albatross soaring among the waves. This retired anchor, close to the albatross sculpture, on our way to Argentina Avenue and the weekend street fair (to be continued).
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Last Hike
A sllideshow
Thank You for exploring the South Rim trail of Taughannock Falls State Park on the last perfectly sunny autumn day of 2019.
A sunny November Walk
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Autumn Oak Leaves, detail 
Acorn Still Life 
Chipmunk eating acorn 
The Brink 
The Why for the Bench 
Welcome Summertime Shade 
Left Behind or an Offering? 
Leaf Carpet on South Rim Trail 
Oak Leaves, forest floor 
Understory Autumn 
Hemlock Shadows 
Rock Elm, autumn 
Glimpse of Cayuga Lake 
Gorge View with Oak Leaves 
Glory on Gorge Road Cayuga Lake Bench View 
Taughannock Gorge, November 
Three Sisters, Taughannock Falls gorge wall. 
Into the Gorge 
Distant View with Hemlock 
Oak and Hemlock 
Gorge Road, early November 
Upper Falls 
South Rim Trail, early November 
Last Flower with Moss, early November
Click me for the first post of this series, “Cuteness Break.”
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
On the River Cong, County Mayo, Ireland
A parent swan and cygnet feeding on the River Cong outside the front door of Ashford Castle in County Mayo, in the west of Ireland. Click this link to read another Ireland story “The Cloigtheach of Glendalough.” Enter your email to receive notification of future postings. I will not sell or share your email address. […]
A parent swan and cygnet feeding on the River Cong outside the front door of Ashford Castle in County Mayo, in the west of Ireland.
Click this link to read another Ireland story “The Cloigtheach of Glendalough.”
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Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Cuteness Break
Winter Preparation
Perched on its doorstep, an Eastern Chipmunk gorges on an ample supply of acorns. These small rodents are omnivores. Here are two shots, each with an acorn in hand and full cheek pouches.
Wary Chipmunk with acorn 
Chipmunk eating acorn
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Emerge II
Watch a Monarch butterfly leave the chrysalis
For Father’s Day 2021 I received cages for raising Monarch butterflies. A large zippered door is a great feature, one side of the cage drops away for easier access and photography. Here are some photographs of the developing chrysalis and emergence.
In the first step of chrysalis development, the caterpillar climbs to a chosen location and weaves a silk pad from the abdomen. We are looking down on the caterpillar through the top of the woven material that forms our cage. The silk pad is a small white dot to the right.
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After the silk attachment pad is complete, the caterpillar releases itself to hang in a shape of the letter “J.”
The caterpillar sheds the outer skin as the chrysalis forms around it.
Four Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis. 
Macro of the Monarch butterfly chrysalis. The black stalk attached to the silk pad is call a cremaster.
Just prior to emergence the chrysalis turns from opaque green to translucent Iappears dark). Here the wing pattern and body markings (white dots) are visible.
I used a Manfrotto tripod, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV dslr (high resolution video capability) and Canon’s EF 100mm f/2.8 USB macro lens for the following up close coverage of a Monarch emerging followed by wing expansion.
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