Shadow as an emblem of a bird in flight
Along the North Walnut Creek Trail on the morning of September 19th I looked down at a mushroom and saw a dark bird winging west. Oh, the world of illusions we live in. Casting the magic shadow spell was a straggler daisy plant, Calyptocarpus vialis.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Awesome 🙂
exploringcolour
September 27, 2018 at 4:50 AM
It was quite a sight. It made my walk.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 5:46 AM
Fabulous!
Heyjude
September 27, 2018 at 5:14 AM
I don’t remember ever seeing anything like it.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 5:47 AM
Very deceptive!
Pit
September 27, 2018 at 5:16 AM
Pareidolia strikes again.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 5:47 AM
Now I’ve learned a new word. I had to look up what “pareidolia” means. 🙂
Pit
September 27, 2018 at 9:56 AM
I learned the word only a few years ago. Since then I’ve used pareidolia as a tag for a bunch of posts:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/tag/pareidolia/
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 10:42 AM
thx for the link
Pit
September 27, 2018 at 11:53 AM
Sure thing. I’m happy to promote pareidolia.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 11:59 AM
Very cool! takes a keen eye.
Robert Parker
September 27, 2018 at 6:29 AM
Don’t know that I can take much credit: I glanced down and there it was. But who knows: maybe my eye is keener than I thought.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 6:35 AM
Amazing capture! I particularly like the textures of the mushroom, too.
Dianne Lethcoe
September 27, 2018 at 8:11 AM
To my naked eye, the mushroom was more uniformly bright. Fortunately in processing the image I was able to bring out more of the detail in the mushroom. It’s especially interesting to me how the radiating gills as they coincide with the left “wing” appear to be individual feathers.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 8:20 AM
I like how you see things.
melissabluefineart
September 27, 2018 at 8:27 AM
Just call me Professor Pareidolia.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 8:35 AM
Very cool image!
montucky
September 27, 2018 at 9:31 AM
Cool and unique in my experience. I’m glad I happened along when I did: a few minutes later and the shadow would have shifted.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 10:40 AM
Amazing shot!
KathyHenderson
September 27, 2018 at 9:32 AM
I’m always ready to be amazed and to share my amazement.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 10:41 AM
Fleeting…good catch.
Jim R
September 27, 2018 at 9:50 AM
Fleeting is a good word for it. Given how quickly shadows shift with the movement of the sun, I’d have missed this if I’d come five minutes earlier or later.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 10:44 AM
Excellent vision, Steve.
Steve Gingold
September 27, 2018 at 4:43 PM
Hooray for visions like this one.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 6:12 PM
Such an ordinary little plant, transformed into such an extraordinary vision. I see more than the bird — I see the bird flying across a full moon. One photo like this can make a whole day.
shoreacres
September 27, 2018 at 9:33 PM
The mushroom did look more like a bright full moon to me as I first saw it when I was standing up. A closer view with a macro lens revealed more of the mushroomy texture. If we can have a man in the moon, I guess we can have a mushroom in the moon. This picture, unique as it was, did make my day.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 11:04 PM
Now that’s a cool capture Steve nature can be very deceiving at first glance !!
Bernie Kasper
September 27, 2018 at 10:42 PM
You’ve seconded both “cool” and “deceptive.” Our imaginations are pretty willing to see some things as they aren’t.
Steve Schwartzman
September 27, 2018 at 11:06 PM
A fortuitous moment captured most beautifully. The disc shape and the shadow remind me of airline logos which use birds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airline_liveries_and_logos#Birds
Gallivanta
October 1, 2018 at 4:30 AM
That’s a fun page you linked to. I can’t say I’m surprised at how many airline logos show birds, but I was a bit surprised at how few people appear in the logos of people-movers, which is what airplanes are.
Steve Schwartzman
October 1, 2018 at 6:35 AM
So true. You would think there might be a place for something like the figure heads once put on ships, although that could result in gender wars. Thinking of strange things and planes; have you seen the whale in the sky? http://www.ladbible.com/news/interesting-airbus-launch-new-beluga-xl-plane-that-looks-like-a-whale-20180720 Now that would surely cast an interesting shadow.
Gallivanta
October 1, 2018 at 6:45 AM
No, I hadn’t seen that whale of the skies. I see that an actual beluga whale is sometimes called a melonhead, and I can understand why.
As for figureheads, I guess an airline that wanted to use them could have half be male and the other half female in order to avoid charges of discrimination. On the other hand, cynical me thinks that nothing will be a deterrent to people who want to enlist in the gender wars.
Speaking of which, most people don’t realize that nature itself isn’t 50–50. More boys are born than girls:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-a-pregnant-womans-chan/
Steve Schwartzman
October 1, 2018 at 7:14 AM
And to return to plants; I am always amazed by the kiwifruit vines in my garden. The male plant has an abundance of flowers. The female vine relatively few. I would guess 10 male flowers to one female flower. The pollination rate seems to be quite good though with almost every female flower resulting in a kiwifruit. It being 1.37 a.m. now I am incapable (as if I ever were) of telling you anything about ratios or probabilities re the kiwi fruit, but there is definitely a gender imbalance which in the end is fruitful.
Gallivanta
October 1, 2018 at 7:39 AM
And literally fruitful, at that. I didn’t know about that roughly 10:1 ratio in kiwi vines.
Buenas noches to you from Texas, where it’s going on 8 in the morning of the day you’ve already lived.
Steve Schwartzman
October 1, 2018 at 7:49 AM
The 10:1 is for the vines in my garden. I don’t know how valid that ratio is in general.
Gallivanta
October 1, 2018 at 6:24 PM
Okay. Perhaps the next time you’re at a kiwi farm you’ll find out.
Steve Schwartzman
October 1, 2018 at 6:53 PM
Yes!
Gallivanta
October 2, 2018 at 2:21 AM
A fortuitous find, Steve! A beautiful image!
Lavinia Ross
October 1, 2018 at 11:19 AM
A fortunate find, indeed. A few minutes earlier or later, and the shadow wouldn’t have been on the mushroom.
Steve Schwartzman
October 1, 2018 at 11:43 AM
I am still trying to figure out which bird might have flown over the mushroom, Steve… 😊
tanjabrittonwriter
October 1, 2018 at 10:42 PM
I think it was Avis umbraria.
Steve Schwartzman
October 2, 2018 at 6:12 AM
I hope that translates as shadow bird, not shady bird.
tanjabrittonwriter
October 2, 2018 at 4:56 PM
Well said.
Steve Schwartzman
October 2, 2018 at 5:30 PM
that is a fantastic capture! wow! gold star for you today!!!
Playamart - Zeebra Designs
October 2, 2018 at 2:21 PM
Pretty neat, huh? Fortune favored me that morning.
Steve Schwartzman
October 2, 2018 at 2:26 PM