Black cottonwood has previously been featured on BPotD here: Populus trichocarpa. Two resources to add to those listed there: the Silvics of North America treatment of Populus trichocarpa and GRIN's Populus balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa (a synonym; the previous BPotD touches on the naming issue).
This photograph was taken on the shores of Medicine Lake in Canada's Jasper National Park. “Medicine Lake” should actually be in quotes — it's not a true lake, as it only exists for part of the year. The in-flowing Maligne River backs up in this area for several months of the year due to the volume of glacial meltwater, forming the lake-like body. The water slowly drains via a series of sinkholes, travels through a cave system and then emerges 16km / 10miles downstream in Maligne Canyon. You can estimate the summer high-water mark from the band of vegetation-free shoreline.
Entomology / photography resource link: Via the Zooillogix weblog, mantis photographs by photographer Igor Siwanowicz. If you want to see more of Siwanowicz's work (and trust me, you want to), visit his photo.net gallery: Igor Siwanowicz.
After Luna and Mars have been terraformed, silviformed rather at first, this is what they will look like.
Magnifique, formidable. Wunderbar. Venustissimus.
the photo above is just fine
i used the zoom on tje computer and
went up to 400 to be able to be
close up and did not get my feet wet
than you igor and daniel is the sun
coming up and i can see a stand of
tall trees in the background
a walmart super center will be in space
first with starbucks to follow never fear
What a interesting photograph. The reflextion is so nice. Are the trees small or the rock outcroppings large? I do like the reflection.
Thank you,
Margaret-Rae
Thank you. This was actually taken mid-day, but in cloudy weather with scattered sunspots. It was illuminating the trees and foreground here.
Margaret-Rae, I think it is a bit of an optical illusion because of the two dimensional nature of images - the rock outcroppings are indeed large, but not half as big as the trees as a literal viewing of the photograph would suggest.
I have always been a fan of unusual lighting, and some of my own favorite shots were of backlit grasses or trees from unusual angles, but this shot is spectacular. Very unworldly in its effect. So beautiful.