Jewel

I have noticed on my early morning safaris a very colorful crow style bird, flying up the valley of the rice paddies. Only once have I managed to fire off a couple of shots and those were just a colorful blur. Still, I thought about blipping for it's aesthetic qualities.

So today, I went for an early safari, with the intention of capturing the illusive avian, with a suitable ISO and rapid fire mode selected, the early morning sun behind me to light up those amazing feathers. It wasn't to be, but look what I found instead!

The rice paddies were full of sleeping dragons in their hundreds, most covered in dew. I snapped a few orange dragons and green sabinas and then I spotted the jeweled red dragon. Unfortunately, it was six feet from the bank, close enough for a reasonable shot with some extensive cropping, but there was no question about what had to be done here - climbed out of my flip-flops and waded in.

Funny, I don't recall the farmers sinking upto their elbows, but I guess I am a little heavier than they are. The mud was very cold in the morning and strangely soothing, yes, quite pleasant! I had to cast aside the mental image of hundreds of dragon larvae nipping at my toes and the twenty or so spiders that I made homeless were non too pleased either. I am sure you will agree that the shot was well worth the effort, but would you have done the same!

What was strange, was that the different types of dragons held different levels of dew. The orange dragons had virtually none and the red dragons were all like the blipped specimen. I have a few more ideas for blips on this theme, so I will definitely be returning for another early morning dew session soon, hopefully I will get my bird too.

On to today's quiz - male or female - first three correct answers win a free Vodkaman dragon safari (flights and accommodation not included).

Dave