HOLY TOLEDO, BUCKAROO!!! IT'S THE RICKUBISCAM PAGE !!
         (sometimes known as the "rick, don't touch that!" page.)          
A FRIENDLY REMINDER:  ALL IMAGES, VIDEOS, AND TEXT  ON THIS PAGE, AND ALL MY PAGES ARE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AND  MAY NOT BE USED ANYWHERE WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM ME.
Images and contents on this page copyright © 2001-2022  Richard M. Dashnau  
   LAST UPDATE: 04/18/2024         PREVIOUS UPDATE: 03/30/2024
      -----                 --LET'S SEE WHAT THAT RASCAL RICKUBIS IS UP TO!    
 
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                                                DOES THE CAPTION  SAY "IT'S LIVE"?  IF IT DOESN'T, IT ISN'T.

 Usually, the newest material on my pages appears here first. But sometimes, it doesn't.  I'll try this--below is a list of pages that have been recently updated (outside of this one).
Visit them directly to see what else is new. I'm still updating my pages and some of the updates don't really fit on this page. 
When I started this domain, the only way to connect was via dial up and slow dial up at first. Everything I posted then was configured so dial up users could see my content over
low-speed connections. Now I'm upgrading whatever and whenever I can so the old media looks better.
NOTE 09/13/2022:  Over the last few days, I've done some general cleanup of my domain. Today, I've tweaked most of my pages so they should look better (at least bigger)
on smartphones or tablets.                                            
Note 02/03/2023: With the larger numbers of larger images (usually 900 x 675) that I've been putting on the pages, I've found that the pages take longer to load-and even with
 good bandwidth connections. So if I upload an "article" with more than 16 images, I may eventually split it off onto its own page, although it will usually show up first here on
the RICKUBISCAM page.
                     
 ◄▬ This is new (7/22/2022)!  Search my website with duckduckgo. Use " " to enclose multiple search terms.
Over 20 years, my website has grown into a sort of "living encyclopedia".  I've uploaded thousands of images, hundreds of video clips-on over 150 separate pages-to my domain.  To be useful, a reference
 book-or an encyclopedia-needs an index. But, indexing something the size of this domain that is still growing and changing would be very difficult. I'm trying this search block as a solution.
  Sometimes, a new domain update doesn't appear here on the RICKUBISCAM page. The list below will show most current updates made elsewhere in the domain (but not every change).
           
                     Page or file name   Last Updates of other pages:
                     Ichnology page 4    04/09/2024 NEW PAGE! Added a lot of material from early summer 2023. I intend to catch up an add more soon.
                     Osprey page   03/21/2024 Added a lot of pictures and a video clip of an Osprey observed feeding at Fiorenza park 05/29/2023.
                     Rick's General Oddities   12/13/2023 Added some pictures and a video of me tossing boomerangs at Scobee Field.
                     Eagle page 1   Eagle page 2    07/24/2023 New Page! Split original Eagles page into 2 pages. Page 1 is observations from 2004 - 2021; Page 2 is from 2022 onwards. I can't believe I've seen Bald Eagles so many times!
                     Cowkiller! page 2 Polistes    07/24/2023 New Page! 1st, split original Cowkiller page into 2 pages. Page 2 features all my observations of Paper Wasps (Polistes spp.) collected on one page.
                     Ichnology page 2    06/12/2023 1st, split original page into 3(!) pages. Next, added material to page 2 showing mystery burrows at Scobee Field in 2021(with some inhabitants)!

                     Rick's 3D model Page 5 (gator den; ver. 2)    07/04/22   I once used Solidworks at work. Now Solidworks has access I can use at home, so I'm modeling an alligator den. My attempts are here.
                     Rick's 3D model Page 2 (cookiecutter shark bite) 07/01/22   Solidworks has access I can use at home, so I've modeled a tube that a shark had bitten.a plug out of.
                     Rick's 3D model Page 1 (gator den)    05/27/22   I once used Solidworks at work. Now Solidworks has access I can use at home, so I'm modeling an alligator den. My attempts are here.
                      2008  2010       Videos of folding bicycles from 2008 & 2010
                                       
Update 04/18/2024 - 08/03/2023 (yes, last year) In Houston This dirt circle (first image below left) was formed around the tree, most likely by years of me doing exercises
in this area.  If the weather stays dry  enough, the fine-grained dirt shows traces of what walks through. This picture is from 7/21/2023. Sometimes I film the exercises.
When I noticed the tracks in the dirt I took pictures of them, also.  In 2019, I saw this Cicada nymph (image 2nd from left, below) making a set of tracks through my circle.
 Since then, I can  recognize similar  tracks. Most of them, like this one, cut across the circle and probably head towards the tree in the center. In 2023, conditions allowed
 for many days of track observations. I think these images from  8/01/2023 show a nymph track crossing above the scale, while a snake has crossed below the measuring
 scale. The animal tracks go through the tracks that I'd left there the day before. Each "square" is about 7mm/side.  There are many more images from this time
period on this page (and I'm still adding more as I catch up).
   

The last photo (1st image below left) shows a trail coming out of one of the Cicada burrows, along with a few  "dinosaur" tracks-probably from Grackles.  2 days later
(8/3/2023) This Cicada nymph crawled up the tree in the center of my circle. This nymph (and most others here) climbed at least 8 feet up in the tree before their final molt
 into adults. I continued my exercises. But about 40 minutes later I picked up my  camera for more drama.
   

A Cicada Killer had captured an adult Cicada, and was preparing it for transport back to its nest! I'd never seen this event before, and captured what I could as it happened
 about 8 feet above me.   I lost sight of it among the leaves. The stinger is stored inside the tip of the abdomen, and extended when  the female wasp uses it.  The tip of the
 stinger touched the Cicada many times, possibly probing for insertion points to inject venom.
   

We can see two large spurs on the rear leg. The spurs help females dig more efficiently. Males have smaller spurs (they don't dig), and they don't have working stingers,
 but show false barbs (that don't retract) at the end of their abdomen. More probing, and/or injection; done to paralyze the Cicada for storage. Reminds me of a dentist
applying Novacaine. The needle is used in more than one spot. Video edited from these events can be seen here.
   


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Certain natural observations that first appeared on this page have been moved to my other pages. Go back to my home page, Welcome to Rickubis.com for links to those pages.

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Update 03/30/2024 - 03/26/2024  When I took the off-ramp to get to Fiorenza park, I saw an Eagle on top of the power line tower.  I parked on the South side of the park, and
 started the 20-minute walk to get near the tower.  When I got to a place where I could see the top of the tower, the Eagle was gone. I scanned the sky and found an Eagle
 flying above me. As I was trying to take a few pictures, the Eagle folded its wings and dived and and got a few blurry images before I lost it. I hurried to where I could look
across and see where I thought it had gone down, but I was much too late. An Eagle was flying away in the distance, headed North. It seemed to be carrying something.
   

I continued to the tower anyway, hoping it might come back. I was on the last straight, with the tower in full view when I saw another large bird flying towards me from the
 South. It was a young Bald Eagle!  I took pictures as it flew in, but as it flew past I couldn't focus against the green behind it. I saw it land on other side of the small island
 directly in front of me--but I could barely see it between the trunks of the small trees.). 
   

I saw it land on other side of the small island directly in front of me--but I could barely see it between the trunks of the small trees. To see the other side of the island, I
hurried around the South bend. This took me right under the "Eagle tower" and next to the busy Westpark Tollway--about 5 minutes' more walking. When I could see the
West side of the island (by the way the South corner of the island was covered with American White Pelicans, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). I looked through the binoculars.
   

I found the young Eagle! It was standing on the flat open ground--right next to an adult Bald Eagle that was eating something.  After eating its fill (I suppose) the adult
walked to the water, and seemed to wash its face, and picked at a few items in the water. The young Eagle walked over and picked at some scraps left by the adult..
   

Compared to the stride of the adult, the young Eagle hopped and seemed  to be favoring one foot. I watched them until the juvenile, and then the adult, flew off; or about
 12 minutes from the time I could see them clearly.  Almost all the images are from photos this time. I caught the juvenile's takeoff that way.
   

I shot video of the adult taking off. You'll see that some pictures show where I was, relative to where the Eagles were. Video edited from these events can be seen here.
 It was a beautiful morning!
   

Update 03/26/2024 - 03/23/2024  At Fiorenza Park North, I saw an Eagle on the tower (as shown in this picture from 2023) but it was gone when I got to this point on the trail.
I'd just missed it, but it might have gone hunting. Sometimes an Eagle leaves, but returns to the tower with food, so I looked for the Eagle. I found it! It was carrying
 something, but was pretty far away. I took pictures anyway. The Eagle flew across from Left to Right. it passed behind the big hill, and I found it again on the other side. 
   

Using Google maps, I estimate the Eagle was at least 500 yards away. I finally shot some video as the Eagle moved off.  I've cropped the images and video to enlarge the
 Eagle. While watching, I'd assumed the Eagle had caught a fish (as I've seen them do here before). 
   

But the video and photos showed I was wrong. The Eagle was carrying a bird!  The prey was much smaller than the Eagle, and though it had dark plumage, I don't
think it was a Vulture. Perhaps it had caught a gallinule or coot--though bright orange on the head might indicate it had caught a Common Gallinule, Gallinula galeata.
   

The third and fourth images above, and the two images below, are frames from the video. Apparently the camera thought the tree was more interesting, so focused on that,
 instead, blurring the Eagle. The Eagle's flight is in this film edited from the short clip that I captured.
  


02/25/2024  Brazos Bend State Park  A beautiful day, where there were many things to see (as usual). I started back towards my car about 2pm.  I noticed something
brown about 50 yards away, and I thought it was a Nutria. But it was a football. Now I know what the Nutrias probably do when no humans are around. They play football.
 I don't think the alligators can play because their front legs are too short--but Nutria have little paws with claws that they can use to manipulate plants.  
 

This was Pilant Lake and the Observation Tower at  2:15 pm.
 

 40 Acre Lake at  3:00 pm. I was standing near the middle of the East loop, looking generally to the Southwest. Note
the sign at the right edge of the picture.
 


 03/07/2021  Sometimes, one of the park gators seems to say:

   
    Just pay attention to the sign, okay?

 04/08/2012---Easter Sunday at BBSP gets very busy. This year, I had time to put a camera on my bicycle handlebars and do a quick ride on the Elm Lake Trail before it got busy. I was
experimenting with doing "virtual" trail tours of the park.  I'm not sure if this works or not, but here is an edited version of the footage I filmed. A surprise unique to the park happens near
the 6:47 mark. Links to the video are here (files are about 200mb):  Elm Lake trail mp4 .
11/06/2011---Piper the Pup   now has her own page. For Piper-related stuff, you can go here, but I don't update often. 

Pages that show where mom gator has left babies, possibly so she can forage: 03/06/2016   03/14/2016   12/05/2021     and two times when a mom left after a bellow bout:  02/16/2020  08/28/2022

I have created all the content on *my* pages. That means that I have either shot the video, taken the pictures, or performed any demonstrations. That also means that I've edited every image on these pages, that is, I've cropped,
 enhanced, resized, labeled, and otherwise optimized *every* single image on my pages. That means that I've also edited, enhanced, extracted images from, recoded (in two or three or four formats) every *video clip* on these
pages. I've also, for better or worse, composed all the text and layout on these pages. I've had to learn to use the various utilities for doing all of this, as well as finding and legally getting copies of them in the first place. I'm also
 responsible for all the hardware used to do this. I also pay for the server space used for all of this information as well as for my access to it. It costs a lot of money, time, and effort to put these pages out here...hopefully to
entertain and to inform. And this is *after* I spend time at my "day job".  People are welcome to the information here, but if it's used elsewhere, then I deserve credit for my effort. If it is used for someone else's profit, then I
deserve part of that profit. *That* is the purpose of my notices about copyright.

I'VE USED MUSIC IN SOME OF MY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS AND CLIPS. IT HAS BEEN LICENSED FOR MY USE, ROYALTY-FREE. IF YOU'D LIKE TO PURCHASE LICENSED MUSIC--FROM A HUGE
STOCK OF AVAILABLE TYPES--FOR A VERY REASONABLE PRICE (HEY, EVEN I CAN AFFORD IT) THEN YOU CAN GO TO:    
 -------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                             CLICK ON THE IMAGE, OR CLICK HERE TO GO THERE. I'VE BEEN BUYING MUSIC FROM THEM SINCE 2003.        

DO NOT EVER APPROACH ALLIGATORS. THEY CAN BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS IF THEY FEEL THREATENED, JUST LIKE ALMOST ANY ANIMAL. DON'T DISTURB ALLIGATORS AT THIS PARK, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

For the story of my hip replacements, click here. I've come to think that these pages are less about me than what I'm writing about, but I've been talking to lots of old folks (like me) that
wonder how that surgery works.. So, this page shows my experiences with it.  

.Click here for the RICKUBISCAM GALLERY! ----a chronicle of past rickubiscam images (16 pages starting from the year 2000!!)  

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  RICKUBISCAM on the RICKUBISCAM on the RICKUBISCAM on the....                  REPTILE GLASSES
                        This gif was made in 2011 (I had more hair!)                  This gif was made in 2011 (I had more hair!)

           This page was born 9/16/1999.  Rickubis designed it.  (such as it is.)
          Go back to my home page, Welcome to Rickubis.com 
          I'm on Mastodon for now, but I was never very active on "social" media. 

How many come by to see the RICKUBISCAM ? Well, lets look at the counterprovided by: WEBCOUNTER.
Counter started June 18, 2001. 1/10/2012 = 10473 || 3/25/2014 10904 || 11/19/2015 = 11137 || 2/16/2017 = 11326 || 6/16/2019 = 11678 || 6/21/2020=11856 || 12/27/21=12199 || 2/3/2022=12237 || 7/22/2022 12404 || 01/09/2023=12651
7/26/2023=12926 || 12/1/2023=13059        3    4