Well, let's see if it works, then!
Patrick and Greg both gave me some detailed advice and instructions about how to get my video from my Computer to either AOL Uncut videos or YouTube. I'd been having trouble with the file size, but after what, two or three nights of playing with the Windows Movie Maker, I finally realized that the missing puzzle piece was the Movie Wizard... I had not installed it. I tried to do the upload without it.... didn't work.
Without wasting too many words, here is the video I took Sunday afternoon while walking along the lovely Haw River. I just want to preface the viewing with these words: the resolution was greatly reduced to get it on this journal. The original was as clear as any TV movie I've seen.
Chasing this little bug around with a camera just inches from the ground was not easy... it was hot and humid, I had already tried to take a still photo of it, unsuccessfully, and so decided to use the video recording feature in my camera instead. By then I was out of breath from trying to follow it around. The sweat was dripping from my forehead into my eyes... stinging they were.
But I got the movie! All 35 seconds of it.
I titled it Red Velvet Ant or "Cow Killer"
If you can't see the video, click on this link to get it: http://uncutvideo.aol.com/users/bgilmore725/3610baa2bf3efc06c6336fff4793a588?index=0
In case you have never seen one (but I've got a feeling you have), its name is a misnomer. The Red Velvet Ant, AKA "Cow Killer," is not an ant at all. It is shaped like one,but is really a wasp. The one you see here is likely a female... males have wings.
According to my internet source, the red velvet-ant is the largest velvet-ant species, reaching about 3/4 inch in length. The one I saw Sunday afternoon while walking the trail along the Haw River had to have been about that length, truly it is the largest red velvet ant I have ever seen in the 35 years I've lived in NC.
If the movie image wasn't clear enough, here is a photo of the critter... I did not take the photo, but found it doing an aol image search here.
If you have never seen one, don't mistaken that rich dark red color to be anything less than a warning!! The females can give a painful sting.
If you are squeamish about bugs and how they live, don't go tothe website I hyperlinked to read about their life cycle. From the point of view of helpless, cocooning, ground-nesting bees, it is a horror story.
If this video entry works, I expect I'll be doing a few more in the future. It was fun and easy once I had the MovieWizard installed, which took only seconds.
So, what do you think? Tomorrow I will work on the Montgomery, Alabama video.
Information provided by Texas Cooperative Extension and Texas A&M University, Entomology Department.
20 comments:
Congratulations Bea!! You did it! I just now started checking my email and was following your attempts at getting this video posted. I was just starting to look for some answers to your problems when I realized I didn't have to after all. You got it done! The low resolution is one of those evils associated with file uploads. To make it viewable on the internet, it has to be a small enough file, which tends to lose detail. I run into that with my stills for the gallery. There is just no way to post a full sized image, or video on the web and still have it easily available. At any rate, good job!
Greg
LOL cracking up at you chasing that thing. Yep it is hot for sure. Loved the video.
Clap Clap well done.I have a movie feature on my camera,but have never used it as yet.I will have to do some serious reading of my manual and I do hope to be able to do the same one day.Ahh as for critters as you call them.Yes I am sqeamish.I was loooking forward to my holiday in USA but recently I have seen so many of these differant Critters in J/Lads blogs,I am dreading it now LOL!!! You had courage to film the ant ahhhhhhh I would have been running away LOL They make me feel so itchy do creepers as I call them.So happy you mastered the video.Have a lovely Wednesday .Take Care God Bless.Kath
astoriasand http://journals.aol.co.uk/astoriasand/MYSIMPLERHYMES
Well done Bea! I am impressed! I have a movie feature on my camera as well and have taken movies with it, but I have never been able to figure out how to put one onto journals yet! Once again I learned something new from reading your entry. I didn't even know these creatures existed! How fascinating!
Marie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mariealicejoan/MariesMuses/
PS by the way I gave you a few awards yesterday! Stop by to see what they are, well deserved too!
That was great Bea..Well done. I have a video thing on my camera as well but have never used it !! just as nice as seeing the video was actually HEARING your voice..lovely it is. Thank you Sybil x
Yay - you did it! Now I am going to try the same. I have uploaded from YouTube with success, but I do have another one that I am having trouble uploading. I think it may be too long. I am going to try what you did so that I can get it up and running! Way to go! ~ Caroline ~
Congratulations! YOU did it! .. and such dedication to video hunt that critter. As a fellow perfectionist I understand the 'resolution' concerns <grin> but it goes with sharing through broadcast. Now the world can actually HEAR The Wanderer at work.
Caregivingly Yours,
Well 'Teacher' I have learnt something new today! I never knew such a creature existed and now..you 'Our Intrepid Wanderer' have 'bagged' one to share with us all. What an amazing sight that was! I replayed it over and over just to watch it. Fascinating stuff Bea! Thank you. It can really move can't it? It had no wings and yet looked as though it should have. Perhaps not though, as it would have brought it up close to us to use its stinger.
Well done! Worth all that perspiration dripping into and out of your eyes....yes?
Thanks for sharing.
Take care....Jeanie xx
p.s. You have a beautiful voice. How lovely to hear it for the first time.
Camera.........
A
N
D
A C T I O N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Cinema at its very best! You have genius gorgeous.
Loved the quick cuts and the near total escape of the
villain.
I especially loverd the quiet deunument (denouement
dictionary corrected) with the wise man quietly entered
the friendly forest at the end after the slaying of the monster.
The dog was a masterstroke too. Brava!!!!!!!!!!!
Barry
http://journals.aol.com/bbartle3/Vengeance/
The successor to Scorcese has arrived! Bea the great! And what a subject, I've never seen anything so interesting! BTW you've quite the accent there ("threa quatas ofan anch") lol sorry, I'm from Joisey so you sound a little different! Hey, make more vids, this came out great!! xoxo CATHY
Congratulations on figuring out how to get the video to your journal. Loved it! As always I learn something new whenever I come visit. What a strange insect. This is indeed the first time I have seen one of these. (Hugs) Indigo
Dear Bea,
many thanks for this ! wow! beautiful work!
remarkable!
love,nat
Very interesting. You did a great job on the video.
Lori
Well done.
Jenny <><
Well done on tracking that critter. Nasty piece of goods :-\
I tried to watch the video, but it says it's been deleted! :(
Hugs
jackie
Hi Bea, I had no trouble viewing the video just a moment ago. It's hysterical. I can just picture you chasing that lone ant with your camera. I think that you should add music, something with a chase theme or danger theme like the shark music from Jaws! I loved this!--Sheria
Thanks Bea, for stopping over, leaving a comment, and letting me know that this video was back up! Wow! That is one big BUG! Okay.. I know it's a wasp, but it did look like an ant when it was crawling on the ground! I have never seen one of those, and hope I never do! Are the prominent out here in California, or are they mainly a southern wasp?
Hugs
jackie
LOL...Bea, I saw it quite well. It does scurry, doesn't it? I don't think I've ever seen one of those wasps in western Pa. Is that more of a southern insect? I'm not squeamish about bugs but I'm not thrilled with infestations of them. Whoo hoo to getting a video up and running. Hugs to you, Chris
I have never-not ever seen a red velvet ant.
Didn't know of them before now.Sure was a fast bugger....
~connie~
http://journals.aol.co.uk/specialadyfink/anyway...../
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