Feb 17
Posted: under photography, Plantlife, Wildlife.
Tags: beauty, butterflies, insect, native plants, photography February 17th, 2010
Elbowbush, either Forestiera pubescens or F. angustifolia (we have both species), is the first of our woody plants to flower in spring, and yesterday the first of the elbowbushes on the north fenceline west of the dry woods was opening. [...more]
Elbowbush, either Forestiera pubescens or F. angustifolia (we have both species), is the first of our woody plants to flower in spring, and yesterday the first of the elbowbushes on the north fenceline west of the dry woods was opening.
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Feb 11
Posted: under photography, Plantlife, Water, Weather, Wildlife.
Tags: beauty, native plants, natural water, observation, photography, rain, seasons, Weather February 11th, 2010
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Feb 10
Posted: under Land, Plantlife, Water.
Tags: beauty, native plants, natural water, photography February 10th, 2010
The upstream part of the dry woods swale, with water seeping through the grass on both sides. This area produces the best water quality, as most of the water has seeped through both rock and soil. [...more]
The upstream part of the dry woods swale, with water seeping through the grass on both sides. This area produces the best water quality, as most of the water has seeped through both rock and soil. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 05
Posted: under photography, Plantlife, Water.
Tags: beauty, native plants, natural water, observation, photography February 5th, 2010
At the end an hour slogging around a very wet, running-water-wet field as the sun gets low, you might wonder why you didn’t go back before now. Then you look down and there it is…the first one this spring. The sheer audacity of it–that determined stem, those leaves reaching for sunlight, and then that fragile, […] [...more]
At the end an hour slogging around a very wet, running-water-wet field as the sun gets low, you might wonder why you didn’t go back before now. Then you look down and there it is…the first one this spring. The sheer audacity of it–that determined stem, those leaves reaching for sunlight, and then that fragile, pale pink flower.
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Jan 27
Posted: under photography, Plantlife.
Tags: beauty, native plants, photography January 27th, 2010
A little rain, after the hard freeze…a week of warmer weather and some sun…and more plants have burst into bloom or begun to pop buds. Here a rusty blackhaw viburnum’s buds have lengthened and changed color and texture, reaching out for another year’s growth: [...more]
A little rain, after the hard freeze…a week of warmer weather and some sun…and more plants have burst into bloom or begun to pop buds. Here a rusty blackhaw viburnum’s buds have lengthened and changed color and texture, reaching out for another year’s growth:
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Jan 06
Posted: under Plantlife, Wildlife.
Tags: beauty, insect, native plants, photography January 6th, 2010
When we first got the place, an SCA friend asked if any of the cactus had cochineal bugs on it. At that time, I didn’t find any. But Monday, January 4, I found this prickly pear thickly covered with the scale insects: [...more]
When we first got the place, an SCA friend asked if any of the cactus had cochineal bugs on it. At that time, I didn’t find any. But Monday, January 4, I found this prickly pear thickly covered with the scale insects:
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Dec 30
Posted: under photography, Plantlife, Wildlife.
Tags: beauty, bird behavior, census, great blue heron, LeConte's sparrow, native plants, photography December 30th, 2009
During migration and winter we have a lot of birds in the grass–birds that fly up and dive down a little distance away, birds that fly up and perch in bushes, birds that fly up and away and dive down over there. Most of them are sparrows of some kind. Today one of the “divers” […] [...more]
During migration and winter we have a lot of birds in the grass–birds that fly up and dive down a little distance away, birds that fly up and perch in bushes, birds that fly up and away and dive down over there. Most of them are sparrows of some kind. Today one of the “divers” posed long enough for me to note salient characteristics and even get some slightly blurry pictures–good enough for an ID:
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Dec 27
Posted: under Activities, Plantlife, Wildlife.
Tags: Activities, beauty, bird behavior, native plants, natural water, photography December 27th, 2009
We had clear dry weather today to get some work done, and no choir duties. Our first chore was moving water iris taken from the lily pond (which had overgrown with them) out onto the land, to see if they’ll naturalize in some of the temporary pools. We were successful with a few transplants a […] [...more]
We had clear dry weather today to get some work done, and no choir duties. Our first chore was moving water iris taken from the lily pond (which had overgrown with them) out onto the land, to see if they’ll naturalize in some of the temporary pools. We were successful with a few transplants a few years back.
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Dec 18
Posted: under photography, Plantlife.
Tags: beauty, native plants, photography December 18th, 2009
Richard and Michael were up in the dry woods today to cut down our Christmas trees (we use Ashe junipers we’d want to get rid of anyway), and while they were looking for the right tree, they found a swarm of bees. I wasn’t able to go out right away to photograph them, and by […] [...more]
Richard and Michael were up in the dry woods today to cut down our Christmas trees (we use Ashe junipers we’d want to get rid of anyway), and while they were looking for the right tree, they found a swarm of bees. I wasn’t able to go out right away to photograph them, and by the time I did get out, mid-late afternoon, the bees were very, very, very active. As in, those bees did not want anyone to come closer to where the swarm had been seen.
I’ve had bees (nice gentle Italian bees) and know that Africanized bees are in this county…so when a bee starts that “vrooom-vrooom” kind of humming/buzzing, I’m not inclined to argue with her. I went on up the trail to Fox Pavilion. The stonecrop is getting large enough to see; I love the delicate colors it has before its flowers open.
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Dec 15
Posted: under photography, Plantlife, Sky.
Tags: beauty, grass, native plants, photography, seasons December 15th, 2009
A cold front cleared out the warm moist air of yesterday and gave us a brisk chill wind out of the north and partly-sunny skies. So a long walk in the afternoon, producing (as usual) many interesting and beautiful things to see and think about. First was a mockingbird’s nest in an osage orange or […] [...more]
A cold front cleared out the warm moist air of yesterday and gave us a brisk chill wind out of the north and partly-sunny skies. So a long walk in the afternoon, producing (as usual) many interesting and beautiful things to see and think about.
First was a mockingbird’s nest in an osage orange or bois d’arc tree:
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