Monday, November 30, 2009

Greenbrier State Park, Maryland

With the temperature up to 57 degrees Fahrenheit the day was a treat after Thanksgiving. I went for a walk at the Greenbrier State Park in Maryland with a fellow naturalist.


We took a leisurely walk around the beautiful lake where we saw a Great Blue Heron fishing along the bank.


No sooner had I asked about dragonflies when three of the appeared. Two were in tandem with the male clasping onto the female behind her neck as she laid eggs in the water. She does this by tapping the tip of her abdomen to the water’s surface to release the eggs. Another male was nearby and challenged the mated male to get him to drop his grip. They were Yellow-legged Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum). You can see the single male in a typical horizontal perch. They are usually the last dragonfly (Odonata) species that we see flying in the Mid-Atlantic region. They are members of the Libellulidae or Skimmer Family and love to hang out at lakes like this one.



We also spotted a Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) and either a Clouded or an Orange Sulphur Butterfly but they were both two flighty for me to snap a good photo. We did see one dandelion but other than that I have no idea what they were feeding on.


Next we found two interesting seed pods. One was a Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia). The Seedbox had a hole in the end for the tiny seeds could be dispersed. It is in the Primrose family and has yellow flowers which bloom from June to August. This was the first winter weed plant that I took notice of and it has been my favorite ever sense.


The other one I believe is a Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis).


Moving on to the small stream we found early Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) just peaking its head above the water. I don’t remember seeing them before March but there they were. I love the color in these unusual plants.


I stopped for a moment to take a photo of this Ceramic Fungus (Xylobolus frustulatus).

We saw some more interesting things but I will tell you about them tomorrow.

Visit others adventures at My World Tuesday.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Polka Dot Farm


I think this is the place where polka dots are grown. They are harvested at this stage when they are at their largest. Next they are died various color, sliced and reduced to more usable sizes and sold to various manufactures. At least that is what I think.  What do you think?

Visit other monochrome photos at Monochrome Weekly.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Slime Molds

In the previous blog I briefly mentioned finding slime molds on the cut log next to the trail and the mossy log with the Deadly Galarina. Here are some of the photos I took of those.



Slime molds are not a fungus, an animal, plant or bacteria but they are a new independent group of organism. There are around one thousand know species found worldwide. I think collectively the true slime molds are called myxomycetes and they are the ones I most often find since the cellular slime molds are only visible through a microscope.

This one is Metatrichia vesparia and I find it alot.


I'm not sure what this one is. The enlarged view is below.


As seen through the microscope.

I don’t even begin to understand them; nevertheless I love to look for slime molds. Currently our weather is wet and drizzly making it good for setting the stage for slime mold growth. Most of the times I find them on damp logs but they can be found on the ground, leaves and standing dead trees.

I found several on this log as well.




The spores are just about every where so it makes it relatively easy to grow them. Pull off a little piece of bark, soak it and then place onto a wet paper towel in a closed container and wait. Try several pieces for better results.



I find them interesting because they come in a variety of colors and structures that can be seen without a hand lens. Of course a lens shows more fascinating details.

I found this one and the following slime molds last year.




I think the common name for this one is Wolf's Milk.


Stemonitis splendens, Chocolate Tube Slime Mold


A biologist and mycologist friend told me you can feed them and watch them travel. The can go as fast as 1 millimeter per hour as they flow over and ingest their food. She was encouraging me to do so but I haven’t yet. Maybe that will be a good winter project.


Be sure to stop by ABC Wednesday for other interesting things.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Return trip

My walk in the woods on Saturday was almost a rerun of my October 31 hike. Again I went to the Blue Ridge Tract of Shannondale Springs WMA and stopped at most of the same places.


You can compare photos of the trail last month and now. Click on the photo for the link back.

You can see the sawed tree that I find so many interesting things like slime molds and flat little beetles. This is where I found the slug last month. Most of these are just under the bark. I can peel back a bit of it to explore the underside and then replace it when I leave. I have been lifting the same section for at least a year now.

Why keep going back? Well, I read somewhere that if you want to see something new keep going over the same route. It usually works. This time I think I saw a lot of the same things but different views and in different stages such as the oyster mushrooms. First is the October photo and next is the latest one. You can see how the mushrooms have opened up more. I will try to remember to take a photo next month and see how it has changed once more.





Just on down the hill is Furnace Run Wetlands. It flows into a drainage ditch that runs under the fire road and into Furnace Run. I found some interesting plants here. One is a River Alder (Alnus serrulata). They are native to the United States and grow about 8-12 feet tall. They have beautiful delicate cones smaller than the tips of my little finger. I wasn’t able to take a photo of the cones but I did find some catkins hanging over the water. River alders are resistant to most insects and disease pests. .

Alder catkins




I am not sure what the other one is. Any suggestions?

UPDATE: Woodswalker has suggested that this is a Branching Bur Reed (Sparganium angustifolium).  I hope she is correct because it is on the WV species of concern list.  I plan on getting back up there this weekend to get a more accurate description and fill out a lot of paper work to submit to the WV Deptartment of Natural Resources.



On up the hill I stopped at my favorite log with all the moss. Last month I found a little snail on cut the log but this one was on the moss log. These photos are a little better and show the pneumostome hole for breathing. I think this slug is rather cute. You can see the black dots of its eyes as it looks over its shoulder at me. The two antennas on the bottom are used for smelling and touch and don’t have eyes. I read that they can glide along a razor blade edge and not be cut but salt is deadly. I think salt may not be all that good for us either and I’ll definitely pass on the razor blade trick.



I found these mushrooms last time but this time I decided to tell you their name…“Deadly Galarina” (Galerina antumnalis). Another common name is “autumn skullcap”. As the name implies they are poisonous and should not be eaten…you will probably die. They are common in my region and found on rotting wood with moss. I recognize it by the small two-inch cinnamon-brown cap and the dark ring (annulus) on the thing stem (stipe). They sort of look like other brown mushrooms so be very careful if you collect and you should take spore prints for a more accurate identification and then don’t eat them. They mostly cluster in small groups but I have seen a lone one standing off from the pack as though it were being shunned for a bad deed. But I have never seen just one on a log.

At that point I turned around for home and left the mushrooms for the slug.

I will be enjoying Thanksgiving Holiday with friends; there is so much to be thankful for.

Visit more places at My World Tuesday.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Natures velcro





Burrs are natures Velcro and a way for some plants species to spread or disperse their seeds to new areas. If any of you have read “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollen you are already aware how smart plants can be and those that use burrs are no exception. Some have hooks or teeth that seem to just grab onto you cloths like a deer tick as you walk by. Even while taking this photo I walked away with a few attached to my shirt. I think someone should do a study to see how many burr type plants are at the edges of woodland parking lots because I’m sure I’m not the only one who picks them off my cloths before getting back into my car.


Find other monochrome photos at Monochrome Weekly, it is one of my favorite sites.


Magical moment




This morning was a normal morning but then around 9:30 this beautiful fog rolled in and lasted for about half an hour. It made the woods look magical.




Closer view




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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Mallards at Bonelli Park, California


Albino Mallard ?


Here is the Mallard with no color next to two normal males.  I am not certain it is an albino Mallard but I don't really know what else it could be.  If you have any ideas please leave a comment.


See more Camera Critters.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Quiet


Ranch Santa Ana Botanical Gardens, California

When my city friends come to visit they often remark that it is so quiet at my house and I just laugh because I know it is really noisy with calling hawks and fussing crows. I’ve been thinking about this and what I think most people are doing is responding to nature itself and calling that quiet and peaceful. Because if they really wanted quiet they could put beans in their ears and block it all out. So it isn’t really quiet that they like but the connection to nature. We all seem to have a primitive urge to be in nature and are drawn to it but once there then what. I see people run around the forest just as busy as when they are in the city. In fact, even as a naturalist I am in constant motion when out in the woods and I have that “quiet” sound all around. I often wonder if my primitive self who used to look for firewood, food and safety, even though I no longer need to do so, is now using that energy to look for insects, flowers and mushrooms. I still find it difficult to sit and be quiet like a tree instead of scampering about like a squirrel. The remarkable thing to me is that sitting still and running around in the woods are both nurturing. But I think the sitting quietly and consciously is the better of the two, more rejuvenating and nourishing. In The Long-Legged House Wendell Berry said, “If one could respond to the quiet of those places with quiet, and with enough attention, the woods will reveal its lives…” So, I have come to the conclusion that we all need to relearn how to be in nature, how to be relaxed, calm and quiet.

I am still working out my thought on this subject and would love to hear what you think.


Visit interesting sites at ABC Wednesday.


Monday, November 9, 2009

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California


Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, November 8, 2009

This week I am in Southern California and will be birding and taking photos of plants.  My first stop was Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California. This is one of my favorite trees and a good spot to rest and enjoy the morning.


Enjoy more scenic views at Scenic Sunday.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Common Checkered Skipper


I was lucky to have spotted this little critter.

Here's more about the little Common Checkered-Skipper I photographed on my walk last weekend. In the scientific community they are known as Pyrgus commonis, belonging to the subfamily Pyrginae (spread-wind Skippers) and in the Family Hesperiidae. Skippers are the butterfly equivalent to the LBJ’s (Little Brown Jobbies) of the birding world. But this guy is pretty distinctive by comparison. In West Virginia they have been found in all of the eastern panhandle counties and those bordering Virginia. They could be in other parts of West Virginia but to my knowledge no one has reported a sighting.



You can see the blue which is charastic of the male. Isn't that a nice color combination for a suit?


The top side of the body is blue-gray on the males and black on the females. You can see this one is a male. He looks like he is dressed to attend the Royal Ascot race. The field guides say they have black checks but in this photo they look maroon brown to me. It is probably the reflective color that my camera picked up. I suspect that if it were inside and pinned it would look black. Their wingspan is one to one and half inches. I never realized how beautiful they were until I saw my photograph. But then a lot of things as well as people are much more beautiful once you take a closer look.

When I moved closer he became a little nervous and moved back under the leaf. I was just inches away so I don't blame him. I talk to butterflies to calm them down but it probably really only calms me so I can be steady when I press that button. When photographing butterflies it is very important to not let your shadow land on them, they will fly for sure.

The caterpillar feeds on plants from the Mallow family (Malvaceae) which includes the familiar hollyhock. They make a folded leaf nest where they can safely live and feed until they are adults. During the winter they hibernate as adult caterpillars.

This was the parting shot after he moved to another location. I thanked him and we both moved on.





See more interesting critters at Camera Critters Saturday.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Sun Pillar


April 14, 2007, 5:48 A.M.
Two years ago while on my way to a Master Naturalist training session I spotted this Sun Pillar shooting up from the sun as it rose to start the day. Quickly I pulled off to the side of the road and began taking photos. Most of the photos were blurry because I was so excited to see the pillar that I could hardly stand still. It was an early morning in April, the air was crisp, and a new day of learning natural history lay ahead. This was a good omen.


April 14, 2007, 5:48 A.M.


Sun Pillars are a little like Sun Dogs, in that they are both sunlight reflections from the surfaces of ice crystals but the Sun Pillar is, well, a pillar. Not that a sun dog is a dog but…well, you know what I mean. It is a vertical column of light coming up or going down from the sun. I saw this one at sunrise but they can also be found at sunset. It looks like a fat sun ray but really it is a collection of reflections or glints of millions of ice crystals. This sun pillar is yellow but they can be white, red or even purple depending on the colors of the sun and clouds. Pretty cool, uh.


See and read more at Sky Watch Friday.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Waiting



Great Blue Heron waiting for fish to fall over the dam along the Shenandoah River.



Still waiting.


See more water adventures at Watery Wednesday.

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy is one of those plants that I have not paid much attention to until recently. I am one of the 20% of the people who are not allergic to the urushiol produced by Poison Ivy. They say that if you are around it a lot then eventually you will get the rash and I can say that is the case with me. Once I was cleaning out a lot of vines from yard and I did get a small rash but other than that I have been pretty lucky and never bothered to learn much about it. That has all changed now that I am leading hikes for friends who are allergic. I need to make sure I don’t go tromping into it and put my friends in jeopardy. Saturday I took some photos to help myself learn.



This one shows the three leaves that I grew up hearing about. “Leaves of three, let it be” was the saying I learned in Girl Scouts.

I am now most familiar with the vine as it grows up trees because it is easily recognized by its hairy tendrils. The bush and ground cover version are not as familiar to me but I do find it amazing that one plant can be a vine, a bush and a ground cover. Equally amazing is that it is a member of the Anacardiaceae or Cashew family. And I also read that Mangoes are in the same family and that some people get a rash from them as well. Who knew?

It is the urushiol oil that is the culprit. The oil can linger on animal fur, on car seats, clothing, and tools and just about anything. So while I don’t have to worry I need to take care that I don’t spread the oil around for my unsuspecting friends to come in contact with. If it is not washed off within about three minutes after exposure it will be absorbed into the skin and a rash will occur.


In my neck of the woods we also have Virginia Creeper which looks a lot like poison ivy. Here you can see the difference between the two vines. The creeper has bigger and lighter colored tendrils compared to the dense hairy ones of the Poison Ivy.



See more ABC Wednesday.