Saturday is typically a stay at home day. And today I stayed home. Here are a couple of treasures I found today plus a mystery.
You know how you can pass by something a million times and never notice it? It could be as big as a house or as small as a mouse. In this case, for me it was this Carolina Buckthorn. If it had not been for the red leaves, I would not have noticed it. It is new for the home property.
Clouds give me a perspective of distance.
Western Horse Nettle’s (Solanum dimidiatum) colorful yellow fruit!
Greenbriar (Smilax bona-nox) berries provide needed sustenance for many different critters!
However, Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) is not as popular with the critters. In fact, most of the berries will still be there next spring.
A few days ago, I posted another Praying Mantis egg case. This is one I found today.
Still another one, but with holes. So this one has had the nymphs exit the case.
Finally, this is what I worked on today mostly. It has some moss, the light green stuff. However, I was interested in the black-gray stuff. I collected this a week ago and I thought it might be a lichen.
Here is a closer view.
Under the compound scope, it is now officially a mystery! Maybe a mold or yeast covering something else, but certainly not a lichen. Why not a lichen? Well, there was no algae or cyanobacteria in it. Mysteries!
Love praying mantis egg cases and the snowflakes are gorgeous.
That mystery stuff is interesting!!