Fall soon   Sept 14

Fall soon Sept 14

Spiny-aster  (Chloracantha spinosa) is a plant that likes to be near water or in a drainage area. The plant is sorta scraggly and just starting to bloom here.  Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) is an invasive but sure has a pretty seed head. The Poodle skirt mushroom (just what I call it…not an official common name)…

A slow day… Sept 13

A slow day… Sept 13

Update: So the insect that was burrowing in the sandstone has been identified by BugGuide to genus. They say there are 5 described species in the U.S and the only two in our area are the Smaller Sand Cricket (Ellipes minuta) and  Ellipes gurneyi. So maybe I can catch it and see which it is. Fingers crossed…  See post dated 9-11-2020…

Ferns under the scope

Ferns under the scope

I spent most of my day looking at spores under the scope. I did not know what I was going to see or what I was looking at half the time. Thank goodness for Google! Purple cliff-brake spores (Pellaea atropurpurea) are the roundish things to the right side of the photo. This is at 400x. …

Pink eggs!

Pink eggs!

 If you remember I posted on  9-6-2020 about some eggs I found on Eastern Red Cedar. They have not hatched but… To my delight some are turning pink. Look at the little knobby hairs at the top. These eggs are only about one millimeter across! Fingers crossed for hatching soon!

Cool and wet day

Cool and wet day

Wow, love this cool day and the rain. We have gotten .8 inch but I have heard some of you got 1.5 inches. Just wonderful! Before the rain came this morning, I found this dead luna moth. Its wing span was about 4 inches. I don’t see them real often and the caterpillars even less….

Montague County drive about

Montague County drive about

 Had to get a drive-about before the rain…fingers crossed! Rough-winged swallows were our first stop along the side of the road.  We also had first of season American kestrels.  Other birds of the day were Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, doves, Loggerhead Shrikes, roadrunner, red-shouldered hawk, vultures, White-eyed vireo and one mad-at-us Carolina wren.  Then…

Tapioca Slime mold

Tapioca Slime mold

 This is photo I took back in June of this year. This relates to the previous post about the mushroom digesting. I updated that post about it digesting and NOT digesting itself as I had told y’all. Anyways, here is a slime mold….  tapioca slime mold (Brefeldia maxima) I have seen some slime mold that…

Mosquitos!

Mosquitos!

  The mosquitoes are back with a vengeance! At least this girl won’t be getting my blood. This handsome fella, Salt Marsh Moth (Estigmene acrea), showed up at my backdoor last night.. He had just emerged. You can tell because in the top photo you can see his wing has not fully pumped up. Females…