Mephitis mephitis

Mephitis mephitis

The early morning light is always so beautiful! And we managed to get the first walk of the day while the sun was rising. The winners of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards will brighten your day Keep looking! The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know.

Armadillo and chicken

Armadillo and chicken

What does an armadillo and a chicken have in common? In the same way, they both needed to get to the other side of the road LOL. See what just goofing around leads to: The Biophysicist Transforming Asparagus Into Medical Implants Keep looking!

Celestials!

Celestials!

More photos from the grasslands… Eastern Red Cedar with fungus where a limb had been cut off.   Closer view. Gnarly oak! Can you find the dragonfly? Closer…sometimes even when you know where it is, they can be hard to spot.  It is a female Common Whitetail. Greenbriar is starting to flower. This is a…

Rust!

Rust!

 Oh boy I finally got the Cedar Apple Rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae). It has been on my list to see and photograph and today was its day at the grasslands.  “On juniper, galls appear about seven months after infection, and they form gelatinous masses of spores after 18 months. Golf ball-like depressions form on the gall…

A head banger…

A head banger…

I hear this banging coming from the dining room. What is Jim up to I wondered?  It was not Jim but our feathered friend looks to be back.  Grrrr. I hope he does not do it too much or we will be putting up the screens and outside shade. A cardinal attacked the windows for…

A crow’s meal

A crow’s meal

We watched the crow land in the tree. Jim noticed the crows first and saw that one had dropped something. We had to investigate! It was a field rat! I’m showing you the less gory side. It’s guts had spilled out. I don’t know if the crow killed it or if it had scavenged it….

More grasslands

More grasslands

 Forgot to mention yesterday, I had another American Woodcock in our woods. Exciting, but alas no photo ;-(   I have seen more of them this year (three total) then I have ever seen before. Also had a Fox Sparrow and Northern Harrier. Neither seen very often anymore at home. Script lichen (Alyxoria varia). It was…

Weird find

Weird find

The sky had a lot of contrails today. It was cold this morning with a low of 23. However there was not much frost on the ground. Glad there was no wind and plenty of sunshine at noon! By the afternoon it was not so blue. At sunset the sky was full of many different…

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)…