Birch

From time to time, I like to present a new view into species we've visited. Here's a bit of birch--catkins from earlier this year and a couple of soft looks at bark. And finally, a glimpse into the southern shoreline.

Field Sow-Thistle

The Field Sow-Thistle, Sonchus arvenis, has quite the reputation as a noxious weed. I can't help but find that kind of funny. I mean, I seem to have the knack for finding plants of alien origin at best and rather often of invasive nature.

I have the next week off from work and am so looking forward to replenishing the photo inventory. Simultaneous with competing demands, the weather has been rainy all week. I'm looking forward to clear skies and relaxing days!

Bittersweet Nightshade

I've only spotted this single one Bittersweet nightshade, Solanum dulcamara, around the lake. Notice how the leaves each have two little wing-like leaves. Of course, with flowers like these, just how much more does one need to make an ID?

I'll be looking for more of these plants and trying to get more shots of this one. The day I got this shot, it was terribly windy on the far end of the lake. It is so hard to focus macro shots with even the slightest breeze. I'm looking forward to some of those hot, still days of summer.

Wool Sower Gall

I nearly jumped when first spying these galls! I mean wow! Some folks liken them to toasted marshmallows and I can see the resemblance. Googling "fuzzy white gall" was the ticket to this ID.

The Wood Sower Gall, home to a group of developing Cynipid Wasps, Callirhytis seminator, is found on White Oak. This single tree, about eight feet high, held something like six of these galls. One branch had a double, two in a row, just the way I used to double up marshmallows on a stick over the fire.

Of course, I had to give one a squeeze. Although seemingly soft and fuzzy, they are really quite firm, not at all like marshmallows. No, I didn't taste them. :-)

Multiflora Rose

Multiflora Rose, Rosa multiflora, is present no matter where I look around the lake. Native to Japan, Korea, and Eastern China, this species was introduced from Japan in 1866 as rootstock for ornamental roses. Although considered a pest in some states, it's use as a resilient ground cover for wildlife and as an erosion preventative make it mostly considered beneficial. The walls of flowers in select locations around the lake provide a wonderful scent and beauty.

The flowers range from pure white into pastel pinks. They don't really show their true beauty, it seems, until one gets up close to take in the delicate and showy stamens.

Horse-Brier

Horse-brier, Smilax rotundifolia, has been mentioned in previous posts in January, although those early entries were labeled with the common name of Green-brier--not really a misnomer but a bit too broad-reaching.

I accumulated these shots over some weeks at various locations around the lake, an effort to gather many views of the same species. It's kind of exciting to be reposting on the same species at different times of year--something of a dream coming true.

Tomorrow we look at another thorny species found all around the lake.

Another Wandering

It felt so good to finally make it out about the lake. I didn't go far but did pull in some work for this week's posts. There are a couple of plants that I've wanted to present with more photographic detail and I'm content with what I've picked up on that today.

Tomorrow it's time to try out the monopod with the telephoto beast. Expectations are running high that detail will improve...

So here's a real mix for today! We'll recognize a couple of species from this past week's posts.

White Campion starts us off, followed by what is probably a hybrid of White Campion with Red Campion (Silene dioica). Then it's a group shot of Yarrow. On a Royal Fern, a nice little dragonfly who seemed rather sluggish gave up an easy shot. The bees all over a hill of daisies paid me no mind at all. And lastly, this blackbird who was making sport of me--giving me all kinds of teasers but never the winning shot.

White Campion

Here's White Campion (aka Evening Lychnis), Silene latifolia (or S. alba--I'm confused here).

This species and other related Silene species have proven useful in sex chromosomal studies because of the relatively young chromosome age (10-20 million years) compared to the more common hundreds of millions of years in commonly used test species like Drosophila or mice. For once the poor mouse is off the hook! :-) Wish I had a mouse shot...


A weekend full of promisingly fine weather comes just in time. My scheduled posts are depleted, meaning that my current inventory just doesn't stimulate me. I have probably thousands of shots by now but many of them are out of season or uncatalogued or could/should go the way of the bit bucket. Better cataloging and tagging needs to be in my future!

I like to think that when the snow is flying that I'll be poring over a year's worth of work, building sequences of each species while getting quite organized. Well, it is a good thought...

Yarrow

I think that I was first attracted to Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, by the fern-like leaves. I took pictures over a series of days without knowing what it was and only recently decided to try a post. For that, I once again went out for photos, this time for a couple of closeups. Then it was time to hit the books for an ID.

Yarrow, a perennial, has long history as a medicinal herb and was even popular as a vegetable in the seventeenth century.

For a lot more on this fascinating little one, see this Wiki article.


Here the flowers are still in the budding stage.


Don't the leaves really look like ferns? Or maybe cedar leaves?


These tiny little flowers are so detailed. Do click on this image to enter an even closer world of Yarrow's flowers.

Scarlet Tanager

As I was tromping down my dirt road, coming home tired with five miles behind me...

I really did a double take. I mean, that red was so intense. This male Scarlet Tanager, Piranga olivacea, was a real eye catcher!

I was lucky to get a shot, as the little one seemed a cautious of me and we had a wide open space between us--no cover to move in closer.

Once again I get the opportunity to photograph a bird I have never seen before. It's like going to the zoo! :-)




You know, it's hard to describe just how wonderful it is to explore this marvelous world. It's not just the showy birds, but also the long-lived presence of trees and the fleeting seasonal herbs that leave me stunned by the beauty and complexity of our natural surroundings. One need only walk a few steps from one's door to find the richness that could take a lifetime to ponder and appreciate.

Sassafras

Sassafras is found rather sparsely around the lake. I can't remember seeing any taller than about fifteen feet, although they can grow considerably larger. I guess that's why I feel it's a rather delicate tree. This little specimen is about five feet tall.


The leaves are thick and with interesting color as they work into their summer green. They will assume warm and brilliant colors come fall. We've discussed Sassafras earlier--be sure to check out the interesting comment left by Andy.


More on the leaves... They have a curious habit of presenting with two, one, and even sans lobes. Here's an example that includes all three habits on the tip of a single branch.



Tomorrow it's bird time again. Not nearly as much action as yesterday, but perhaps a bright spot nonetheless. Ya, another worthless hint... ;-)

Photography

Back in March I started a photography blog. The intent was to push out a few posts every now and then, but after an initial flurry I just never got back to it. This evening I ran some very cool Blogger software that migrated all the 24x36 photography posts into Nuncketest. It all ran perfectly, so I tagged each post with "Photography", making it easy to find these entries via the index.

I've shut down FeedBurner for the 24x36 blog and will delete the blog in a few days, once I'm sure all is really well with the migrated posts.

I will from time to time post something of a photographic nature here in Nuncketest. I think this will work well as many of you, dear readers, are photographers.

I've picked up a few books since the last photo post and I'll get to them at some point, but for now I'd like to mention lynda.com. After trying out the free videos, this month I subscribed. I used to be more of a textbook learner but these days videos are just the ticket. At $25/month, it's a real deal for me.

On another topic, today my latest B&H order arrived. I'll be trying out a monopod with a ball head. It's kind of tough handholding the 100-400mm zoom, particularly when fully extended. The added stability will no doubt tighten up my image sharpness.

Also in today's package was a couple of gray cards. I'll be checking them out for exposure and white color balance, as well as using them for a background as recommended by Gretchen.