![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puddleshark
I have been playing hide-and-seek with the rooks in the sea fog up on St Alhelm's Head.
( Not a glimpse of the sea )
puddlesharkI have been playing hide-and-seek with the rooks in the sea fog up on St Alhelm's Head.
( Not a glimpse of the sea )
Latourelle and Coopey Falls
Jun. 21st, 2025 02:27 pmyourlibrarian
We drove down the historic 30, a 2 lane road that wound around the hills and which crossed paths with numerous waterfalls. Our first stop was Latourelle, which was just off the road. ( Read more... )
ysabetwordsmithWe visited the butterfly gardens at the Charleston Library, on June 19 although this is dated 20 because it's after midnight. They were filled with birds, although I didn't manage to catch any pictures of them.
( Walk with me ... )
( Walk with me ... )
A forest walk
Jun. 18th, 2025 08:50 pmcmcmckWe headed up Lime Kiln Lane and over to New Works then into the forest.
Things are now very green indeed although this is always a green landscape being on the west coast side of things:
( More pics: )
Things are now very green indeed although this is always a green landscape being on the west coast side of things:
( More pics: )
Abstract Art on a Northern Lake
Jun. 17th, 2025 06:39 pmjesse_the_kI’m staying near a northern Wisconsin lake at 45.658965, -89.497625, where I’ll be revelling in 15:45 hours of daylight on the summer solstice. The logged-over forest is mostly red pine, and wow they’re pollinating—creating very abstract art near the dock
Pine pollen forms semi-opaque circles over shallow sandy beach
( two more pics )
Dogwood Leaf Beetle
Jun. 17th, 2025 09:27 ampauraque
Getting into my car after a walk, I found this elegantly decorated beetle on my shirt. It has the very appropriate scientific name of Calligrapha philadelphica, also known as the Dogwood Leaf Beetle.
When it opened its wings to fly, I was surprised to see its inner wings were red. I guess that could be the wax seal on the parchment. :)
( photo showing the red wings )
International Rose Test Garden
Jun. 16th, 2025 01:21 pmyourlibrarian
We were only in Portland for a day but we had enough time for a few hours in the International Rose Test Garden. In fact we didn't even spend that long because it was smaller than expected and some bushes hadn't even bloomed yet (despite what the website said as mid-May being an ideal viewing time). We took about half the time we were there trying to park. It was also the most overcast morning of the trip -- we had amazing weather the rest of the time.
Nonetheless what was in bloom was lovely. ( Read more... )
Knock Out Honey Bees
Jun. 15th, 2025 11:57 amblackcatofmiseryMy mom's garden has a vigorous knock out rosebush just beside it, and various bees adore it. Although I'm severely allergic to bites and stings, I will still follow honey and bumble bees; they're too busy to care about me.
Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.
( Photos beneath the cut. )
Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.
( Photos beneath the cut. )
Tags:
say hello to Indiana
Jun. 14th, 2025 08:28 pmlizardjayAt the end of last month I visited Indiana for a week, and in that time went on FOUR hikes. There are too many pictures to put here so I'm posting a link to my ~150 picture album: My sister and I are both very into taking pictures so the hikes were very slow :D but I think it really helps in remembering that there's something interesting to see in pretty much every square inch of the outdoors. There is always a bug, or a fungal disease on a leaf, or a shiny drop of water.
The Album
We visited, in order:
The pictures feature:
For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.
The Album
We visited, in order:
- Ritchie Woods Nature Preserve
- Summit Lake State Park
- Shades State Park/Pine Hills Nature Preserve
- Southwestway Park
The pictures feature:
- many, many insects
- a stately gentleman frog, who very kindly let me get within an inch of him
- snails
- two snakes
- cool looking plants/fungi
- general landscapes
For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.
full_metal_oxContent advisory: the following images portray animal decomposition and a messy (though not scatological) plumbing mishap, respectively.
This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.
This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.
Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )
Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.
Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )
This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.
This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.
Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )
Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.
Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:
( Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )
And now about the spiders
Jun. 13th, 2025 01:19 pmpilotttttThis big and scarysmall and not scary at all spider was discovered on our ceiling. It was my macro lens that made it big and scary ;)
Chicks of the laughing dove
Jun. 12th, 2025 12:36 pmpilotttttIt was their first day out of the nest, which they spent on a branch just opposite our window.
For more information (in Russian), see here.
Crown Point Vista House
Jun. 8th, 2025 01:38 pmyourlibrarian
Just returned from a road trip through Oregon and part of Northern California. On leaving Portland we followed the route of a tourist trolley and started out at Crown Point Vista House. The views of the Colombia River were indeed impressive and well worth the twisty drive up to its height. The structure itself with its stone and stained glass was also interesting to see. The bathrooms on the basement level were all marbled -- not the usual for tourist stops!
Above is the overall view east. ( Read more... )
full_metal_oxTaken on 21 June 2024 at 20:33 US Eastern Daylight Savings Time, as I hurried up the street through the break in the rain.
My limited equipment does the scene nothing even remotely resembling justice: neither the multi-layered gauzy rainbow-sherbet luminosity nor the grand theatricality of the skyscape, with the air of a vintage book illustration or a meticulously painted film backdrop. A detail I particularly like is the small dark cumulus cloud at bottom center that suggests a person astride a charging (pig? bear? huge dog?)
My limited equipment does the scene nothing even remotely resembling justice: neither the multi-layered gauzy rainbow-sherbet luminosity nor the grand theatricality of the skyscape, with the air of a vintage book illustration or a meticulously painted film backdrop. A detail I particularly like is the small dark cumulus cloud at bottom center that suggests a person astride a charging (pig? bear? huge dog?)
Photos: House Yard
Jun. 2nd, 2025 12:17 amysabetwordsmithThese pictures are from Sunday, but it's after midnight, so the post says Monday.
( Walk with me ... )
( Walk with me ... )
Osprey nesting
May. 29th, 2025 10:41 ampauraqueI got to see an Osprey sitting on its nest!
When I came back later to show my partner, we talked to another birder who said this nesting platform has been there for a long time but in past years Ospreys have only stayed for a short time and not fledged any young. This year they've stayed much longer than usual so hopes are high for a baby! The other adult was perched in a tree nearby.
Ospreys eat only fish. (The platform is above a river.) It's interesting that small birds seem to realize they're no threat, and completely ignore them. While we were there, we saw a flock of blackbirds furiously mob and chase away a Cooper's Hawk while the Ospreys calmly looked on.
When I came back later to show my partner, we talked to another birder who said this nesting platform has been there for a long time but in past years Ospreys have only stayed for a short time and not fledged any young. This year they've stayed much longer than usual so hopes are high for a baby! The other adult was perched in a tree nearby.
Ospreys eat only fish. (The platform is above a river.) It's interesting that small birds seem to realize they're no threat, and completely ignore them. While we were there, we saw a flock of blackbirds furiously mob and chase away a Cooper's Hawk while the Ospreys calmly looked on.
Turtle from the Kyzylkum desert
May. 28th, 2025 02:43 pmpilottttt
For more details about our trip to this desert (in Russian), see here: https://pilottttt.dreamwidth.org/445028.html
