common_nature | Entries tagged with places: usa

Taken on 16 July 2023 at 19:27 US Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Bunnies are of course going to favor weedy green lawns over elegant stone yards punctuated with waxy sculptural ornamentals. This one looks like an Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus); Marsh Rabbits (S. palustris) (1), tend to have shorter ears, and my neighborhood strikes me as a bit too far from the water to attract them during the dry season.

It’s on alert, reacting sensibly to the arrival of a member of the deadliest of the Thousand, and so this was the only shot I was able to get before it went PATWINNNG! under the seagrape bed (the round-leaved shrub at center right, bordered by white river rocks.)

(1) Today I Learned the scientific name of the Lower Keys Marsh Rabbit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvilagus_palustris_hefneri

Yes; that Hugh Hefner funded endangered rabbit research, and was commemorated accordingly.

full_metal_ox

Taken 15 May 2023, 19:13 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time, at the Wright Stop Plaza(1) bus hub in downtown Dayton, Ohio.

This handsome gent was the last photo I took in Dayton before my departure for Florida, and I’m rather pleased with the role the strong contrasting lines of the paving stones and the bars of the metal bench play in the composition.

(Out of frame: the flock of English sparrows he was challenging for the rights to a popcorn spill. Also out of frame, except for the merest edge of her jacket to the right of my purse: the young lady conducting a live webcast on recovery and the Gospel from her smartphone.)

(1) The Wright Brothers’ names and likenesses are all over the Dayton area, from Wright Memorial Library to Wright State University to Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; these guys are our unofficial genii loci and patron saints.

blackcatofmisery

I'm hoping for some confirmation and/or information on this dude that's growing in my yard again. A tree used to be where it grows, but the tree never had visible fungi on it. When I did a Google search, other users shared similar photos that were said to be some kind of granadula.

( A bit of a close-up. )

Current Mood: confused
Current Music: United States Marine Band - The President's Own

blackcatofmisery

I love spring, because garden centers open, and that means pollinators. I saw a butterfly going about in a greenhouse and finally tracked it down—taking a picture every couple of seconds, so I looked like a creep, I'm sure—on a hanging planter. I believe it's an American lady (Vanessa virginiensis), judging by the two eyespots and bit of pink.

( Photos beneath the cut. )

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Jace Everett - Bad Thigns

ysabetwordsmith

These are more pictures from April 13 that I didn't have time to post then.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

A floodle is a giant puddle that forms in a low spot on relatively flat land. In some areas, they may only last a few hours or days, but in others they can last for weeks or even months. It depends on the soil composition, water table, and whether or not more rain falls. They can be natural, or because of human foolishness.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today we drove down to Toledo and Greenup to view the eclipse where totality would last a couple of minutes. We had a nice drive down.

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Current Mood: excited

ysabetwordsmith

I took some pictures today. These are from the yard by the house.

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Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

I took pictures around the yard today. These are from the flowerbeds and house yard.

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Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went out to the lake. The first few pictures are from my yard, though.

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Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I took some pictures of the sprouting flowers in my yard.

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Current Mood: accomplished

blackcatofmisery

_{I just think mushrooms are neat and have others I've found recently that I will eventually share.}

Recently, I discovered what I believe are puffballs in my front yard! I've never seen any alive before, so I'm relying on Google. The mystery comes from the brown one. (It is the same mushroom as the first photo, where it is obviously paler.) It didn't used to be brown, but there is a brown umber puffball.

One of the white ones is still white, so it could be a common puffball or a peeling one. Peeling would make sense, if that little bit in my hand (the only bit I found) is from the mushroom and not its own decaying corpse. The bit was near the now-brown puffball, though.

I'm really not sure, though. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠༼⁠ ⁠•́⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠•̀⁠ ⁠༽⁠_⁠/⁠¯ Any aspiring mycologists have like a list of criteria to determine a species?

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: The Cramps - Garbageman

blackcatofmisery

My brother was cleaning cars last night and came in the show me something. I immediately assumed a weird big, and I was right!

At first, I didn't see it, but a big ol' green big, about 7cm, was clinging to the center console of our mom's car. My big brother wanted me to remove it. No idea what he'd've done himself, but I got her out, and she didn't want to leave my arm. 💀

I'm glad to know we have these critters, though, because it could maybe explain some noises I've heard outside. I didn't expect her to be so big, though! I'm relatively okay with six legs and less, but the size of this bug had the hairs on my arm standing up. (She also wanted to play parrot on my shoulder. I'm not yet so willing.)

But my brother and I agree that he'll take care of spiders and stingy, stripey things; I'll catch other six-legs-and-less ones.

Fun fact: Katydids are believed to being good fortune! (Not necessarily financial.)

Current Mood: peaceful

blackcatofmisery

I left the house today. One of my stops was a store with nicer plants than most garden stores I've been to, and there were dozens of various bees. (I wish I'd gotten a photo of the honey bees on the same onion.)

blackcatofmisery

Although I am very allergic to bug bites, I will follow neat bugs to try and get decent photos on my phone. Right now, the oregano is in bloom, attracting lots of pollinators (and unsavory types such as hornets and wasps).

Current Mood: sleepy

blackcatofmisery

There's a family of groundhogs/woodchucks living under the wooden plank path in my aunt's backyard. Mom has two babies, who are nearly grown. I figure they'll move on once they're ready. They eat the plentiful burdock, so my aunt's not complaining too much. (First thing I did after setting my stuff down was go out to see if I could see them, and the mom had her chin on the plank while lying in a hole made from the planks shifting due to large roots.)

The benefit of groundhogs is ground aeration, if their burrows stay open.

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: EXO - Hear Me Out

blackcatofmisery

My mom said there was "a toad under the garden hose," which I assumed meant, like, inside the hose housing, but I didn't see anything. 💔

Stepping outside again a few minutes later, I spotted it from a distance.

It's under the barest little overhang, where the hose sits on a rock. Chillin'. It's very well camouflaged among the mulch, but I just wanted to see it that badly, I guess.

(I don't know what subspecies of toad it is, but I'd assume Eastern American Toad, just because I live in Wisconsin.)

Current Mood: calm

nanila

We saw adult male and female hooded mergansers on the same trip to the Nisqually wildlife refuge in Washington state, USA, as the Cooper's hawk and tree swallows.

These two are clearly on a mission!

chestnut_pod

A brown path bisects a eucalyptus forest carpeted in vibrantly green new grass

Campus has a little corner that is a patchwork of native scrub and eucalyptus forest. It's been raining for days now, and in the breaks I've gone wandering, thankful for the quiet and the lack of people, trying not to succumb to cabin fever. No one else is in here, maybe afraid of the mud, or of other people. The grass and the trees don't mind.

nanila

We observed small numbers of swallows on the same day as the Cooper's hawk in my previous entry. Bird experts of

common_nature: Are these juvenile tree swallows? I know the swallows visit this area (Nisqually nature reserve in Washington, USA) during the spring and summer, but this seems a bit early to see them.

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Common Nature

wonder and joy and mystery in everyday things

Entries tagged with places: usa

Bunny caught in passing on the lawn.

Mallard drake at the Wright Stop Plaza bus hub.

Granadula Mushroom(?)

An American lady

Photos: Spiders and Vulture

Floodles

Eclipse Pictures

Photos: House Yard

Photos: Flowerbeds

Lake Pictures

Sprouting Flowers

Puffball Mushrooms

A Katydid, aka Bush-cricket

Busy Bees

Busy Bees

Local Groundhog Family Devours Velcro Plant

American Toad

Hooded merganser pair

(no subject)

Juvenile tree swallows (?)

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April 2025

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