common_nature | Entries tagged with season: summer

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

Strelitzia reginae in bloom in a bedding of white seashells, with low-growing palms and (agave?) also visible in the flower bed, taken on 18 August 2023 at 15:43 US Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

The mature male specimen of Homo sapiens var. euroamericanus was a passerby and did not give his express consent, but the color of his T-shirt coincided so perfectly with the blue nectary petals of the flower that I decided to keep him; the measure I took to respect his privacy somehow completes the composition.)

pauraque

While on a walk by Lake Champlain I took a series of pictures of a Ring-billed Gull enjoying a good preen.

( 7 more photos )

pauraque

I spotted this very Not Camouflaged friend on a dirt road where I was walking. Investigation revealed that it's the juvenile stage of the Eastern Newt. They start out life in an aquatic tadpole stage that lasts a few months, and then metamorphose into this fancy terrestrial form, also called a Red Eft. The bright orange color is a warning that they carry a neurotoxin which Wikipedia says is "the strongest emetic that is known." (Not eager to learn how science found that out.) After a couple of years in this phase, they transform into their green adult form and return to the water, remaining aquatic for the rest of their lives.

The terrestrial stage is supposed to make it easier for them to colonize new habitats so the species doesn't become overly dependent on specific breeding spots.

ysabetwordsmith

I found a giant silk moth caterpillar crawling around a can on the patio. I love Saturniid moths. They get huge, and many look spectacular. Even their caterpillars are big and interesting. This one is about the size of my pinky finger, so it's probably a middle instar and still has a lot of growing to do. I'm really excited to see one of these guys. I expect the birds will be excited too -- these are the Polish sausages of the caterpillar pantry.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: excited

pauraque

Butterfly season in New England is quickly coming to an end. Here are a few I saw this year:

White Admiral.

( 7 more )

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

turlough

Midsummer's Eve is the second most celebrated holiday here in Sweden and like Christmas a lot of the celebration centres around food and drink, but for Midsummer flowers are also a large part. Particularly wild flowers. May and June are the big months for wild flowers here and all the photos I posted below are just some of all the wild flowers I saw on my walk this morning.

Click to enlarge:
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

( more flowers... )

Current Mood: mellow

mistressofmuses

A couple weeks ago we visited a garden in our area.

A very nice bumblebee on a sunflower.

A big bullfrog chilling in the shade.

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.)

weofodthignen

After the drought broke last winter, we've had a lot of plant growth, and also there are more insects about this summer than there usually are here (Silicon Valley); especially since it's been hot this past week. The other night, when I went to the front door to bring in the cat food from the porch, I found myself face to face with this big guy/gal:

( Back view and another bug behind the cut )

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

turlough

I was in England last week and one day when I took a walk by the River Yare in Norwich I spotted a bird I didn't recognise among the usual greylags and mallards. A bit of internet research showed it was an Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca). The breed was apparently introduced to Britain back in 17th century and is now mostly found in East Anglia and along the Thames.

Click to enlarge:

Current Mood: peaceful

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

turlough

Not far from where I live there's a dry, sunny slope and right now it's completely filled with bright orange Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientale). It's an old garden flower here in southern Sweden and occasionally it seems to thrive in the wild too.

Click to enlarge:

sunny slope filled with large orange flowers

( more photos... )

Current Mood: good

nanila

We had a gorgeous and very obliging visitor in the house about a week ago. It took kindly to being gently shepherded back outside.

turlough

Butterflies usually move around too much to get good photos of them but this male Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) was nice enough to keep sitting on this flower long enough for me to get several nice photos of him. You can even see his proboscis, both curled up and straightened out.

Click to enlarge pictures:

small golden-brown butterfly on pale-striped flower

( one more picture... )

Current Mood: productive

turlough

The parents were circling suspiciously when I stopped and took this photo of three Common Gull chicks (Larus canus). Not that I could have reached them even if I had wanted to, they were high up on a roof, but try telling parents that!

Click to enlarge:

Current Mood: relaxed

sylvaine

Regular old forest mushrooms growing in the hollow of a tree on the roadside.

Look at those Regular Ol' Forest Mushrooms just growing out of a tree hollow! Found last year - must have been in August? so actually quite a while ago - on my way to work.

nanila

The red admirals are enjoying the abundant crop of blackberries in Norfolk, UK, almost as much as the humans are.

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Common Nature

wonder and joy and mystery in everyday things

Entries tagged with season: summer

Bunny caught in passing on the lawn.

Bird of Paradise flower at a Gulf Coast Florida strip mall.

Ring-billed Gull preening

Eastern Newt

Polyphemus Moth Caterpillar

this year's butterflies

Granadula Mushroom(?)

Glad Midsommar!

Hudson Gardens, Colorado, USA

Busy Bees

Bugs :-)

Busy Bees

Egyptian Goose in England

Local Groundhog Family Devours Velcro Plant

a profusion of poppies

Dragonfly

large skipper

fuzzy gull chicks

Mushrooms popping up in surprising places

Red admiral butterfly

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April 2025

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