The Nature Thread

All this talking about delicious mushroms, and reading a newspaper articel about the first mushroms have started to pop up in our forests as well, made me take a trip yesterday with my wife, and we found cantarells. Enough for a great dinner today! (:P)

But the pictures I took don't qualify for this great thread, with all the beauty, so I had to find an older pic from a trip in August 2009:

From another mushrom trip (no, not that kind of trip - was looking for cantarells and other yummies), in 2009:

I was by the pond in my garden trying (not very successfully) to take some photos of my koi carp, when this dragonfly [ Aeshna cyanea ] landed on my hand. It didn't seem in any hurry to fly off, so when I had taken several photos of it, I put my hand next to some pond weed and let it crawl off. The last photo shows how good its camouflage is; if it had landed on the pond weed, I could have walked right by without noticing it.

Pete N

Hi all,

Peter, that butterfly is an Aglais io, one of the beauties of Europe.
These where plentifull in Belgium but when our politics ordered to destroy the comon nettles, they disapeared.
Here, it's on the " nearly extinct " list of butterflies, like many other species.
Many caterpilars of our butterflies feed on nettles so when you destroy the food, you destroy the species feeding on them.
But you have to be a politician for not knowing that.

Take care and best regards.

Paul.

Love the dragonfly pics! We have many different species around our home even though there is no water source. I understand a new book was recently published on Dragonflies in New Jersey so maybe I'll have to order a copy.

Serengeti in the Suburbs. A tale of three rabbits - and some others.

A couple of years ago, three rabbits decided they liked our garden.
Bold as brass, they would eat their fill and then stretch out luxuriously in the driveway to "catch some rays".
Not a care in the world. But not too smart- as you can see. One by one they disappeared.
This last one expired with a harrowing screech the previous night. Probably the victim of an owl or a fox.
The "undertakers" showed up bright an early and were finished in an hour.
Balance of nature.

Rock connection?
Well just out of sight to the left is a large glacial boulder left embedded in my lawn by the builder.
That’s where I used to “downsize” all the rocks I carted home.
Hope that counts ;)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2011 11:05PM by Modris Baum.

Hi Modris - I have a soft spot for turkey "buzzers" as I like to call them - don't know why exactly - perhaps because they herald spring. And I am sad when they leave in the fall - I've always wanted to write a song - an ode to the ugly things called "I've got the Turkey Buzzard Blues."

Hi Maggie,

We also have a soft spot for the "uglies" - especially my son.
Bats, toads, vultures, star nosed moles - you name it. The "uglier" the better.
But of course they are not really ugly at all ...

Modris

Took this one in Arizona several years ago. Rainbows, Butterflys and little girls, nothing more beautiful!

Danny Jones

A few weeks ago while hiking near St Peters Dome (Colorado) it was amusing to see this little tree that wanted to go for ride in the counterweight of this 50-year-old home-made front-end-loader.
-Dean

Some great photos on this thread. Here is a cute little Eastern Gray Tree Frog,(Hylidae versicolor) that I found in my garden one day. Seemed to like posing for my camera so I took some photos and then released him back to the wild. Enjoy!

Cliff



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2011 05:21PM by Clifford Trebilcock.

What a wonderful picture, Cliff. Those little guys are more often heard then seen!

Dragon flys are cool, some times you have to stop mining to video them

Dragonfly having lunch

Enjoy B)

Wayne Corwin

Here is a pair of Bald eagles tending their young. Took this pic south of Norland, Ont on July 2. The nest is approx 6' wide. Not a great picture but, great to witness none the less..

Hi Andrew,

Those are Osprey you have photographed. I think it's a great photo.

I just posted this photo on my Facebook page. As we were saying goodnight to a guest, this large Root Borer flew in and scared the ^###^# out of my wife and guest. I thought it was cool as did my son as the only one we had ever seen unfortunately, drowned in our birdbath.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2011 01:23PM by David Bernstein.

In the area where I am working since 2008 in NW Madagascar ( Ampasindava Peninsula ) we find plenty of insects, birds, reptiles, lemurs, fish and others. My favourite animals are chameleons; this colourful little fellow crossed my way a couple of weeks ago:

That is a stunning chameleon photo, Wolfgang!

I went on a short dig and overnight with a couple of my grandsons this week. Beautiful, full moon with light showers and cool days. We found some good quartz crystals and then drove north, passing to the east of the famous mineral location, Majuba Mountain (Pershing County, Nevada.) There appears to be some current exploration or development activity there as we could see some faint light from our camp 10 miles south. We stopped at the north end of Rye Patch reservoir at a mine dump with lots of chrysocolla. Birds were enjoying the well-flooded shallows after a very wet winter. The kids found that the lizards were, if not smarter, at least a lot faster than they were.

Cheers,

Steve


Majuba Mountain from the east

Majuba Mountain from northeast. Pelicans (white spot) on Rye Patch reservoir. Other wildlife: Jason confronting copper-rich boulder.

collared lizard watching out for young boys.

Wayne that is a brilliant video. You're a lucky man, hope you were similarly lucky with your mining. Where is that, +/- 100 miles?

Roger

That was at the Tripp Mine in Alstead N.H., USA
It was a BIG Dragonfly and was busy eating a Bee, head first, and ate the whole thing,, even the stinger !
It's a bit hard to hear in the video, but you could hear it crunching that Bee as it ate it !
As you can see in the video, it didn't seem to mind or care that it was being filmed.
I love the "Paint Job" on the Dragonfly, so very colourful ! Like racing stripes on a race car !



KOR
Wayne Corwin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2011 04:08PM by Wayne Corwin.

Wayne, that video is really amazing. You should think about submitting it to whatsthatbug.com for their food chain section. I know it would be quite a hit.