common_nature | Entries tagged with photos

I saw a nesting Mourning Dove today! It was in a tree by the river. Male and female Mourning Doves look alike, but females do 90% of the incubation, so this is probably the mom.

brownish gray bird sits on a nest of twigs

brownish gray bird sits on a nest of twigs

I'm sure I wouldn't have noticed her except that when I walked by she was fighting off a squirrel! I had never seen a squirrel go after a nesting bird before, but apparently they do eat eggs and even nestlings occasionally. Yikes. I was too surprised to get a video, but I did find a similar altercation posted on Youtube. After the squirrel gave up and left, the dove settled back down and I was able to get a decent picture. There was another dove perched nearby which I assume was the dad, but despite guides claiming that male doves defend the nest, during the squirrel incident he did absolutely nothing.

Doves and pigeons are notorious for building flimsy nests in strange and precarious places (so much that Reddit has r/StupidDoveNests devoted to them) so it's unsurprising that this one was basically a pile of twigs on a branch. At least it was well camouflaged, though.

( Would you have spotted the nesting dove in this scene? )

mific

An amaranth self-seeded in a crack in the concrete.

small wild red Amaranth by a pot, in concrete driveway.

And a red chard I cut back to ground level so it could rot away, with a second flush of leaves.

full_metal_ox

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

I sure do!

I’m something of an astronomy nerd; you have to understand that the great solar eclipse of 8 April 2024 was something I’d been counting down to my whole life. In my native Dayton, Ohio, I’d gotten to witness the strange begrimed 40-watt sunlight (1) and dappled crescent shadows of the partial solar eclipses of 10 May 1994 and 21 August 2017, after having gotten a fleeting confirmatory glance through SolarShields under welder’s goggles: the exercise was a bit like hunting basilisks or Medusa.

Another point is that I’m acutely homesick for the seasonal markers of the place where I spent 90+% of my life: the violets and wild chives and flowering crabapples, and the two equinoctial yellows of Moraine honeylocusts: neon chartreuse foliage in the spring, and in the fall flaming saffron—turning to orange piles of cornflake crunch beneath the feet. Even the lawn weeds here are unfamiliar.

Until a couple years in advance—by which time it was too late—I had not anticipated that, by the time the total solar eclipse at long last came to Dayton, I would be gone; behold the southern Gulf Coast of Florida’s experience of the Grand Portentuous Celestial Event.

( Continue. )

Current Music: ”Snuff Out The Light”.

rodo

I finally got a new camera - just in time for spring to hit. Most of the trees around here don't have any leaves yet, but a lot have started to blossom. Here's a couple of closeups from the last couple of days and weeks, as well as two pictures that show off how good my new camera is at making things look a bit moody:

First up, Purple-leaf plum blossoms:

closup of purple-leaf plum blossoms

( More under the cut )

empty_photos

haven't posted to this group yet! but i wanted to share some photos ive taken of my local flora over the years

the species are as listed: spotted touch me-not, common blackberry, goldenrod spp. unknown lilly, common pear (iirc). I hope this is a fine first post here.

edit 3/22: i have tried a new format to share these images so hopefully they work this time apologies. and also thank you all for liking them!

Current Mood: optimistic

full_metal_ox

Taken at 5:52 PM EST 22 December 2023, this is something I really should’ve posted a year ago; I’m squeezing it under the wire just as the outgoing Lunar Year expires.

From the parking lot of my neighborhood Publix: the Rabbit prepares to hand the year over to the Dragon.

pauraque

This cute little redhead is an American Tree Sparrow. They're winter-only birds for us in New England, migrating south into the US after breeding in northern Canada. Their arrival after our summer songbirds have moved on is a welcome marker of the changing seasons here. I usually see them foraging in small groups, and there were two more with this one out of frame.

rufous and buffy sparrow stands on the ground looking towards the camera

rufous and buffy sparrow stands on the ground looking towards the camera

Despite the name, they are most often seen on the ground. They got their English name from settlers who thought they looked like the also-redheaded but unrelated Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

ysabetwordsmith

I took some pictures of the yard and the new holly bushes before planting.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: busy

pauraque

While hiking in the Lake Champlain islands, I stumbled across this guy or gal trying to sleep. The afternoon sun was glaring behind it so this isn't the best picture, but it was still a cool sighting!

brown and white speckled owl in a tree looks annoyed over its shoulder

brown and white speckled owl in a tree looks annoyed over its shoulder

The Barred Owl is our most common owl in New England, and the easiest one to get a look at since they tend to roost out on open branches and aren't too skittish of people. I've seen them roosting during the day a few times near well-traveled trails. They're also commonly heard at night, with their "Who cooks for yooooou?" calls ringing through the woods, or sometimes in your back yard if you're lucky!

ysabetwordsmith

Branches have fallen all over the yard from recent storms. Today I started picking up some of them, and noticed that there was a fallen squirrel flet. A squirrel's nest may also be called a drey.

Also today, I started harvesting dry sunflower heads. The small to medium ones I have hung as bird food. Those with big heads or good multiflora form I am putting in the septic garden, hoping they will reseed like the 'Autumn Joy' did last year.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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

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

pauraque

It's the season for goslings! This pair of Canada Geese I saw foraging at the side of a dirt road had five.

( Read more... )

pauraque

I went for a walk before work this morning and spotted a Blue-headed Vireo sitting on a nest in a wooded area of the park.

small bird with a blue-gray head and light eyering sits on a cup-shaped nest in the fork of a sapling

small bird with a blue-gray head and light eyering sits on a cup-shaped nest in the fork of a sapling

Not the greatest photo in the world as I didn't want to get too close and scare him or her (males and females look alike and both will incubate the eggs, so I couldn't tell the sex of this bird) but it was such a cool sight, I had to share.

pauraque

I ran into this lady while hiking today.

side view of deer, captured mid-chew, looking at cameraperson in the woods

( And she had a friend )

ysabetwordsmith

Cicadas are hatching! I've seen a few hatch earlier, but this morning after the rain there are lots of them. The biggest concentration is around the forest garden and edges of the patio. :D These are red-eyed cicadas, technically periodical cicadas. Their carapaces are almost hard, their wings fully extended but still too soft to fly. It's a feast for everything that eats insects. Humans can eat them too. (I'm not planning to try that.) Usually what we get here are various types of the larger green cicadas, like the dog-day cicadas.

For maximum birdwatching benefits, keep an eye out on mornings after a rain. Once the nymphs shed their shells, they are soft and vulnerable. Many birds eagerly feast on them.

See also the poem "The Flying Jewels of Spring."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: excited

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 photos are mostly from the savanna and prairie garden.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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Common Nature

wonder and joy and mystery in everyday things

Entries tagged with photos

Mourning Dove nesting

Life finds a way

Bunny caught in passing on the lawn.

Remember where you were and what you were doing on 8 April 2024?

Spring in Northern Germany

Sharing Some Photos

A happenstance silhouette at the neighborhood grocery.

American Tree Sparrow

Photos: Hollies

Barred Owl

Squirrel Flet and Sunflower Heads

Ring-billed Gull preening

this year's butterflies

Granadula Mushroom(?)

Canada Geese and goslings

Blue-headed Vireo nesting

White-tailed Deer

Photos: Cicadas

An American lady

Photos: Savanna and Prairie Garden

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May 2025

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