mthew
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Doublewhammy
This Common Grackle with both a broken lower bill and a piece of string stuck onto its foot. *** By The People a new impeachment campaign. Because we can’t depend on politicians.
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The Leeches Are Winning
Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) in combat.Ugh, the leeches! On face and feet and even shell. This stagnant puddle of “fresh” water is simply crawling, or fluttering, with leeches. Here’s some footage of this colossal wrestling match that was too large to email back to myself from my phone… Here’s Solnit on the absolute necessity of…
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Raptor Wednesday
“This evening I saw a heron flying over Baker Street. But this is not so improbable as the thing I saw a week or two ago, i.e. a kestrel killing a sparrow in the middle of Lord’s cricket ground. I suppose it is possible that the war, i.e. the diminution of traffic, tends to increase…
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Milkweed Continues
Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) on common milkweed pod. This I learned: a note in Evan’s NWF Field Guide to Insects and Spiders says this species has been used extensively in physiological experiments. Easy to raise, they were also used to test insecticides from the 1940s. Carolina Biological Supply sells them for uses in experiments…
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Monarch Monday
Two plump Monarch caterpillars on some common milkweed. They looked ready for a transformation, or metamorphosis….Danaus plexippus, Asclepias syriaca.Nearby, an adult female seemed to be laying eggs. Here is one of the tiny things (I think). Will this egg open up to a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly that flies to Mexico this fall? The…
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Blue-winged Wasp
Putting a little extra sting into your Sunday! This handsome creature is a Blue-winged or Digger wasp (Scolia dubia). The paired yellow spots on the reddish orange abdomen are distinctive for identifying this species, at least around here (as far as I know). “Life style”? They dig into the ground in search of larvae of…
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Second Magnolia
There’s a tendency in some of these exotic magnolias to bloom again in late summer. Should be a few metaphors in this, wot?
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Random But Intentional
There are eight million stories in the naked city. Ok, these pictures come from a pair of cities, but… …you never know what you’ll see when you’re looking out for fellow travelers on this hurling space rock. For instance, this escaped parakeet, a Rosy-faced Lovebird, I guess, briefly perched on the balcony. (Photographed through the…
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Damselflies
One of the Lestes genus spreadwing damselflies.Spotted in Sapsucker Woods. One of the differences between dragon and damselflies is that damselflies rest with their wings closed. Except of course for the spreadwings… I think it’s the Spotted (L. congener), but I’m not a 100% sure on that. I’d never seen it before. Spotted on the…
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Latte Ducks
These two ducklings, still with stubbs of wings, swam against the flow of tumbling Fall Creek to team up with their mother on another rock.This foam looks a little like the froth atop latte or one of those other coffee products. Good segue to this, then? Caffeine, like other drugs we take, passes through us…
Backyard and Beyond 