Nantucket
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December moth
A mild night, and the outside light brought in these moths. The flash overexposed this one, creating the ghosts on the double paned sliding door.Not enough light on this one, but check out the barbs on the rear set of legs. It was unusually warm last week, in the last month of what has turned…
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The long and winding beach
The low winter sun made the vegetation capping the cliff cast long shadows of late Matisse dancers. Calendars mean less than they used to, though: it was in the mid-60s, and there were fresh prints of bare feet in the sand, sign of a freer spirit than I.On the left, a male Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola),…
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Old Fungus
That mushroom I photographed in October growing on this wooden fence was still there last week, looking rather lurid now.
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Dunlin
My, what long bills you have. Dunlin, Calidris alpina, a species of sandpiper. A winter visitor in our region; these were walking just a few feet away from us on Hummock Pond a week ago. Their breeding plumage, as in so many other birds, is more colorful: rufus backs and black bellies. They breed along…
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Red-breasted
I practically walked into this Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) a week ago on Nantucket. We were eye-to-eye for a moment, until it worked its way further into some kind of tiny-leaved elm. The island was flush with these nuthatches while I was there. I even saw a few White-breasted Nuthatches on the island, which I…
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Beyond the Feathers
I usually only use my own photography here, but this image was too impressive to not share. It’s an X-ray of a young Peregrine falcon male who was caught up in some electrical wires on Nantucket recently and sent to the Humane Society/Fund for Animals’ Cape Wildlife Center (and on Facebook) for rehabilitation. There was…
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Underside and inside
European paper wasp, Polistes diminula. Through a window. It was a cold morning, the first of the nascent fall, and this individual was hardly moving, waiting to warm up with the sun. This European import, introduced to the U.S. only in the late 1960s and now wide-spread, has markings similar to some of the yellow…
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Pearl Crescent
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos), on path around Marvin’s Woods.
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Pulling “chestnuts” out of the etymological fire
The Chestnut Oaks, Quercus montana, are ripening in Prospect park. This species’ common name stems from the leaves, which are somewhat chestnut-like, although the acorn, over an inch long in this species, is all oak.The remains of a squirrel feast on what I believe is Yellow Buckeye, Aesculus flava, in the Vale. Included here because…
Backyard and Beyond 