Fuzzy, Was He?

Sorry for the grainy image. I was a pretty good distance from this bear. He was grazing on grass and swatting at yellow flies. It was a lot of fun just to sit and watch him - I was downwind so I was able to watch him for a while before he figured out he had company.

But, black bears are curious creatures and once he figured out I was there, he took off. It's really amazing how quickly a bear can move.

Pendulous Pod

Well, technically it isn't exactly pendulous since it doesn't swing freely, but I liked the alliteration. This is a seedpod from Gonolobus gonocarpus, so you see, I had to go for alliteration in the title ;) I got pictures of the flowers last year, but I missed the seedpods. This year I missed the flowers and got the seedpods. Such is life.

Odds and Ends From Sunday's Walk

Treebeard and I went for a ramble Sunday morning. We had no particular destination in mind and just wandered here and there within a five mile radius of the house. The collage above reflects a few of the things we saw. Click on it to see the images in greater detail.

Left to right, top to bottom:

a freshly emerged cicada, not sure which species

some sort of fungus that I should be able to ID, but can't

Ringless honey mushroom, Armillariella mellea

a lycosid spider

groundnut, Apios americana, this one is edible

hairy hydrolea, Hydrolea quadrivalvis, armed with spines

water loosestrife, Decodon verticillatus

immature seed pod of heart's-a-bustin' or strawberry bush, Euonymus americanus

Ruellia caroliniensis

Monarch, Danaus plexippus

mistflower, Eupatorium coelestinum

horse mint, Monarda punctata

feather from a northern flicker (yellow-shafted form), Colaptes auratus

Elephant's-foot, Elephantopus carolinianus

another un-IDed fungus

fluffy feather, most likely from a red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

If you're a whiz with fungi feel free to leave an ID in the comments!!

Mothy Moon

Apatelodes torrefacta - Wild Cherry Moth

What's In A Name?

Just a quick note of only trivial interest...

My real first name is a little unusual and I seldom see it in print. Today, while checking my site meter, I was startled to see my name listed in the column that tells me the location of my visitors. You see, I share my name with a city in Italy. Of course, my Italian visitor had no idea that this was the case since I have chosen not to reveal my real name. See, I told you it was trivial...but I got a kick out of it ;)

Bat Cave, Swamp Style

At the edge of the swamp, surrounded by bald cypress, this tupelo gum (Nyssa aquatica) provides a home for a colony of Southeastern Myotis (Myotis austroriparius). And what, you might well ask, is a myotis? It's a bat - a cute little bat - and this tree is full of them.

Treebeard happened upon this particular tree about five years ago while out surveying hollow trees. We've been keeping an eye on it ever since. Recently we installed a data-logger inside the hollow. The equipment will record temperature and humidity continually for a year. When we retrieve the packet we will send it to bat researchers who will then use this data, along with data from many other trees, to help them understand what makes a tree attractive to bats. In turn, this information may help the bat folks design better artificial roosts for bats.

Sing A Song Of Summer

It's hot, it's humid...it's August in the swamp. At night the katydids crank up and all day long the different kinds of cicada drone on. Definite songs of summer. I am not sure what species of cicada this is, but that doesn't really matter. Folks around here just call 'em all "King criers" and let it go at that.