Creatures

Baby Cottontail

Baby Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

Baby Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

I was in the back yard photographing a few different insects this afternoon. I started with a little, green sweat bee on a weed by the patio, but those didn’t turn out very well. Simply not enough light to get a short enough exposure. Then I got down on the ground and took a bunch of pictures of some little leaf hoppers (Family Cicadellidae). Those turned out well enough, although the little critters are pretty small so it’s hard to get a good, sharp photo with the equipment that I have. Also, they were somewhat back lit, so getting the proper exposure was tricky.

Then Dorothy and I were over near the gooseberry bush and while Dorothy was picking gooseberries for some individual pies for dessert, I was able to get close to this little, baby eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). It’s hard to get the scale from this picture but the little bunny could easily fit on the palm of my hand. At first he was underneath the leaves of the wild violets that are everywhere in the yard. Then slowly he came out and I was able to get a bunch of good pictures from fairly close range.

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Ant

Ant

Ant

I took some pictures of flowers and plants in the back yard this evening. I had gotten down onto the ground to see if I could get a good picture of a syrphid fly on an allium flower. I got a few pictures but they weren’t as sharp as I would have liked. Then I noticed this ant on another allium and got a handful of pictures of it. They aren’t all that sharp, either, but will have to do, because I didn’t really get anything better. I’m pretty happy with the framing of this picture and the exposure, but the focus isn’t that great. In my defense, this little fellow was moving around quite a bit and the light was starting to wane a little.

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Cow Skull

Cow Skull

Cow Skull

A little over four years ago, Dorothy was preparing for an exhibit at a small gallery in Richmond. It was a somewhat varied exhibit and included quite a few ink drawings that were drawn from her sketch-book journals. There were a few water colors, which I liked very well. There were also a few painted bones, including this cow skull. Where did she get a cow skull? You very well might ask. She happened to ask our good friend Janis (don’t spell it Janice, there’s no ‘nice’ in Janis) if she had any animal skulls around their farm. She said she had a few and Dorothy was welcome to them. That’s where it came from. Since the show in the winter of 2015 it’s been hanging in Dorothy’s bedroom. She decided this week that she wouldn’t mind getting rid of it but she didn’t want to simply throw it away. So, it’s now hanging on the fence in our back yard. I like it. Yes, we’re those people.

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Rove Beetle

Rove Beetle

Rove Beetle

I wen out again today to see what I could see. The sky was overcast so the sun wasn’t so hot. The dragonflies were also not about in such great numbers. I did get a few pictures,though, including some of this beetle that I think is a rove beetle, Family Staphylinidae, the first or second largest animal family, with somewhere around 56,000 species in 3500 genera. Only the ichneumon wasps, family Ichneumonidae is larger, with an estimated 60,000 species. Anyway, there are some 4,400 species of rove beetle in our area. You’d think you’d see them a lot more often.

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Plathemis lydia (Common Whitetail), Female

<em>Plathemis lydia</em> (Common Whitetail), Female

Plathemis lydia (Common Whitetail), Female

It was a warm but beautiful day out today and I have a few minutes in the mid-afternoon so I thought I’d take a walk to the empty lot next to my building. The drainage pond that I generally go to was quite large, overflowing the banks it’s had most times I’ve been, but above it, the ground was fairly dry and I had no problems getting around. I saw a green heron (Butorides virescens) and there were quite a few redwing blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) about. There were also a lot of dragonflies flitting around over the water. I got down on the ground by the edge of the pond and watched them, taking a few pictures now and then. I couldn’t really get as close as I would have liked but I did enjoy watching this female whitetail (Plathemis lydia) laying eggs in the water.

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Orchard Spider (Leucauge venusta)

Orchard Spider (Leucauge venusta)

Orchard Spider (Leucauge venusta)

We’re moving from the flowers-of-spring period into the insects-of-summer. Along with the insects come those creatures that prey on them, most notably the spiders and related creatures. Of course, birds, bats, and even other insects prey on insects, but I have a special fascination with spiders. They are not, I am led to believe, universally admired. I suppose I understand that. Nevertheless, I think they are quite beautiful, at least some of them are. This is Leucauge venusta, the orchard orbweaver, and a common resident in our area. It’s so delicate and looks like it could be made of glass. It’s been said that you are never more then six feet from a spider. Even if that’s not literally true, it’s probably mostly true. Sleep well.

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Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

I stopped at Lake Needwood on the way home today. It was a beautiful afternoon, although a bit warm for my taste. I walked around to a point point eastern shore near where there is an old beaver dam. There is no evidence that there are any beavers around any more, although the dam is in reasonable shape, considering. It’s been there since before the aerial photos used in Google’s map were taken. I got some nice photos of this eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus). I tried to get pictures of the swallows flying over the water but they were moving too fast and I really wasn’t set up for that sort of photography. I got some pictures of dragonflies, as well, and one that was good enough to use to identify a female common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas).

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Molothrus ater (Brown-headed Cowbird)

<em>Molothrus ater</em> (Brown-headed Cowbird)

Molothrus ater (Brown-headed Cowbird)

This isn’t as sharp a picture as I’d like but it’s what I was able to get today. Actually, I got pictures of three different birds today. This one, of a brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) in the birdbath, a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), and a House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). The wren picture is sharper but I thought I had a better chance of re-photographing the wren, so I went with this one. The lack of sharpness is partially due to the low light and the fact that I had to crop the image to get this close, but a small part is due to the movement of the bird. As you can see by the water droplets in the air all around the bird, it is shaking water off of itself, taking a bath.

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Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

After church Cathy and I went to Stadler Nursury in Laytonsville. On the way we happened to pass the Montgomery County Agricultural Farm Park. There were three large birds walking across the grass a little way in from the entrance and it was three female turkeys. I pulled in but they had moved into the deep grass before I was able to get my camera out and get a picture of them. They would have been small in the picture, anyway. When we went to turn around a little further in this male tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) was sitting on the sign just outside Cathy’s window. I got the camera ready and was able to get two pictures before he flew off. What a pretty little bird.

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Robin Chicks

Robin Chicks

Robin Chicks

About a month ago a pair of American robins (Turdus migratorius) built a next under our front porch. I tried to discourage them, but they kept at it. I realized it was pointless to resist and they are almost done with it now, in any case. They flew off whenever we went in or out of the house, of course, but now the chicks are about two weeks old and ready to fledge. In fact, I took this picture in the morning with all three chicks in the nest. When I came home later today there was one standing on the edge of the nest and the other two had flown. Later in the evening the third was gone, as well, and the next has been abandoned, having served its purpose.

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Small Damselfly

Small Damselfly

Small Damselfly

I walked across Rt 28 today, wanting to be outdoors for a little while. On the slope leading down to a fairly large drainage pond there were little clumps of yellow flowers, most likely American wintercress (Barbarea orthoceras). I sat next to one such clump and took a handful of pictures. I thought about trying to get a photo of the swallows that were patrolling the pond and presumably helping keep the bug population under control. I didn’t really have the right equipment for that and it’s pretty tough, in any case, as they are really moving fast and are not very big. I settled for photographing this little damselfly instead.

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Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

We have foxes in our neighborhood. We also have dogs in the neighborhood, including the escape artist next door. So, you’d think we’d have fewer rabbits (i.e. Eastern Cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus). I haven’t seen four or five at once this year, as I have some springs. I have seen three in the yard at once and it’s still early. This one startled me as I was walking around taking pictures in the rain this afternoon. I worked at home today so I was able to get out earlier than I normally do. The rain meant it was darker than normal for this time of day (3:35 PM) but I was able to get pretty close and get a reasonable shot of this fellow. Don’t tell him that Mr. McGregor is coming.

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Azure (Celastrina sp.)

Azure (Celastrina sp.)

Azure (Celastrina sp.)

I saw my first butterfly of the year today. I know there are generally some out even earlier than this, but this is the first I’ve spotted. I’m pretty sure it’s an azure (Celastrina sp.) but the various species are difficult to tell apart and I’m not even going to try to figure out which it is. It’s a pretty, little thing, with a wingspan of only a little over an inch. This is a small butterfly and it took a bit of patience to get close enough to get this photo. Still, it was nice to see and the harbinger of things to come. As you know, if you’ve followed my work for any length of time, flowers and insects are two of my favorite subjects for photography and we’re coming into the best time for both.

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Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

I stopped at the park on the east side of Lake Needwood this afternoon. It was a beautiful, warm day, although not as warm as it’s been. I heard and then saw a few turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) a short walk from where I stopped and I headed in their direction. They had moved up into the trees by the time I got close but I also happened to see two red tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) as I walked nearer. I got a few pictures of them but they were taken through the branches and didn’t turn out all that well. I got a nice picture of this turkey vulture with its wings outspread, but that picture, too, had branches in the way. This one, of the vulture as he took off from his perch on the tree stump is my favorite. The next frame, taken a fraction of a second later, is actually better of the bird, but he’s just starting to go behind another tree trunk, which sort of ruins the effect.

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Solomon

Solomon

Solomon

Solomon is our pet red-lored amazon parrot (Amazona autumnalis) and he just turned 33 years old last month. We don’t know specifically when he was hatched but he was about nine months old when we got him in October, 1986, so we figure January of that year is close enough. Since it’s now February, we know that’s past. He’s a pretty thing but fairly timid and is not really what you’d call a talker. He says a few things that you can almost understand but that’s about it. He also doesn’t chew on toys or anything else we put in his cage, so we don’t bother any more. He obviously eats but he’s not interested in chewing other things. He needs his beak and nails trimmed but otherwise, he’s in pretty good shape. You can see in this photo that he has new feathers coming in, which is always a good sign.

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Red Fox

Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

I worked from home this morning and a little before 1:00 PM Dorothy called me and said there were two red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in our back yard. At first they were a little hard to get a straight view of, because they were off to the side, but then they moved across to the middle of the yard. This one stopped and sat, while the other walked right along beside the fence. Eventually, this one joined the other and they sat in a sunny spot in the bushes at the bottom of the garden. It was a cool day, just above freezing, and fairly windy, but out of the wind and in the sun, I imagine it was fairly pleasant for anyone or anything wearing a fox coat.

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Coral and Shells

Coral and Shells

Coral and Shells

When we are at the beach, Cathy like to look for shells and coral. She is especially fond of coral, and probably collects more of that than all types of shells combined. There is a small bowl in our bathroom with some of her finds, which, as you can see, have included some pretty nice coral samples. I don’t really know a lot about the corals found in the western Atlantic so I’d just be making a totally uninformed guess if I were to venture an opinion on genus or even family. I’d be interested if anyone who knows about these things were to offer more information. I’m more a shell gatherer, partly because I haven’t the patience to look for coral, although I’ve found a piece or two over the years. The two pointy shells here are from snails and the one between them is a bivalve, but that’s as specific as I’m going to get. For anyone interested, this Marine Species Identification Portal looks pretty helpful.

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Butterflies

Butterflies

Butterflies

One of the things in my in-laws house that we didn’t get rid of was this butterfly collection. It’s a box about 15 by 20 inches that opens up like a book to twice that size. Each side has butterflies mounted between cotton backing and a glass plate. They are quite lovely and varied. Not shown here is a very large butterfly that is bright blue on its underside (which is the visible side in the collection). The other side, the upper sides of the wings are brown. In this way, it blends in with the the earth from above and with the sky from below.

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Spider—Lattice Orbweaver

Spider

Spider

I met Cathy outside my building briefly today because we had come together and she needed to go out briefly so needed the keys to the car. I brought my camera with me and took a few pictures while I was out. There are porcelain berries (Ampelopis brevipedunculata) out and I took a few pictures of those. Then I noticed a really spectacular web glinting in the sun. This spider was sitting near the middle of that web and I was able to get quite close for some pretty nice pictures. I didn’t have my tripod with me but it was pretty bright out. I’ve asked for some help in identifying it and if I hear about that I’ll post its name here.

Update: I have confirmed that this is a lattice orbweaver (Araneus thaddeus).

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Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

I decided to take a bit of a detour on the way home, stopping at Upper Rock Creek Park along the east bank of Lake Needwood. I find it very frustrating that the powers that be they have put up barricades on Needwood Road that make it impossible to park there and enjoy that end of the lake. I don’t really understand that decision. It’s obviously something that was thought out and specifically decided, as some of the guard rails are not protecting anything except places that one might otherwise park their car. Anyway, I drove through the park and ended up parking at the south end of the lake. As I was walking I startled a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) and was just able to get one somewhat blurry photo before it flew out of range.

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