leannewallis's Favourites

A migrant. There was an off-leash dog chasing about in the woodlot which had flushed this bird several times already and, so, when it got flushed once more it finally gave uo looking for safe refuge on the forest floor and rather atypically came to rest on an exposed branch in a low tree. One of the very few times when I've been happy to have been in a woodlot at the same time as an exuberant off-leash dog!

Carex viridula featured on the right. This photo is a convenient comparison of three members of section Ceratocystis, all growing in association with one another on the mineral sand shorelines of an alkaline lake. Carex cryptolepis is in the middle; C. flava on the left.

Box-tree Moth. Photographed in Toronto, Ontario on 28 August 2018. Hot on the heels of Ontario's first record seen by Karen Yukich not too far from here a couple of days ago. I was amazed to see it sitting on the top egg carton inside the trap! In fact I took the trap into the house before extracting it as I didn't want to lose it! This East Asian native is a smart looking creature that is perhaps destined to become common and widespread, like it has in much of Western Europe... Whatever the case I was pretty excited to see it!

Not satisfied at all with this determination. This actually keyed out snugly to Carex panicea, which is unknown in Ohio. Abandoning this lead, I was left with Cx meadii or Cx tetanica, which are difficult to separate. Cx meadii is known to occur in dry or wet prairies, while the only time I've run into Cx tetanica was in a bog.

Infrequent in disturbed wet prairie; culms arising singly, bases pale brown.

This was one cool park in Sherman. Elizabeth and I went around Herman Baker Park to look for dragonflies and of course, we spotted lots of other neat things. :)

This may be the prettiest snake I've ever seen. :)

Please indulge me with allowing one more pic from this awesome twang fest that happened here last summer. This male (#6, but who is counting;)) was obviously different, and it is the first time I have ever seen one of these. I am very happy that it happened right in our yard pond. One more Green Frog male, but this time he is of the blue form!

Two different males than the ones in the last photo, still being rowdy and bumpin' up a storm. If folks have been keeping track, we are now up to five different individuals involved in this community twang-off :)

This Green Frog male was actually twanging when I photographed him. I will post more images from that morning when several males of what I think were all Green Frogs duking it out for the females' attention in our home pond.

Many Moss spores are growing in a small garden outside our home in West Sonoma County. In the last 2 weeks, we've had rain almost every day, so these tiny moss spores are duplicating themselves in record numbers.