Musings

When I was first walking on the beach this morning, this bunch took off and looped around and around, finally returning to this same spot. Feeding? Also, I don’t know what they are…white like gulls, but smaller.

In lieu of the many dawn shots I’ve been posting, here’s a just-after shot…as in just after moonrise and just after sunset. It’s a super-wide angle image, not a pano…obviously, the sun set further to the “right” relative to this framing.

Posted at 8:34 PM | No Comments »

I learned that the world’s longest lived vertebrate is the Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus. They can reach at least 400 years, and perhaps 500—that’s half a millennium! The latest research (thank you NYTimes Tuesday Science stories), discussed by Jonathan Moens, has discovered that this species has huge genomes, with about 6.5 billion DNA base pairs (humans have less than half that). This makes these sharks more genetically resilient (read the story for the details), and thus likely contributes to their longevity.

Still reeling about the (possibly) 500 year lifespans.

Posted at 9:40 PM | No Comments »

I spotted many of these webs today…this one’s inhabitant is left of center and fully in residence.

Posted at 9:08 PM | Comments Off on Arachnid abode and hunting ground

Our fawn visitors came by twice, with totally crepuscular timing: 6:30am and 6:30pm. This was the morning visit.

It seems like a quarter of the garage at the neighbors’ is for storing shoes. 🤣

I took a late-day walk and the light angle lined up with the creek that leads from the road into the swamp/lake.

Posted at 8:32 PM | Comments Off on Time and space

This doe has been coming by daily. Today, she came by twice—that we noticed.

This is one of her fawns. No photo of the second. White-tails are crepuscular, I have heard, but this group drifts by in the early and later afternoon.

Both are standing; that is how tall the grass is this year. Also, both photos are through a window with a screen.

Posted at 9:03 PM | Comments Off on Ungulate visitors

I didn’t see much in the way of wildlife today. I did see two garter snakes. Also, multiple flickers. And the usual deer, plus geese on the lake. I heard night-time loon calls and multiple sandhill cranes above.

Posted at 9:18 PM | Comments Off on Critter rundown

Oh, and another fatality in the lake in the food web shifts accompanying the zebra mussel infestation—no live clams, only clam shells. The mussels cluster on the clams, and pfft, the clams don’t survive.

Posted at 9:56 PM | Comments Off on Three shells

This is a late post because the server was down when I began to write. Happily, it’s up Saturday morning.

Yesterday we saw a doe with a wee spotted fawn, no more than a very few days old. We spotted them walking down the mowed lane between trees in the orchard. She stopped to browse and for Little One to nurse. Soon, she moved on, and stepped into the tall grass, far taller than LO. LO preferred to stay in the mowed lane. Drama ensued. Eventually, she enticed LO into the tall grass with another feeding opportunity. Then, the doe moved on, and…repeat.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Parental maneuvering

Two nature stories today. One: owl above. Just watching.

Also, I gently transported four ladybugs from our bathroom to the outdoors. I was surprised that they each flew off in the same direction, although they were released separately. It wasn’t toward the sun. Was there enough of a breeze that they felt and I didn’t?

Posted at 9:38 PM | Comments Off on Not flying; flying

This is definitely the story of the day. I heard sandhills above, and I looked and there they were! Last week, I heard, but never spotted them. It was a bit of a let-down to not see them. Today was much better.

Also, here’re some earthbound beauties.

Posted at 7:00 PM | 1 Comment »