Scottish Skies

If it's bright blue skies and fluffy cumulus clouds you're looking for, then Scotland isn't your cup of tea. But, if you like moody, pensive, and brooding, there's nothing better than a fine, soft day in the Highlands.

moors of the Highlands

There's nearly always a handy loch to reflect your sky.

Kyle of Sutherland, at Bonar Bridge

Just when you are accustomed to grey, the sun peeks through and you get a hint of blue.

west coast of Sutherland, near Lochinver

And rarely, a picture-postcard sky will surprise you.

the harbour at Inverness, Moray Firth

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Goldenrod World

I have a huge clump of goldenrod at the back of my house. I'm not a botanist, but if I had to guess, I would call it "Tall Goldenrod," Solidago altissima. It has a plume-type flower, rough, toothed leaves with parallel veining, and besides, I can't figure out what else it might be. (If you plant-types recognize this guy, help me out.)


I am slowly learning how to ID goldenrods. According to my new Peterson's Wildflower guide, you first look at the flower type - is it plume-like, elm-branched, club-like, wand-like, or flat-topped?


Next, you look at the veining in the leaves - is it parallel or feathered?


That gets you down to three or four species, then it is a matter of flipping through your guides and guessing. Um, no - I mean, more careful observation and study.

The aforementioned goldenrod, whatever it's name, is in a corner between the NW wall and the screened-in porch, and the space is too tight for the large mower my yard guy has been using to mow my yard this year. So, the weeds have grown high and although at first I was embarrassed by the mess, I am now glad I left it alone. Today, I found this messy patch contains an embarrassment of riches when it comes to insect life.

First bug:

After a little research, I think I've got this one's name right. Goldenrod Soldier Beetle - Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus

Second bug:

No clue on this guy. Any takers?
click on any of my photos to enlarge

The plants were teeming with many varieties of Hymenoptera (bees and wasps) - honeybees, bumblebees, and several different kinds of wasps.


Ordinarily, I am hesitant to get too close to stinging things, but these guys were intent on their task and paid no attention to me, stumbling clumsily around, trying to take a decent macro photograph.

Can you see the pollen baskets on this bee?

There were several skippers, perhaps more than one species, but they were tough to photograph. This is the best I could do, and it is fuzzy.


Besides these bugs, there were lots of teeny, tiny flying things in among the flowers. This was one busy clump of weeds!

The butterfly that first caught my eye and drew my attention to this microworld flew away the minute I stepped out among the goldenrod, not to return. It was relatively large, light brown, with lovely eyespots. Maybe a Northern Pearly Eye? Too bad it got away.

(photo from Flickr.com)

Wordless Wednesday

Did you "Flip A Rock" today?

Today is International Rock Flipping Day. In celebration, I went outside to flip a rock and see what lived beneath.





Here is the rock, in situ (in place), at the edge of my pond in southwest Ohio:


When I flipped it over, the first thing I saw were two aquatic "bugs" on the underside of the rock. (One crawled away before I could take the picture.) They reminded me of pill bugs (woodlice, sowbugs, "rolly pollies," pick your local nickname) so I assume they are an aquatic form of this crustacean. The head is green and the body a purplish-brown. My macro function isn't too great, so enlarging this picture will just get you an out-of-focus view, but if anybody can ID this critter, I would appreciate it.

[Edit: In looking more closely, I see legs.
I now realize this is insect-like, not an isopod.]

As I started to replace the rock, I saw something moving. At first, I thought it was a bit of plant matter, twirling in the residual vortex created when I flipped the rock, but then I realized it had purposeful movement.

Here is the thing enlarged.

I even got a little video clip of the grub-thing in action.



It made me think of a warble, the larval form of the rabbit botfly Cuterebra, which I sometimes see in cats. Does anyone know what this "water grub" might be?

[Edit: Thanks to a comment by Cestoady, I have ID'd the grub-thing. While researching the suggestion of tipulid, or Crane-fly larvae, I found it on What's That Bug? (5th image as you scroll down) It is the larva of a horsefly, which I have in abundance here since the Purple Martins left. Good thing I didn't try to touch it - they bite, injecting a toxin which causes extreme and prolonged pain and swelling, according to this entry at Bug Guide.]

If you would like to participate in the second annual International Rock Flipping Day, please click here for the guidelines. Then, go flip over a rock and see what you can find. Come back and share your observations with the rest of us, by posting your link in the comments section or by sending a link to your post to Dave.

Don't forget to put the rock back!

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9/8/08:

Here's a list of recent rock-flipping sites to visit:

Pohanginapete (Pohangina Valley, Aotearoa/New Zealand)
Blaugustine (London, England)
Nature Remains (Ohio, USA)
Pensacola Daily Photo (Florida, USA)
KatDoc’s World (Ohio, USA)
Notes from the Cloud Messenger (Ontario, Canada)
Brittle Road (Texas [?])
Sherry Chandler (Kentucky, USA)
osage + orange (Illinois, USA)
Rock Paper Lizard (British Columbia, Canada)
The Crafty H (Virginia, USA)
Chicken Spaghetti (Connecticut, USA)
A Passion for Nature (New York, USA)
The Dog Geek (Virginia, USA)
Blue Ridge blog (North Carolina, USA)
Bug Girl’s Blog (Michigan, USA)
chatoyance (Austin, Texas)
Riverside Rambles (Missouri, USA)
Pines Above Snow(Maryland, USA)
Beth’s stories (Maine, USA)
A Honey of an Anklet (Virginia, USA)
Wanderin’ Weeta (British Columbia, Canada)
Fate, Felicity, or Fluke (Oregon, USA)
The Northwest Nature Nut (Oregon, USA)
Roundrock Journal (Missouri, USA)
The New Dharma Bums (California, USA)
The Marvelous in Nature (Ontario, Canada)
Via Negativa (Pennsylvania, USA)
Mrs. Gray’s class, Beatty-Warren Middle School (Pennsylvania, USA)
Cicero Sings (British Columbia, Canada)
Pocahontas County Fair (West Virginia, USA)
Let’s Paint Nature (Illinois, USA)
Sleeping in the Heartland (Midwestern U.S.)
Three Oaks (Ohio, USA)

SkyWatch Friday

Never did a SkyWatch Friday before, not quite sure of the rules. Here is one of a series of photos of the skies around my country home, taken in September of last year.

Closing in on 300

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Cape May, New Jersey, for the Autumn Birding Festival, I was reviewing my Life List and studying my field guides for target birds. When I go to a new birding spot, I try to anticipate what birds I might find there, so that I am not totally unprepared. As I was straightening out my Life List, I realized I had left several birds off - birds like Peregrine Falcon, Bufflehead, and, of all things, European Starling. Once I cleaned house, I recounted.

298

Two hundred ninety-eight birds may not be a lot to a hard-core lister, but it is a great number for me, considering that in 2004, I was only at 203. I have been doing a lot of birding in the last 3 1/2 years, and my list is growing by leaps and bounds.

So, I started to wonder - being only 2 birds away from 300, what Life Bird will be the one to put me over the top?

Number one on my Most Wanted List:

Black Skimmers

Thank you to Avi Kenny for this first image.

Thanks also to Sharon Anthony for the second photo.

If there is a cooler bird on this planet, I don't know what it is. The lower mandible of that fabulous bill is much longer than the upper one, and is used to scoop up fish as the bird skims the surface of the water. I can't wait to see that in real life!

As a dedicated sparrow-lover, I'm hoping for Sharp-tailed Sparrows. Either

Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, photo by Steve Collins, thanks a lot

which we do have in Ohio,

or Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows,

Photo from U. Conn site on Saltmarsh Sparrow research

which we don't, would be sweet.

Failing that, a Seaside Sparrow would do nicely.

photo from the National Zoo/Smithsonian

I'd even be happy with Clay-colored Sparrows.Thanks for the use of this photo
by Allan or Cathy Murrant at Capebretonbirds

How can you not love all those Little Brown Birds?

And, speaking of the ultimate in little brown birds, I gotta, I just GOTTA see

a Piping Plover.

from EnviroZine

Cuteness to the max!

Another target bird is the American Oystercatcher.photo from encarta

Just as handsome as the skimmer, and with a similar color pattern, he looks like he is dressed for a formal event. Maybe my 300th party?

So, who wants to hazard a guess what my 300th Life Bird will be? Post your guess in comments, and when I return, I will let you know who the winner is. (The prize? Who knows?)

With my luck, it will be some kind of sandpiper, birds that all look alike to me: brown, spotted or streaked, with long legs.

>>A hearty "Thank You!" to all the nature photographers whose pictures helped illustrate this post.<<

My birdJam's Back!

Charlie at birdJam is my new best friend.

Last year, at the New River Birding and Nature Festival, I met Denese from birdJam, one of the sponsors of the week. She was tons of fun to bird with, and of course, she carried an iPod equipped with birdJam everywhere she went. Watching Denese (among others) use this cool toy had me intrigued. When I came back home, I spent my income tax refund on the whole package:

4gb iPod Nano,

Stokes CDs (eastern),

birdJam software,

and the optional external speaker/case.

It came all ready for use - no assembly required. I took it out into the field and was amazed at the way songs could bring hidden birds into view.* I was hooked.

Then, I made a mistake. I thought that since I could run a preloaded set-up, I could add my own music to the iPod. I downloaded iTunes (which took hours with my old, dial-up connection. I set it to run overnight and it still wasn't done the next morning.) uploaded my CD's (Beatles, Billy Joel, John Denver) into iTunes, and plugged my iPod into my computer.

Then, I did what birdJam CLEARLY states you should not do. I clicked the "Sync All Music and Playlists" button. I swear, it was an accident. I didn't see/didn't read the part about manually managing my music. And, I erased all my birdJam programming.

Not to worry. birdJam kindly provides instructions on how to fix your iPod if you are stupid, or over 18 years old and can't work electronic devices. I followed the instructions, I did, I really did. (I tried, anyway.) I got to the point where I was supposed to run the birdJam software and I got an error message. The whole process screeched to a halt.

I put it all away for a day when I wasn't in a bad mood and had time to fool with the blasted thing. Days went by - weeks and months passed. Every now and then, I would get up the nerve to try to fix it, only to run into the same error message. Frustrated, I put it away again.

I e-mailed Denese and she said I could either call for help or send it back to be fixed. I delayed calling. Finally, last week, I made a decision. As part of getting ready for Cape May's Autumn Weekend, I swore I would get this thing fixed, and Wednesday was D-day. I was off work, it was raining, and I had nothing better to do.

After going through all the steps I had done over and over again, still with no luck, I called and spoke with Charlie. He had me remove everything from my computer, download the upgraded versions of both iTunes and birdJam, and reinstall my Stokes CDs.

I did. (It went SO much faster with DSL than it ever did with dial-up!)

Then, I ran the birdJam program and Lo and Behold, a miracle occurred! It's all back, new and improved, with photos of all the birds, not just the warblers.

Hello, birdJam! Would you like to go to Cape May with me?

************

*Birding ethics clearly state that recordings should not be used in a manner that might harrass birds, especially breeding, nesting, or sensitive species or in heavily birded areas. birdJam promotes responsible birding, and includes this list of responsibilities for all birders who choose to use their iPods in the field. In short - be considerate, both of the birds and of other birders, when using this powerful tool.