Anniversary Escape

Posted on June 20, 2019 by roadsendnaturalist

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

~Henry David Thoreau

Last month we escaped for a few days for our anniversary. Escaped may seem like a strange word for people that are lucky enough live in the woods, but, as Melissa has pointed out, when we stay at home, I often manage to find a few chores that just have to be done. So, for our anniversary, we escaped to a cabin in the woods in the mountains of Virginia along the New River. No plans, just a few days to do as we chose. It is always a good reminder that when you slow down, you can experience more of the wonders that surround you. Here are a few of the highlights.

Pink lady’s slipper orchid, Cypripedium acaule (click photos to enlarge)

Wood anemone, Anemone quinquefolia

Bluets, Houstonia caerulea

Salt marsh caterpillar (not the best common name – so far from a salt marsh)

Painted trillium, Trillium undulatum

Rosy maple moth just after emerging from pupa

rosy maple moth emerging ventral view close up

Close up view of a fuzzy moth

Pupal case found on ground next to emerging rosy maple moth

Mayfly adult (imago)

Mayflies are unique among modern insect groups in that they have two flying stages after the larval (or nymph) stage. The first is called the subimago, sort of a pre-adult flying stage. This is a unique feature of mayflies. The subimago often looks different from the final adult stage (imago), but in other species, can be difficult to separate. I found a couple of pale mayflies on the cabin windows and am assuming they are subimagos. This stage lasts for only a day or so, and then the mayfly molts again into the fully mature adult.

Mayfly subimago (?)

Unidentified parasitoid wasp

The cabin was quite welcoming for a couple of naturalists. In addition to all the cool insects and plants, there was a phoebe nest above the back door and a red-eyed vireo building her nest not far off the deck.

Red-eyed vireo shaping her nest

This Bud’s For You

Posted on March 12, 2019 by roadsendnaturalist

There is April, in the swelling bud. There is Spring. There are the deep wonders of this season, not in the flower, but in the flower’s beginnings….the bud itself is the major miracle.

~Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons

One of my favorite plants to watch this time of year is the Painted Buckeye, Aesculus sylvatica. It is a common shrub in our woods, and one of the few things the deer don’t seem to bother. It is also our first shrub to leaf out in Spring. We walked the property this weekend, looking for signs of Spring and possible nest cavity trees. Along the way, I stopped to admire and document the various stages of buckeye buds. There is so much life and hope contained in a single bud. I think Spring is finally here…

Painted buckeye bud, swollen, but unopened (click photos to enlarge)

A bud that has split open

The twisted emerging leaves surround a developing flower stalk

Bud scales peeling back and textured leaves emerging

Leaves beginning to unfurl

A flower cluster with a swirl of leaves around it

The palmate leaves eventually spread out and continue to enlarge

Discovering Diversity

Posted on August 10, 2018 by roadsendnaturalist

Bringing nature into the classroom can kindle a fascination and passion for the diversity of life on earth and can motivate a sense of responsibility to safeguard it.

~David Attenborough

We are finishing up summer camps at work and the adult group tours are starting to ramp up. In a few weeks, our school field trips will begin. While I have always believed in the value of bringing the outdoors indoors for observation, I prefer taking the student outside the classroom to see the diversity of life that surrounds us, no matter where we live. There is so much happening in the Garden right now as we begin to wind down the summer season – fall wildflowers staring to bloom, butterflies and other pollinators abound, seeds and fruit are becoming more noticeable, and visitors seem anxious to stroll our trails and take it all in (especially after all the rains we have had). After work yesterday, I decided to take a stroll through this native plant wonderland before heading home, camera in hand, to see what I could see. There were plenty of things I did not photograph – the stunning stand of cardinal flower that is concentrating hummingbirds along our Piedmont trail; the snapping turtle awkwardly grazing on lizard’s tail leaves in our vernal pool surrounded by hundreds of gray treefrog tadpoles; or the flashes of yellow as goldfinches fly up from their dinner on the seed heads of yellow composites and purple coneflowers. But I did stop to observe and digitally capture a few things that caught my eye, and called me and my macro lens over for a closer look. The diversity of life in this Garden is amazing (and is something we can all do on our own property, at least in some small way, if we plant a variety of native plants).

A beautiful Pandorus Sphinx moth resting on a building wall (click photos to enlarge)

Right next to the moth was a Question Mark butterfly on a chair arm (see the mark on the underside of the wing for which it is named?)

A seed pod of a Few-flowered Milkweed releasing its treasure

Hummingbird clearwing moth at garden phlox

Hummingbird Clearwing moth feeding at Garden Phlox

Pine lily (Lilium catesbaei) in our carnivorous plant collection

A male Green Lynx spider

A female Green Lynx with a large wasp as dinner

Take a stroll and discover some of the diversity outside your own door. It will be worth it!

Our Yellowstone

Posted on June 14, 2018 by roadsendnaturalist

In such surroundings – occasional as our visits may be – we can achieve that kind of physical and spiritual renewal that comes alone from the wonder of the natural world.

~Laurence Rockefeller

To celebrate our wedding, Melissa and I did something we have never done – went to our favorite place, without a group. While we have had a day or two to ourselves here and there over the years, we were always prepping for a group’s arrival. This time, it was just us, and we were going to do another first – camp and backpack in Yellowstone. Even though I have been there over 40 times, I had never camped in the park or backpacked. So, this was going to be something special…except the weather decided maybe we needed a reminder of our inability to control things in this amazing landscape. It decided to rain, and rain, and rain a bit more. An entire day of rain on our first full day in the park and that was something I had never experienced in all my trips. But, it turned out to be just fine as we had a chance to spend time with friends and relax a bit, which has always been tough when leading a group.

Here are a few of the highlights of our time in our shared paradise (oh, and I just returned from dropping Melissa off at 4 a.m. at the airport so she can lead a trip to Yellowstone with a youth group from the museum, lucky her)…

The Slough Creek cliffs held a special treat again this year (click photos to enlarge)

Golden eagle nest on cliff face

It was a great trip for birds…

Swainson’s hawk carrying a snake

White-faced ibis

Yellow warbler at the beaver pond

The cliff swallows had just returned and did not seem to appreciate the rain either

Tree swallow eyeing the camera

A male mountain bluebird looking fine

Peregrine falcon on her precarious nest on the edge of a cliff

Peregrine nest location from overlook near Calcite Springs

Immature bald eagle

Bald eagles and ravens on elk carcass in Soda Butte Creek

Other wildlife made an appearance as well…

Red fox on snow field at Dunraven Pass

Pronghorn buck surveying his domain

Pronghorns can even survey the scene behind them due to the placement of their large eyes

Coyote on the prowl

Sometimes signs are not enough

Newborn bison calf gets cleaned by mom

This mom finally had to climb the tree to retrieve her baby

A discussion on tree-climbing behavior once they were back on the ground

And, as usual, the scenery was fantastic…

Late season snow at Dunraven Pass

Daisy geyser erupts creating a rainbow in the mist

Reflections near Junction Butte

Double rainbow along Soda Butte Creek

Sunset along the Lamar River

Full moon setting in Lamar Valley

Special Place, Special Season

Posted on January 29, 2018 by roadsendnaturalist

Yellowstone in the summer changed my life and teaching direction. Revisiting in the winter was like going back to an old friend’s house when all the ‘guests’ have gone home and you get to sit in the den and have long quiet conversations with the residents.

~Mike Leonard, an educator that attended both a summer and a winter field experience in Yellowstone with the museum

I had hoped to go to Pungo yesterday, but the weather had other plans for me. A day trip with all day rain just didn’t seem the thing to do. So, I sat home, did chores, and wished I was someplace else – with Melissa. She is leading a museum trip to our other special place – Yellowstone. Winter is probably my favorite season out there – so quiet, a living Christmas card, and the wildlife spotting is much easier against the snow. And so few people, relative to summer, it’s like having your own private park at times. She has sent a few notes about what they are seeing, and, today, the group heads to my favorite place – Lamar Valley. She said it has snowed every day. Not ideal conditions, since the landscape can seem so vast and sparkling when the sun is out, but not a bad way to spend your days – the softened sounds, the way the world seems to embrace you when it snows, everything (you, the wildlife, the scenery) all draped in a cloak of ever-changing white. And, she has discovered a new favorite thing – cross-country skiing. Guess I had better start getting in shape and practicing my balance for our next visit. As I sat reminiscing of past trips, I decided to share some images from our previous winter adventures to this special place in its special season.

Sunlight catches a lone, ice-covered snag at Mammoth Terraces (click photos to enlarge)

Sunrise at Canary Springs at Mammoth Terraces

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Struggling to stay above the snow

A weathered tree trunk

Edge of ice on the Yellowstone River

Melissa in deep snow at Canyon on a previous trip

Hayden Valley on a gray, snowy day

The majestic landscape of Hayden Valley

A coyote and shadow along the Madison River

Bison patterns

Bull elk in Lamar Valley

Pine Martin in Silver Gate

Moose in Silver Gate

The once-dominant Druid Peak pack in Lamar Valley

Bison snow plow

A low fog hangs in Lamar Valley, highlighting a lone Cottonwood tree along the Lamar River.

The incredible winter sky in Lamar Valley

Heron Dreams

Posted on January 17, 2018 by roadsendnaturalist

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

~Henry David Thoreau

We all have dreams, some bigger than others. I dream of experiences, being in wild places, and seeing the spectacles that nature has to offer. I have often wondered if other species dream. Having had dogs much of my life, and watching them as they seem to chase something in their sleep with paws twitching and soft barks, I think they do dream. I’m not sure about other species – whether, for instance, herons dream, but we met one earlier this week that seemed to dream big…really big.

A stately great blue heron at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge (click photos to enlarge)

We did a quick day trip on Monday down to Pocosin Lakes and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges. I just haven’t been able to get away as much as my soul needs, so a day-trip would have to do. A friend from work (who had never been) was able to travel with us so I was hoping for a good show for her sake. After a bitterly cold morning at Pungo (more on the Pungo portion of the trip in the next post), we headed over to Mattamuskeet mid-day to see what we could find. As is often the case, there was a stately great blue heron at the pool near the entrance along Wildlife Drive. But I noticed something different this time…

The heron strikes

There was something else on the island of grass…

The prize revealed

A huge fish! A mullet! Even though Mattamuskeet is a freshwater lake, this bird was on a canal outside the lake proper, one that connects via a long (~7 mile) system of canals out to Pamlico Sound, where striped mullet are very common. My apologies for posting so many images of this epic struggle, but I have always wanted to see a heron swallow a huge fish, and here it was, out in the open, a “dream” come true.

A lot to get your beak around

We watched as the bird tried to grab the still-flopping fish. It was a lot to get your beak around.

The heron took frequent sips of water

The heron would work at grabbing the fish, then drop it, and almost every time dip the tip of its bill in the water. Was it taking a drink, removing slime, washing out a bad taste…who knows?

A few sharp jabs with the beak eventually subdued the mullet

The heron used its stiletto beak in a series of quick jabs to try to subdue the mullet.

Now…how do I get this thing off my beak?

It sometimes took a few shakes to get the fish off. After several bouts of spearing the fish, the mullet stopped moving.

Displacement behavior?

Curiously, in between efforts to swallow the fish, the heron would every now and then grab some roots, sticks, and shoots of vegetation on the island. Is this some sort of displacement behavior? Taking out its frustrations on plants?

A lot to lift

Not only was this fish a challenge in terms of its girth, it was a heavy lift for the heron. A typical adult great blue heron weighs about 5 pounds. Their upper bill is about 5+ inches in length. Looking at this photo, I estimate this fish to be about 14 inches in length (compare bill length to fish length). I found an online length-weight conversion estimator for fishes in Texas and used that to estimate the weight of this fish at about 1 pound – 1/5 the weight of the bird. So, that’s like me trying to gulp down a 40 pound hamburger!

Eye to eye

This photo “caught my eye”…the juxtaposition of the eye of the predator and the prey, now resigned to its fate. Our friend, Janna, suggested this caption…””that feeling you have when you realize who you have been trying to kiss”.

Maybe if I get it wet…

We watched the struggle for about 20 minutes and reluctantly decided to head off to see some other areas of the refuge, wondering if the heron would ever be successful. We came back about an hour and a half later, and the heron was still at it. Another couple of photographers had stopped, but the heron was paying us no mind. It had eyes only for the mullet. While we were gone, the heron seemed to have figured out a better strategy for lifting the fish, and came oh-so-close to swallowing it a couple of times.

Almost lost it

But it almost lost it into the water at one point, managing a quick grab to pull it back onshore.

Pondering your dreams

The heron was starting to tire. It took longer breaks between feeding attempts. We watched another 20 minutes. The proud bird twice turned its back (maybe hoping we woudn’t see?) and caught tiny fish and gulped them down.

Settling for less, or just grabbing a quick snack?

It was getting late. The heron had been at this for at least two hours. We had spent almost 45 minutes watching the struggle, camera shutters firing away (I’m almost embarrassed to admit I took 892 photos of this battle), and there was no end in sight. It was time to leave and head for Pungo for what we hoped would be a great sunset show.

Dream big

I hated to leave without knowing whether the heron realized its dream. But I guess I had achieved mine, even though I didn’t witness a successful end to the story. Perhaps the important thing, for both heron and human, is to dream in the first place.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

~Walt Disney

Petals of Ice

Posted on December 13, 2017 by roadsendnaturalist

[W]hat a severe yet master artist old Winter is…. No longer the canvas and the pigments, but the marble and the chisel.

~John Burroughs, 1866

Yesterday’s post shared some of the intricate beauties of a frosty morning – objects adorned with tiny crystals that reveal new patterns and create sculpted coats on everything in the landscape. One of my coworkers saw me out taking photos and asked if I had seen any frost flowers. He then went on to explain they usually occur on a couple of species of plants (he threw the Latin names out and they escaped me) in the garden, but he couldn’t remember exactly where they were. I replied I had not seen any, all the while searching my memory bank for an image of what a frost flower looked like. We parted and I put the camera away and went out to fill the feeders in the bird blind. As I was walking back, something caught my eye in one of the garden beds…

My first frost flower (click photos to enlarge)

That has to be one – a frost flower! I ran and got the camera and told our communications assistant about it so she could get some photos as well. The sun was hitting that area so it would not last long. There were two plants with these unusual structures. A quick web search helped explain this bizarre phenomenon.

An ice flower with a pen for scale

More commonly called ice flowers, these structures go by a variety of other local names – frost flowers, ice ribbons, and rabbit ice to name a few. Several resources mentioned that although they are often called “frost flowers”, these formations are not a type of frost. It seems as though these beautiful creations are caused by a process called ice segregation. Under certain conditions of temperature and humidity in late autumn and early winter, super cold water moves through a medium toward ice, freezes at the interface, and adds to the ice.

Ice flowers typically have curved “petals”

At this time of year in some species, water is still being brought up from the soil by the roots or through capillary action. When conditions are right, the water expands in the dried stems, fracturing thin slits in the stem wall. Water squeezes from cracks in the stem and becomes ice, pushing the previous ice further out. Ice crystals on the outside of the stem may be a prerequisite for the formation of ice flowers. There are quite a few resources online with many beautiful photos of this phenomenon – see Ice Flowers and Find an Ice Flower Before it Melts for samples. For reasons that are not fully understood, this has been found in relatively few species of plants. I hope to get some help identifying this one by its basal leaves when I get back to the office. And now that I have seen my first ice flowers, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for these delicate, ephemeral beauties on cold frosty mornings in the future.

Frosty Morning

Posted on December 12, 2017 by roadsendnaturalist

It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.

~John Burroughs

It has finally turned cold, the true feeling of winter is now in the air. Walking in to to my office yesterday morning I could see the early hour handiwork of an special artist whose work is only available certain months of the year. Everything within a few feet of the ground was delicately sculpted with miniature pillars of ice – a heavy frost covered the plants and ground, painting the world with a crystalline white palette. I couldn’t resist and grabbed my camera for a walk-about to see the frosty splendor. Below are some of my favorites from a stroll through a temporary world of frozen masterpieces.

A native blueberry shrub with one frozen leaf (click photos to enlarge)

Southern maidenhair fern

The last delicate phlox flowers of the season

The tiny leaves of what I think is a creeping blueberry

The last leaf on an American lotus droops over towards the water

Grass seeds

There are so many interesting seed heads now and they were all covered by ice crystals, adding another layer of beauty to these minute botanical sculptures.

The frosty detail of a single stem of horse tail is simple, yet elegant.

Horse tail (scouring rush)

My favorite icy hosts were the pitcher plants. Their unusual shapes and colors seem an unlikely companion to a coating of ice crystals, but they manage to pull it off.

Large crystals formed on the top of pitcher plants that have “lids”

The hooded pitcher plants developed a “spinal column” of tiny frost crystals

The ice enhances the details on this hybrid pitcher plant

The hooded pitcher plants have such artistic forms

A shape that could make a sculptor envious

If plants huddle for warmth, this was a day to do it

But the most unusual ice feature of the morning is one I had never seen before…I will share that mystery with you in the next post.

Dewy

Posted on October 22, 2017 by roadsendnaturalist

You are an ocean of knowledge hidden in a dew drop.

~Rumi

The chilly nights this time of year lead to dewy mornings, and the world is decorated for a time each day with droplets of glass pearls. One morning last week I took a short stroll through the gardens at work searching for jewels. Here are a few of my finds…

Seashore mallow seed pod (click photos to enlarge)

Maidenhair ferns

Wildflower seed head

Asters

Female green lynx spider with recently hatched young

Wildflower seed head

Male carpenter bee hanging onto phlox flower

Male carpenter bee on a cold morning close up of head

Closeup of carpenter bee head covered in dew

Catching Gnats and Plucking Lichens

Posted on April 19, 2017 by roadsendnaturalist

More than with most species of small birds, the attention and interest of the observer center about the nesting habits of the blue-gray gnatcatcher because of the great beauty of its nest.

~Francis Marion Weston, 1949

One of my favorite spring arrivals is the plucky little blue-gray gnatcatcher. It is tiny, but bold. It looks a bit like a tiny mockingbird, but builds a nest like a large hummingbird. My friend, Mary, found a nest at the Garden recently and emailed me where to look as I prepared for a program. I never did find that one (they are often very well camouflaged on a branch). But, a week later, as I was leaving work, I heard the familiar “Steeve” call, looked up, and saw one fly into a small tree. I got out my binoculars, and was pleased to see a nest in progress.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher nest (click photos to enlarge)

A few evenings later, I brought my camera and spent some time watching this industrious duo go about the business of finishing what is certainly one of nature’s most beautiful nests. By this time, it looked like the nest was nearing completion, but the gathering of materials, and fine-tune adjustments, continued for over an hour as I watched.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher with spider silk on bill

Female bringing in spider silk

The nest is a deep (about 3 inches) cup about 1.5-2 times the size of a ruby-throated hummingbird nest. Otherwise, they look almost identical – a somewhat high-walled, elastic nest covered on the outside with lichens and held together with spider silk. The inside is lined with soft materials like plant down, hair, and fine feathers.

Male checking the feel of the nest

As I watched, both adults were busy contributing to the efforts. During the breeding season, the male blue-gray gnatcatcher (photo above) can be distinguished from the female (photo below) by the presence of their black forehead and supercilium (a stripe that runs from the base of the birds beak and above its eye). The female’s head is plain gray.

Female inspecting the progress

I had my big telephoto plus a teleconverter, so I was well away from the nest. The birds chose a very busy location for their activity, right next to a road and walkway that is popular with Garden visitors, so I don’t think they minded me watching them.

Male placing a lichen

There were times when nothing happened at the nest for 10 minutes or so, then there were bursts of activity with a bird bringing in materials (especially pieces of foliose lichens – they look like lichen cornflakes) every minute or so. The usual routine was to fly into a branch next to the nest, pause, then hop into the nest and place whatever material was brought in. Then there was often some fine-tuning, placing the lichen just so, inspecting it for a second, and then off again. Time spent in the nest on any one visit was usually less than 20 seconds. References say it takes about a week to complete a nest, but I think this pair could do it much faster based on what I saw.

Male singing

Male preening

In between nest-building activities, the pair would pause for some singing, preening, or the important duty of nest protection. I am a bit worried about this particular nest, since it seems in a more open location than many I have seen. There are a lot of hazards to any nesting bird, especially one so tiny. I witnessed a few bouts of territorial defense as this pair chased after a crow and a pair of blue jays that flew through their air space. And a pair of brown-headed cowbirds received a lot of attention when they perched within 50 feet of the nest. Both adults repeatedly dive-bombed the cowbirds, who seemed uninterested. They eventually flew off, and nest building resumed about 5 minutes later.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher pressing down in nest 1

Shaping the cup

The final stage of nest building is refining the shape of the cup. This is something they put their whole body into…the adult plops down into the nest with just their head and long tail (the tail accounts for about 45% of the total body length) visible and pushes against the sides of the nest, shaping it as they rotate their body around, flexing the sides until it is just right.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher pressing down in nest

Putting your whole body into getting the shape just right

At times, I could barely see their head at all, with just the slender bill projecting above the lichen wall. I checked on the nest the next few days and saw no activity, so I figured they had completed construction. And now, I see the female sitting in the nest for long periods of time, so I assume she is incubating her eggs. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Roads End Naturalist

Educating myself and others about the natural world as I wander and ponder at road's end.

Category Archives: Nature Photography

Anniversary Escape

This Bud’s For You

Discovering Diversity

Our Yellowstone

Special Place, Special Season

Heron Dreams

Petals of Ice

Frosty Morning

Dewy

Catching Gnats and Plucking Lichens

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