Asters and Friends

Tiny bumblebees and other pollinators have been taking full advantage of late blooming asters. 

My sister had a bumblebee nest by her front door this summer and we learned quite a lot about the creatures. They didn't bother anyone, but we did have to keep the dogs from snapping the spicy flies. 

At this late date, queen bumbles have left the nest to hibernate over the winter and their non-queen daughters are living out their last days in the fields, frequently sleeping on flowers when its too cold or dark for them to fly. 

In the spring, the queens that survive will build new nests and hope to get a new brood of daughters going to help them create a full and healthy colony before hatching some males and new queens to start the process all over again. 

The clouded sulphur butterflies take advantage of the late bloomers, too. The white female above blends in with the white asters. 

Asters are lovely enough all by themselves, but knowing the important part they play in the survival of late feeding pollinators and migrating butterflies makes them even more special. 

I caught this bumblebee lifting off and heading over to taste a different flower. 

I hope you enjoyed this little field trip as much as I did. :)

More Mushrooms on Monday?

Sulphur shelf or chicken of the woods are very tasty sauteed in butter, especially if you find them as brilliant and fresh as this batch was. 

Aren't they beautiful? That color isn't enhanced - they're really that bright. They're pretty hard to miss while walking through the forest. I noticed evidence of another bloom someone had already harvested - just orange remnants stuck to the side of a log. 

 

Interestingly, on the same big pine snag, about five feet lower and around the other side, a lacy group of aged turkey tail fungus filled the crevices in the bark. I thought the textures and colors were a nice juxtaposition. 

Another set of turkey tail growing on a fallen poplar tree, was a surprising color of green. It looked like that poplar was sprouting a whole new kind of leaf! 

I thought this colorful fellow, growing between the pieces of a rotting birch tree added a perfect touch to a picturesque forest floor vignette. 

This beauty was large and impressive, with an undulating cap and a lot of personality! 

Lots of fungus lately, right? It's what I've been seeing out in the woods! We'll have to see what I can locate for the next blog installment!  

Fungus for Friday?

 We got a little bit of rain, finally, and fall mushrooms decided to pop. 

Piper and I have been stopping to admire them as we wander out in the woods and fields. 

Well, I admire them, at least. I think Piper wonders what I find so fascinating. 

She likes to try and figure it out, even if it doesn't make sense to her. 

She does that a lot. When I stop to take a picture of something, she likes to try and understand why "the big dog" thinks its worth investigating. As a result, I get a lot of Piper photo bombs! 

There are places out in the woods that smell extremely mushroom-y and I stop and look around to see who is blooming. The colors, textures and edibility properties are all worth checking, from  my point of view. (No eating the mushroom above!)

This one was so interesting because it had lobed caps. Almost like petals of a flower. One of these days, I may have my reference books back and I'll be able to start looking things up again! 

In the meantime, I'll just enjoy looking and finding. 

There may be more mushrooms on Monday... I think I still have a few on the camera that need to be downloaded and prepared! I know at least one reader will enjoy that. :) 

Twenty Swans A-Swimming

I had to look up the collective noun for a group of swans. It's called a bevy. Isn't that just perfect? 

We definitely had a bevy of beauties out in front of my sister's house a couple days ago. We counted twenty in the group. 

They had found something particularly good to eat in the shallows and spent a long time bobbing and milling about before swimming north together. 

A few of them got ruffled feathers from time to time, but there weren't any major kerfuffles. 

One paddled along with its mate holding a foot out of the water. It must have been a restful pose, even though it looked like someone had misread the swan assembly instructions. 

 

And speaking of looking a little silly, there quite a few less graceful moments as they filled their gullets with whatever they were finding for snacks. 

 Obviously, it was a lot of fun to watch the activity. I must have taken a hundred pictures, at least, but I'm not cruel. I only subject you to a few that seemed interesting and maybe a little humorous. :) 

A Mysterious Apology!

I apologize for the delay in posting the solution to the mystery turtles. For some reason, Google (in it's infinitely dubious wisdom) changed a number of blog settings without notifying me. I was having trouble posting and all the responses from mystery lovers fell into a black hole. I think I have everything reset and working properly again. 

So, I'm also sorry I didn't respond to any of your mysterious puzzle answers - I wondered why nobody had said anything. (Thank you, BetsyLee, for notifying me of response difficulties via AQ mail. It put me on the right track to solving all the various issues -- I hope.)

Without further ado, here's the original picture: 

There are two fairly obvious turtles, but at least two others peeking out of the water.  There's also a possible fifth about a third down from the top on the left. 

 I've marked the ones I saw on this second picture. So, who did I miss? :)

 

A Tiny Turtle Teaser

Just in case it's time for another little mystery. Here's a teaser. I'll post the answer tomorrow, but this is one where I might be wrong.  You may do better than I did. :)

How many turtles can you find? I thought there were two to begin with and then... 

Considering the Flowers...

Sometimes, you just have to stop and smell the roses...

And admire the colors,

And the beauty of petals unfurling. 

Then there's the smile-inducing oxeye daisy, 

Along with its cousins that were blooming in great profusion. 

The purple coneflowers were in full display mode beside my sister's stairway,  

And a marsh mallow voluntarily adorned the boat launch where Piper likes to get a drink or take a dip for a break to cool off on our walks. 

Yarrow blossomed along the trail, 

And St. John's Wort spread a little sunshine through the fields where Piper likes to romp.

The flowers of the field are, indeed, something marvelous to consider.