Lots of birds in the Zooming slide show this month – from the Whooping Crane Festival in south Texas as well as Josey Ranch (Carrollton TX), the Springfield Botanical Gardens (Springfield MO) and Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (near Sherman TX). I find myself picking images that show bird behavior rather than portraits.
There are spring flowers in this collection as well…more of those coming in April!
Enjoy the March 2024 slide show!
My daughter let me cut the last three flowers on her Asian hydrangea bush last October (see post here). They lasted a long time in a vase on the windowsill in my office. About the time I headed to Texas in mid-November, I put the flowers into separate vases with no water to enable the flowers to dry.
When I returned home, the flowers were nicely dried with most of the petals still blue! I took some high key images of the best one – where the petals stayed relatively flat rather than wilting/curling.
This is a great way to prolong the flowers of fall into winter. I wonder how long the color will last….
Twenty more books were added to the botanical print collection in December– available for browsing on Internet Archive. They were almost the only books I read/browsed in December; I was overwhelmingly busy caring for my parents.
The publication range for this group is 1629-1959 – a lot has changed in those 300 years!
The whole list of 2,781 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the December 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.
Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the December 2023 eBotanical Prints!
Niger flora; or an enumeration of the plants of Western tropical Africa * Hooker, William Jackson (editor) * sample image * 1849
Bouquet de Melastomataceae Bresilieannes * Cogniaux, Alfred; Saldanha del Gama, Jose * sample image * 1887
Bryologia javanica V1 * Dozy, Francois; Molkenboer, Julian Hendrik; Bosch, Roelof Benjamin Van Den; Sande Lacoste, Cornelius Marinus van der * sample image * 1855
Bryologia javanica V2 * Dozy, Francois; Molkenboer, Julian Hendrik; Bosch, Roelof Benjamin Van Den; Sande Lacoste, Cornelius Marinus van der * sample image * 1855
Chung-kuo chu yao chih wu tʻu shuo.ho bien Nan-ching ta hsüeh, Shêng wu hsüeh hsi [ho] Chung-kuo kʻo hsüeh yüan, Chih wu yen chiu so. * Keng, I-li * sample image * 1959
Collection d'orchide - esaquarelles originales. * Missouri Botanical Garden * sample image * 1900
Contribuciones al conocimiento de la flora ecuatoriana * Sodiro, L. * sample image * 1905
Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen * Sprengel, Christian Konrad * sample image * 1793
De plantis exoticis libri duo * Alpini, Alpino; Alpini, Prosperi * sample image * 1629
Descriptio?n de l'Egypte recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee francaise * Raffeneau-Delile, Alire * sample image * 1824
Description des plantes de l'Amerique * Plumier, Charles * sample image * 1693
Descriptionum et iconum rariores et pro maxima parte novas plantas illustrantium * Rottboll * sample image * 1773
Die Coniferen * Antoine, Franz * sample image * 1840
Phyto-iconographie der Bromeliaceen des kaiserlichen königlichen Hofburg-Gartens in Wien * Antoine, Franz * sample image * 1884
Die Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee * Lauterbach, Karl; Schumann, Karl Moritz * sample image * 1900
Nachtrage zur Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee * Lauterbach, Karl; Schumann, Karl Moritz * sample image * 1905
Die pflanzenwelt Ost-Afrikas und der nachbargebiete * Engler, Adolf * sample image * 1895
Flora Brasiliae meridionalis * Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de * sample image * 1825
Flora Java - Volume 2 * Blume, Carolo Ludovico * sample image * 1828
Flora Peruviana, et Chilensis Plates 1-152 * Ruiz, Hippolito; Pavon, Jose * sample image * 1798
I took a walk around the larger pond and small garden at Josey Ranch a week ago.
The first birds I noticed were cormorants – very active on the water (finding fish) and in the air.
Most of the ruddy ducks were snoozing…bobbing in the water.
A group of buffleheads were fishing….then spent a lot of time preening.
There were several coots
And I was thrilled when one of them came up onto the bank and I was close enough get good images of their feet! They are so unusual.
The scaups are around but not in as large numbers as last year.
The resident swans were asleep on the back as they have been every time I have visited recently. Are they elderly swans?
There were a few late flowers in the small garden; there has not been a hard frost in Carrollton yet.
Where are the northern shovelers? Maybe they are still further north? Usually they are present at Josey Ranch by November…but not this year.
I made stops at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge on my way to and from Carrollton all during the year. On the way down, I arrived around noon; on the way home, it was just after sunrise.
Seeing/photographing birds is the big draw for my visits. I spend an hour or so moving slowly down the central wildlife tour road…sometimes taking a side road. I use my car as a blind and roll the window down when I see birds. My camera is on a monopod collapsed down to its shortest length. Most of the time I brace it in the cup holder between the front seats…tilt the head to get the image I want.
In the winter there are flocks of snow geese (and Ross’s geese) along with Northern Shovelers and Pintails. White Faced Ibis and American White Pelicans are seen during migrations. Egrets (snowy, cattle, great) are numerous in the spring and summer; I enjoyed an early morning seeing/hearing them on one of the ponds where they had obviously spent the night. Great Blue Herons are around all the time although are most numerous in the summer when the young are beginning life on their own. Red-winged blackbirds are year-round residents but murmurations of the birds are seen in the fall as they move about eating the mature seeds of the prairie plants. I saw Neotropic Cormorants for the first time this year.
Of course there are other things to photograph too – prairie type flowers, drift wood, insects, sunrise. This year I noticed a cluster of Queen butterflies in July…didn’t see many Monarchs until the fall when they were probably migrating. The butterflies were photographed in the butterfly garden near the refuge’s visitor center – along with a grasshopper! I was surprised to see a dragonfly perched on a plant so close to the car that I was able to photograph it during my drive down the wildlife loop!
Hagerman has become one of my favorite places in Texas…and I will continue to stop there as often as I can.
It won’t be long before we have afternoons blowing/raking/mulching leaves in my daughter’s yard…but until then I am enjoying the end of her summer yard when I visit there. The seed pods of the Southern Magnolia are full of red seeds right now. They always remind me of red M&Ms! The pods will eventually become a nuisance on the ground…but on the tree they are interesting – colorful, splitting to allow the seeds to escape- these are prehistoric flowering trees with seed pods that look very much like cones.
She encouraged me to cut the flowers from her Asian hydrangea since temperatures into the 30s were being forecast. There were 3 flower clusters (others too…but they were not mature enough to open if cut). I trimmed the lower leaves off right after I cut them and put the flowers in a large vase as soon as I got home. They’ve been on my office windowsill within line of sight from where I sit at my computer since then.
The flowers last for a long time – which gave me several opportunities to do some artsy photography with them over the past few days. What’s not to like with the gentle pink and blue…bright green! I managed some almost high key images….with smudges of color and screen grid in the background. It was a good ‘rainy day’ activity.
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Nature's great survivors: Flowering plants survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs – Ancestors of orchids, magnolia, and mint all shared Earth with the dinosaurs…and are thriving today.
Woman Uses Hidden Cameras to Get Candid Look at Birds in Her Backyard – Birds (and squirrel, chipmunk, and groundhog) at the food bowl.
Climate Change Hurting Water Quality in Rivers Worldwide – Cycles of heavy rainfall and drought are impacting water quality everywhere.
Large amounts of sedentary time linked with higher risk of dementia in older adults, study shows – The average American is sedentary for about 9.5 hours per day! This study found that the risk of dementia begins to rapidly increase after 10 hours spent sedentary each day for people over 60 years old, regardless of how the sedentary time was accumulated.
The puzzling link between air pollution and suicide - More than 700,000 people kill themselves worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). People in the US might be particularly troubled to learn that the suicides here have increased by around 40% over the past two decades….and the nation now has one of the highest rates of wealthy, developed countries. Suicide disproportionately affects men. In the US, around 80% of suicides last year were male. More research is needed to understand the link between air pollution and suicide…but we already know that "tiny, invisible particles of pollution penetrate deep into our lungs, bloodstream and bodies…and are responsible for about one-third of deaths from stroke, chronic respiratory disease, and lung cancer, as well as one quarter of deaths from heart attack."
Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old mummy in Peru – Long hair still preserved.
Older adults with digestive diseases experience higher rates of loneliness, depression - While life expectancy rates for older Americans are rising, nearly 40% of adults report living with a digestive disease of some kind.
A Chronic Itch: Burrowing Beneath the Skin - Approximately 20% of people suffer from chronic itch, which is medically defined as an itch lasting greater than six weeks. For many, there is no relief. Itch has historically been one of the most overlooked medical symptoms, reflected in the limited available treatment options, most of which have only been discovered recently.
Puffins Are Making a Comeback in Maine - The fifty-year effort that helped puffins rebound in Maine is cause for celebration!
Capturing carbon in savannas: new research examines role of grasses for controlling climate change - Grasses accounted for over half of the soil carbon content across tropical savannas, including soils directly beneath trees. In general, forests primarily store their carbon in the woody trunks and aboveground leaves. In contrast, a significant portion of carbon in grassy ecosystems, such as savannas and grasslands, is stored in the soil, primarily within the extensive root systems of the grasses as well as decaying organic matter. In the context of long-term carbon storage, carbon retained in soils proves to be more reliable, particularly for a vulnerable future marked by warming and increased likelihood of drought and wildfires.
Twenty more books were added to the botanical print collection this month – available for browsing on Internet Archive. The first 4 books in August were Japanese flower books by Bairei Kono from 1901 – the year one of my grandfathers was born.
The next three were published in the mid-1800s…not exactly botanical print books but about plants – their depiction, relationship to religion, and uses.
The next three are research publications from the Missouri Botanical Garden published in 1991.
The remaining 10 books are George Engelmann’s scanned botanical notebooks from the mid-1800s. He evidently made his notebooks from whatever paper was available…and used a variety of pencils!
Overall – quite a range of publications!
The whole list of 2,695 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the August 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.
Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the August 2023 eBotanical Prints!
Sōka hyakushu V1 pt 1 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901
Sōka hyakushu V1 pt 2 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901
Sōka hyakushu V2 pt 1 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901
Sōka hyakushu V2 pt 2 * Kono, Bairei * sample image * 1901
Lessons in flower painting * Andrews, James * sample image * 1836
A scripture herbal * Callcott, Maria * sample image * 1842
Wanderings among the wild flowers :how to see and how to gather them : with remarks on the economical and medicinal uses of our native plants * Thomson, Spencer * sample image * 1857
The ethnobotany of Aublet's histoire des plantes de la Guiane Françoise (1775) * Plotkin, Mark J.; Boom, Brian M., Allison, Malorye * sample image * 1991
Flora of Nigeria, Caryophyllale * Ghazanfar, Shahina A. * sample image * 1991
Pollen and spores of Barro Colorado Island * Roubik, David W.; Moreno, Jorge Enrique * sample image * 1991
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 38 : Yucca (Agavaceae) * Englmann, George * sample image * 1851
George Engelmann: botanical notebook 4 : Callitrichaceae * Englmann, George * sample image * 1860
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 18 : Gentianaceae * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1847
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 21 : Cuscuta * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1839
George Engelmann : botanical notebook 27 : Nyctagineae, Chenopodiaceae, Polygonaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Loranthaceae, Urticaceae, Platanaceae, Juglandaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, Salicaceae * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1842
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 10 : Phyllocactus, Disocactus, Epiphyllum, Lepismium, Rhipsalis * Englmann, George * sample image * 1856
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 45 : Polyanthus, Sagittaria, Echinodorus, Najadaceae, Najas, Potamogetonaceae, Cyperaceae, Gramineae * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1840
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 9 : Echinocereus, Cereus, Eulychnia, Pilocereus * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1846
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 8 : Cereus * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1846
George Engelmann :botanical notebook 57 : Juniperus * Englmann, George * sample image * 1850
The pumpkin vine provides a leafy border between my meadow garden and the yard. It has had a lot of blossoms…and has been a resting place for interesting insects like the snowberry clearwing hummingbird moth.
But – the best part is the miniature pumpkins. They are white and there are 6-8 on the vine! They hide under grass and leaves….maybe one or two have been eaten by something (we have a lot of squirrels). I am looking forward to baking the edible jewels --- eating the orange interior with a drizzle of butter and maple syrup. Yum!
The next few months, until the heat of summer becomes oppressive, should be the prettiest months of year in Carrollton, TX yards… including my parents’ yard. There were so many things to see when I was there in late March, that I am writing about them in two posts (today and tomorrow).
Seeds from a neighbor’s tree were all shades of green to brown….blowing over the back yard (will any of them sprout?).
The usual early spring flowers were up. My mother cut some of them to bring indoors; the garden still held plenty more.
The fiddleheads in the front flowerbed were healthy looking. They survived the prolonged period of 100 degree + days last summer better than the blue rug juniper ground cover (more than half of it died). Being in the shade most of the time must have helped although some of last year’s fronds looked burnt in August.
I was surprised to see several clumps of mushrooms around the base of one of the old mulberry trees. The tree itself was leafing out…so it’s unclear why that grassy area was so hospitable for mushrooms. I took the opportunity to do some macro photography….of course.
I enjoyed two servings of edamame pods and composted the empty pods afterward in one of the flowerbeds. It is surprising how much happened to them in 2-3 days! I’ll check them again in late April!
Before I went off to Carrollton, TX the last week of March, the bulbs I planted last fall were beginning to bloom in our Nixa, MO yard. We had some very cold nights and the flowers seemed to take a very long time to open. There were only two crocus; one looked battered and the other looked like it had been eaten! Some leaves of another bulb were eaten as well (maybe it was a hyacinth). The hyacinths were a bit deformed too.
A little over a week later when I returned home – everything was blooming profusely outside the window of my office. The daffodils are probably the bulbs that are doing the best and will come back year after year. The squirrels have left them alone too. My plan it to hold off mowing the area for a few weeks – giving the bulbs time replenish and grow….be good to bloom next year.
The days are getting longer. The sunrise is at its best around 6:30 AM when I am in my office to enjoy it so I am OK with daylight savings time again!
The temperature has fluctuated wildly – from the teens to 70s this month. I took walks on two of the sunny days. We’ve had enough rain that the drainage into the ponds had running water on both days, and I stopped on the bridge to take pictures of leaves from last season in the rippling water. Oaks, maples, river birch, and red buds are represented.
There is almost always a pair of mallards about….and lots of robins.
Some branches from a magnolia in a nearby yard are upright in the pond. I wonder how long they will last…..or maybe someone is trying to root them (i.e. start new trees)?
The turtles are more active on warm days. They all appear to be red-eared sliders. Their snouts are usually all that is visible unless they are closer to shore or sunning on some high ground in the pond.
One day I started out in sunshine but there were more clouds than I anticipated. I took some landscape shots….experimenting with backlight and the curving walkway through the trees around our pond.
Some geese were on the walkway (and this time of year I give them space since they might be aggressive) so I went up to the street to complete the loop to my house. I noticed that the stormwater drain is labeled ‘no dumping – drains to river’ with a metal shield; in Maryland the labeling was painted onto the concrete.
The red maples are some of the earliest trees to bloom. The trees along the path don’t have low branches so my pictures of the flowers rely on my camera’s zoom.
Sometimes I photograph something because I didn’t anticipate it…the oak leaf stuck in the chain link of the tennis court is an example.
Another is the mats of algae on lower spillway between the two ponds. They had washed from the upper pond but are doomed to dry out on the spillway if another rain does not come soon. Still – they were ‘emerald isles’ at a time of year where there is still a lot brown in the natural world.
Back in February, I posted about the seeds I had bought for spring planting; now I have more purchases for planting as soon as it is warm enough: roots and bulbs:
Cone flower and black-eyed Susan roots for sunny flowerbeds….good for pollinators.
Cinnamon, Christmas, and Ostrich ferns to go in the deep shade under the holly trees and one of the bird feeders. I am trying to decide whether to move the rocks completely out of that area. There is landscaping fabric under the rocks that I need to remove so I’ll have to move them temporarily anyway.
Gladiolus to provide cut flowers. They bring back memories of my maternal grandparents who always had a lot of them in their summer garden. The flowers were planted along the side of the large vegetable garden closest to the road along with cannas. I will probably plant a few of the bulbs in the front flower beds but most will be where I can see them from my office window!
We are still having some cold days; it isn’t time to plant yet. But - I have been getting out on dry sunny days to begin the preparatory work. The big job is moving rocks aside and removing landscaping fabric on the places I want to plant!
The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.
Can clothes ever be fully recycled? – Evidently a lot of progress has been made in the past few years – translating processes from small to large scale production. But recycling is not the only thing that needs to change about the fashion industry. ‘Fast fashion’ is cannot the future!
A simple thing you can do to benefit backyard birds and bees – Wait until it is 50 degrees to do spring cleaning around your yard. Those leaves and dead stalks harbor insects….and birds need insects, particularly when they are raising their young! I have a big tuft of ornamental grass which I am waiting to cut. Last summer it was full of insects and I except some eggs/larvae are there now.
An incredible journey – Chinook making their way up the Klamath River in the spring and fall. (infographic)
Nearly 30 dangerous feedback loops could permanently shift the Earth’s climate - A change….triggering more change…a cycle. Our planet is full of complex connections that are often not well understood.
As Millions of Solar Panels Age Out, Recyclers Look to Cash In – Hopefully solar panels, and a lot of other end-of- life products, can become part of the ‘circular economy’ rather than going to landfills.
See Thousands of Sandhill Cranes Gather in Nebraska – Maybe next year we’ll plan to go to Nebraska to see the crane migration!
The beautiful flowers that bees can’t use – Nectar deficient hybrids (like double petal petunias) or non-native plants often don’t provide food for pollinators…even though people find bigger, brighter flowers appealing. The article also provides a link to a free book: Pollinator-Friendly Parks which might be useful for homeowners who want to support pollinators.
Anti-dust tech paves way for self-cleaning surfaces – Wouldn’t this be nice…my computer screens seem to attract dust!
'The Great Displacement' looks at communities forever altered by climate change – A book review that documents people surviving a hurricane in the Florida Keys or a big fire in California (and other climate change related disasters) and making decisions in the aftermath. A quote from the author, Jack Bittle: "In the United States alone, at least twenty million people may move as a result of climate change, more than twice as many as moved during the entire span of the Great Migration."
A Long Low Tide Dries Up Venice’s Smaller Canals – Wow…we usually think of Venice being more prone to flooding.
I bought several of the MODGY Expandable Flower Vase back in October when I toured the Museum London (in London, Ontario). They are great gifts because they are flat and light (easy to wrap/ship) – made of heavy, reusable plastic that expands when it is filled with water. What a clever idea! Last week I finally picked the one I would keep – the Louis Comfort Tiffany Field of Lilies vase. When filled with water, it was stable on the windowsill; adding the bouquet was very easy and the cinching at the top makes it easy to position the flowers!
I’m giving away the others I bought…but maybe I’ll order some additional vases. There are so many to choose from on the MODGY site!
It was fun to see so many flowers in the Carrollton yard – blooming into late October since there had been no frost. I enjoyed the colors and blooms realizing a lot will change soon.
Things could look very different by the time I am there in November.
I always enjoy photographing the red yuccas. My favorite picture from my time in Carrollton in late October is the flowers and seedpod together. The flowers might not get enough time to complete the cycle into seed pods, but the plants have already had a good year producing seeds.
At my home in Missouri, we had some overnight frosts. That was not the case in Carrollton, Texas where I spent the last week of October. The cosmos flowers were still blooming!
There were still buds and insects too!
Before I left to come home, I decided to collect seeds from the chives to plant around the edges of some flower beds in my Missouri home next spring.
The plants had formed, and the capsules had popped open. The rain had knocked the seed heads over and into the still-green leaves and steppingstones.
The plants had formed, and the capsules had popped open. The rain had knocked the seed heads over and into the still-green leaves and steppingstones.
I picked up the heads carefully and used scissors to cut the stem…collected a bin full of them. They were still wet from the rain, so I opted to cut more of the stem part of the head away and spread the seeds/capsules on a paper towel to dry. I brought them home in a recycled envelope. They are now emptied into a box in my office – keeping dry – ready for planted after the last frost next spring!
A few days after the first hard frosts of the year in Springfield MO, we took a short hike on the Springfield Conservation Nature Center trails. The morning was cool and sunny – a near perfect fall day to be outdoors. The forest was full of color. One surprise: there seemed to be more green leaves on the ground than usual; perhaps the trees were caught by the frost before they could change color.
We spotted a young turtle sunning on a log…warming up.
A larger turtle climbed up on the same log. It went back in the water rather than joining the smaller one.
There were ducks preening/snoozing on a log in the water. Their legs and webbed feet looked very bright in the morning sun.
I couldn’t resist some macro images of late flowers…a few insects…even at caterpillar!
Our last ‘find’ of the morning was in the parking lot as we were getting ready to leave: a praying mantis making its way across the asphalt!
A morning well spent….
17 images in the zoom slideshow for October 2022. They are from Carrollton TX, Detroit MI, London ON, and Nixa, MO…maybe more locations than any month since before the COVID-19 pandemic!
October is a transition month with leaves beginning to turn colors and fall…more to come of that into November. For now – enjoy some late blooming flowers and animals active on warmer days.
A quick whirl around the front and side garden in Carrollton TX…
Then to focus on plants I looked at more closely:
Red yucca. This time of year the seed pods are always interested. As the seed pods dry, they tend to look burnt and black…the seeds inside are black as well.
After the sprinklers finished one morning, I took macro pictures of the Tradescantia pallida (purple heart or Wandering Jew) flowers. The flowers act as small cups holding the water droplets.
Overall - most of the plants survived the severe weather earlier in the summer; it will be interesting to see how the fall progresses.
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the whole of life....
Thanks for visiting my blog! Enjoy the photo picks from 2023:
Copyright © 2024, Gwen Morrison. All rights reserved.
Powered by Squarespace.
