Zooming – September 2015

The zoomed images included in these collages reflect my travels in late August and early September…and I’ve uploaded them in a way that you can see an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

Can you find zoomed images of

• Sunflowers (hint: they are not open all the way)
• Queen Anne’s lace (hint: from underneath)
• Maple leaves (hint: already changing color)
• Jewel weed (hint: it’s yellow rather than orange)
• Thistle pod
• Morning glory
• Zinnias (hint: one red, one pink…the hummingbirds checked them out frequently as they prepared for their migration from Maryland)
• Chipmunk
• Crow (really it was a boat tail grackle but the tail does not show in the picture!)
• Onion flowers

Enjoy!

 

 

 

The zoomed images included in these collages reflect my travels in late August and early September…and I’ve uploaded them in a way that you can see an enlarged version by clicking on the image.

Can you find zoomed images of

·         Sunflowers (hint: they are not open all the way)

·         Queen Anne’s lace (hint: from underneath)

·         Maple leaves (hint: already changing color)

·         Jewel weed (hint: it’s yellow rather than orange)

·         Thistle pod

·         Morning glory

·         Zinnias (hint: one red, one pink…the hummingbirds checked them out frequently as they prepared for their migration from Maryland)

·         Chipmunk

·         Crow (really it was a boat tail grackle but the tail does not show in the picture!)

·         Onion flowers

Enjoy!

Robert H. Treman State Park - August 2015

Another New York State Park that we visited in August was Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca. We have hiked it before - in the fall of 2012 (blog post here). There was more water this time. My husband was do experiments photographing the waterfalls which gave be time to look at other things along the Gorge Trail…

The stone brides and walls of the trail through the narrow gorge

The view of the sky from the bottom of the gorge….the trees precariously balanced on crumbling sheets of shale.

Water droplets splattering on a ledge. It must be consistent enough to support the film of brilliantly green algae…or it is lichen.

Some wildflowers.

Cairns left the falls. They are evidence that people wade just about everywhere in the water on some days…but no on the day we were there.

Some imprints of plants long gone left in the shale.

The erosion of rock by smaller streams of water. Or maybe this falls is much larger when it rains.

And finally ---- waterfalls.

Mt. Pleasant Farm - August 2015 (part 1)

I was at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm earlier this week to lead a nature photography activity for their campers (ages 5-12). By the end of the day I had over 1600 photos from the children that I needed to review during the evening and a few of my own. Now that I’ve had a chance to review my own - there are a few worth sharing via this blog….in the same order that I took them so they do reflect the hiking we did.

Just behind the nature center a large limb had been cut recently.

We went past the bee hives…down the hill…past the butterfly garden

And stopped to look at the mossy logs that have fallen over the stream.

Then we walked along the path toward Hodge Podge Lodge. The goldenrod was starting to bloom along the grassy path.

The shingles of Hodge Podge Lodge caught my attention….lichen, moss, and leaves.

The path to the side of the Lodge down to the stream looked wet from the rain the night before.

And we started to close the loop by walking toward the community garden. I didn’t notice the bugs on this plant until I was looking at the photos…and have not identified the plant or the bugs!

We started the hike for the second group on the path downhill from the back of the nature center. This red bud was early on the trail….with lots of seed pods.

The jewelweed was near the stream.

The mile a minute seems to be taking over this bird house.

Back up the hill and down the road toward the meadow - we stopped in the old orchard. The apples were beginning their turn to red.

There was lots of milkweed pods (still green) in the meadow….and some had beetles.

And every flower seemed to have an insect of some kind.

To be continued in Sunday’s blog post…