Nature Photography (Formally Spring is in the Air)

[Doug Watson]

Thanks for the ID. I had failed to consider immature spiders, in this case a male. Here's another one, I'm reasonably sure of ID. Neoscona crucifera- orb web spider

That's what it looks like to me, great spider shots by the way.

[Doug Watson]

Thanks for the ID. I had failed to consider immature spiders, in this case a male. Here's another one, I'm reasonably sure of ID. Neoscona crucifera- orb web spider

You may already know this site but just in case this is a great site for identifying "bugs" of North America. It was recommended to me by the entomologist at CMN (could be he was tired of me sending him bug shots)

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1127773

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for the ID. I had failed to consider immature spiders, in this case a male. Here's another one, I'm reasonably sure of ID. Neoscona crucifera- orb web spider

You may already know this site but just in case this is a great site for identifying "bugs" of North America. It was recommended to me by the entomologist at CMN (could be he was tired of me sending him bug shots)

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1127773

That's a good site, thanks for sharing that! I have some entomologist friends, and they get way more excited if you bring them the actual bug. One of them took this incredible micrograph of a deer tick (Ixodes cf. scapularis) I pulled out of my leg a couple years back.


I handled it none too gently, as you can see from the missing palps and leg segments.

[Gwangi]

Jeeze, soon it will be winter again. This summer flew by. I better get cracking on finding more critters and get my fill.

[Doug Watson]

That's a good site, thanks for sharing that! I have some entomologist friends, and they get way more excited if you bring them the actual bug. One of them took this incredible micrograph of a deer tick (Ixodes cf. scapularis) I pulled out of my leg a couple years back.
I handled it none too gently, as you can see from the missing palps and leg segments.

Were you concerned with Lyme disease at the time?

[tyrantqueen]

Found a grasshopper (?) in my house today, which is quite a rare occurrence in these parts.



Could it be female, due to the small abdomen? The green colouration contrasting with the white/brown stripe is quite pretty.

Setting it free....



I used a piece of kitchen roll to release it, because I was too scared to touch it

[Gwangi]

Looks to be a species of katydid. They're out in full force here in the U.S. too, a sure sign that summer is ending. I'm sure you can hear them singing at night. Great find! Always love seeing these guys.

[Halichoeres]

That's a good site, thanks for sharing that! I have some entomologist friends, and they get way more excited if you bring them the actual bug. One of them took this incredible micrograph of a deer tick (Ixodes cf. scapularis) I pulled out of my leg a couple years back.
I handled it none too gently, as you can see from the missing palps and leg segments.

Were you concerned with Lyme disease at the time?

A little, although it's not as common here as it is back east. I drew a circle around the bite with Sharpie so I could keep track of it, but it didn't feed for long and I suffered no ill effects.

Found a grasshopper (?) in my house today, which is quite a rare occurrence in these parts.

Could it be female, due to the small abdomen? The green colouration contrasting with the white/brown stripe is quite pretty.

I think Gwangi's right that it's a katydid, though they're sometimes called "long-horned grasshoppers." And  I think you're right that it's female--that sickle shaped appendage at the end of the abdomen looks like the ovipositor. Pretty little thing!

[Doug Watson]

"Hey, did you see the grasshopper?"

"No, but Katy did!"

Sorry can't resist a bad joke. Pretty one, ours are solid emerald green.

[Newt]

Our British friends (and most English speakers outside North America) call tettigoniids "bush crickets". That one is the Speckled Bush Cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima. I'm not sure about that knob on the tip of the abdomen - if it is an ovipositor, it's a damaged one. It should be shaped like a curved dagger.

Great photos, Doug! Man, I love swamps, and you've captured many of my favorite species of plants and animals. It's striking how much your Canadian swamps resemble those in middle Tennessee, when just a few miles away in west Tennessee or anywhere south of the Fall Line, they look very different. Baldcypress and tupelo really change the overall feel of a swamp. I bet you've got a lot of great bogs and fens up there too. Those are relatively rare here in the south.

[Doug Watson]

Great photos, Doug! Man, I love swamps, and you've captured many of my favorite species of plants and animals. It's striking how much your Canadian swamps resemble those in middle Tennessee, when just a few miles away in west Tennessee or anywhere south of the Fall Line, they look very different. Baldcypress and tupelo really change the overall feel of a swamp. I bet you've got a lot of great bogs and fens up there too. Those are relatively rare here in the south.

Yes, we do have a lot of bogs up here. Back in my 20s a friend and I hiked back into the woods in Quebec and found a lake that had about a 1/4 of it covered by floating muskeg starting from the shore and working its way out into the middle. You could walk out on it and when you got nearer the water you could get the whole thing bouncing with small trees, bushes and all. I also knew they could be treacherous having heard stories of people falling through and being swallowed up so we were being somewhat careful. At least as careful as two young guys in their 20s can be. Being the heavier of the two I of course went through but I threw my arms out at the last minute and stopped my descent. While I was suspended there I could see that under the sphagnum mat was a tangle of heavy roots, if I had gone through it would have been next to impossible to get out. Eventually these bogs cover the lake.

[tyrantqueen]

Our British friends (and most English speakers outside North America) call tettigoniids "bush crickets". That one is the Speckled Bush Cricket, Leptophyes punctatissima. I'm not sure about that knob on the tip of the abdomen - if it is an ovipositor, it's a damaged one. It should be shaped like a curved dagger

That makes sense. I have never heard anyone here use the word "Katydid" to describe an insect. The word was unknown to me until recently.

[Newt]

Yes, we do have a lot of bogs up here. Back in my 20s a friend and I hiked back into the woods in Quebec and found a lake that had about a 1/4 of it covered by floating muskeg starting from the shore and working its way out into the middle. You could walk out on it and when you got nearer the water you could get the whole thing bouncing with small trees, bushes and all. I also knew they could be treacherous having heard stories of people falling through and being swallowed up so we were being somewhat careful. At least as careful as two young guys in their 20s can be. Being the heavier of the two I of course went through but I threw my arms out at the last minute and stopped my descent. While I was suspended there I could see that under the sphagnum mat was a tangle of heavy roots, if I had gone through it would have been next to impossible to get out. Eventually these bogs cover the lake.

Ha! That sounds like some of the things I did when I was that age. Riptides, hydraulics, quicksand - water is deceptively dangerous, especially when you're young and careless!

TQ - "Katydid" started off as the name of a particularly loud and abundant species of eastern North America, whose call is said to sound like "Katy did, Katy didn't". Later we (North Americans) transferred it to various similar species; it's only recently that I've seen katydid used for all members of the family Tettigoniidae. As Halichoeres said, we traditionally call most tettigoniids "long-horned grasshoppers".

We also call rowan trees "mountain ash", buzzards "hawks", hawk moths "sphinx moths" and humblebees "bumblebees," among probably thousands of similar examples. Two countries separated by a common language and all that...

[tyrantqueen]

Buzzards? In the UK this is a buzzard:



Or did you mean vultures?

[Gwangi]

The birds in the UK you call buzzards (genus Buteo) are called hawks in North America. Typically when someone refers to a bird as a buzzard in North America it is in reference to a vulture.

[Tyto_Theropod]

Indeed, Gwangi - I can remember it leading to some hilarity when I posted a photograph of a European Buzzard on DeviantART and instantly got a whole load of American members politely telling me it was a Red-tailed Hawk! Err... not in Scotland, guys... I personally prefer the British system, as across the pond 'hawk' can refer to two genera: Accipter and Buteo, whereas here you know that 'hawk' mean an Accipter because a Buteo is a buzzard. But that's just my preference because it's what I've grown up with.

Because of the difference, falconers and those studying birds of prey tend to use the generic names when describing what type of bird they have (e.g. the Harris 'Hawk', one of the most popular falconry birds, is actually a Buteo), or classify them by wing type (and therefore habitat and hunting style): for example a Harris is a broadwing, while Accipters are shortwings, and falcons are longwings. So many names, even in English! Aaaaah!

And this is why we have taxonomic names!

[Newt]

To make matters worse: the birds we colloquially call buzzards and "properly" call vultures in North America are neither. Cathartids are not particularly closely related to Old World vultures (though both groups are in the Falconiformes). I guess we could call all of them condors, instead of just the biggest ones.

I snapped these guys in the dry bed of Swan Lake, an artificial pond at a local park which has been drained for some reason. That's a Black Vulture Condor to the left and a Turkey Vulture Condor to the right. You may also notice some carp carcasses in the foreground. The new channel cut by the undammed stream through the mud is in the background.

[Paleona]

Oh, what a great thread!  I'm just now finding it, haha.  Wonderful photos, everyone- I love taking pics of my local wildlife and plants, too.
My husband saw a Red Tailed Hawk (or should I say a buzzard?  ) in our pear tree this morning!  It got spooked and flew to our neighbor's tree, where I got to see it feeding.  Very cool. 

To make this more interesting, here are some close ups of flowers, mostly from my backyard. 

I planted sunflowers from seed this year, this was the first one that bloomed.  So beautiful and happy!

A shiny beetle on my Shasta Daisies that I think is a Japanese Beetle?  I was reading that they're pests- hoping they stay away from my pears and veggies.

Some backyard wildflowers.  I love the Queen Anne's Lace / wild carrots.  Not sure what the tiny purple flower is.

[Newt]

Nice pictures Paleona! That is, in fact, a Japanese beetle. They can really maul a garden; I hope you don't get many more of them.

The purple/blue flower is chicory. Both it and the yellow-flowered Oxalis are edible. Every part of the Oxalis has a nice sour taste, similar to sorrel. I like to add the leaves, fruit, and flowers to salads. The wild-type chicory in your pic is very bitter and is most often used in herbal medicine, but some people eat the greens; they boil them, change the water, boil some more, etc. (similar to poke salad), to reduce the bitter flavor. Raddichio and Belgian endive are less-bitter cultivated varieties.

You must live further north than I do; the Queen Anne's lace and chicory are pretty much gone by here. The goldenrods and wild sunflowers are really getting going now.

[paleoferroequine]

Now that it's September the Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora) is in full bloom. It is becoming rather invasive around here. Some trees are covered in it and as you can see it can quite thick.




White tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Large numbers live in town since there are no dogs running loose.


Alpaca(Vicugna pacos)


Turkey(Meleagris gallopavo)



House Mouse(Mus musculus).


I've probably posted this before, but it's one of my favorites.
Hi tension Turkey Vultures(Cathartes aura)