Monday in Nature September 24, 2018

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Abandoned exoskeleton of a dragon fly nymph.

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Nice capture, as the web is well lit, not easy with such a complicated background.

Another pelican landing

I have an elm tree in the back yard. For the past 30 years it's been flourishing. Last year it looked good. It was half dead this spring, and is if not dead now, mostly dead. The bark beetle has done it's work. But it's an ill wind that blows nobody good, and there are two or three woodpeckers at any given time working away at it. I hope they get as many bark beetles as they can.

I have an elm tree in the back yard. For the past 30 years it's been flourishing. Last year it looked good. It was half dead this spring,

Had the issue some years back in another state - if still alive, there is a medication which will keep it hanging on for a fair while - if you have Elms, you have the specialists in the area. Bad news, when it is dead, most municipalities require you to take it down and have it de barked if you want the fire wood to halt the spread of bugs / disease. Lots of info on line.

Saw this pretty paper wasp nest suspending in pitch pine needles yesterday while walking my dog in a trail. So I hurried home to get my camera. I harvested it early morning today; presently it's hanging on a tree in my yard. It appears to have been abandoned, as there's no wasp flying in and out of it at all.

Nikon D500 with Nikon 200mm micro (300mm in 35mm). 1.0 sec; f/16; ISO 100

Had the issue some years back in another state - if still alive, there is a medication which will keep it hanging on for a fair while - if you have Elms, you have the specialists in the area. Bad news, when it is dead, most municipalities require you to take it down and have it de barked if you want the fire wood to halt the spread of bugs / disease. Lots of info on line.

Thanks, but it's too late for this one, which has already lost much of its bark. The death was very fast. We're out in the country, and no municipal laws to speak of, nor as far as I can see any State (Vermont). Most of the other elms in the vicinity are already dead. When I moved here about 30 years ago, this one was a sapling, and that's about as long as any last. Once you could still see the enormous stumps along the roadside where the dead ones had been cut down. There's a move afoot to replant disease-resistant elms, but mostly, it seems, on the other side of the state.

Barn Owl, Yolo County California