Monday in Nature Weekly Photo August 25, 2014

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<p><strong>Basic Guidelines</strong>: Nature based subject matter. Please, declare captive subjects. Keep your image at/under 700 pixels on the long axis for in-line viewing and try to keep file size under 300kb. Note that this includes photos hosted off-site at Flicker, Photobucket, your own site, etc. Feel free to link your image to a larger version.<br>

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<p>Monday Greetings,<br>

It's amazing how much conditions can vary from one place to the next within a locale. Autumn starts creeping in on one hillside but at a nearby lake a new brood of Wood Ducks sit motionless, waiting for a signal. Two ends of a north facing slope sharing a common ridge line seem like different worlds, one teeming with fungi and the other seemingly barren. It's just the nature of nature.<br>

I hope you've all had a great week with lots of variation. No need for a boring start to the week when Monday in Nature is the beginning.</p><div></div>

<p>If the week needs a jump start, this will do it. Wild mint (<em>Mentha</em> <em>arvensis</em>) aromatic & tastes great. It's tea will get the week going.</p><div></div>

<p>Just another summer butterfly this week. But it's nice to shoot them while they're around. Shot with the Sigma 150-500 at 400mm, iso 1600, f/8, 1/500.</p><div></div>

<p>I spent last week hiking on the Appalachian trail, first in CT, then in the White Mountains of NH. The weather was great at first but deteriorated somewhat later on. Here is an image of Mt. Clay and the Great Gulf just before sun and blue sky disappeared for the rest of the day.</p><div></div>

<p>Butterfly landing on yellow flower. Seen at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. </p><div></div>

<p><img src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaellgregory/14826945839/" alt="" /><br>

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Smyrna Delaware.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/655126006"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/IDAAQSDEPA7328wLB0g6O4fS2H02me-YZX8vIOKsAJ57faErFd7wtUla3n_iYzV-wO8Vhcwq7OBcWxI54LM=s1200" alt="" /></a></p>

<h1 id="name"><a href="http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/655126006">Juvenile Black Spiny-tailed Iguana</a></h1>

<h2>Ctenosaura similis</h2>

<p>While walking at my local park over the weekend I saw this butterfly and fortunately I had my little Canon S100 camera with me to take the shot.</p>

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17844436-md.jpg" alt="S100_nature 153" width="680" height="522" border="0" /></center>

<p>Fog drenched spider web.</p><div></div>

<p>Amanita rubescens</p><div></div>

<p>Backyard sighting</p><div></div>

<p>Grass</p><div></div>

<p>Curt, really nice, but take a look at <em>Lepiota americana</em> and <a href="http://www.mushroomexpert.com/leucoagaricus_americanus.html"><em>Leucoagaricus americanus</em></a>, different names for the same thing. <a href="http://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_rubescens.html"><em>Amanita rubescens</em> </a> does not grow in clusters and has a very different base. You'll see the difference. The wood chips are also prime habitat for Lepiota and the double ring is characteristic of Lepiota. It can be easy to confuse them.<br>

It's a very nice image.</p>

<p>from the Sandy Ridge Wetlands friday afternoon......there were probably just as many deer as there were egrets and herons</p><div></div>

<p>Winter Variation down in Oz.<br>

On my sabbatical I managed to travel to South Australia and see one of the true wonders of nature, the annual gathering of Giant Cuttlefish off Whyalla. For the last two years the populations had crashed so I originally hadn't scheduled it into my trip. But then I heard the numbers were up, way up, so I wasn't going to miss one of the true wonders of nature.<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17819265-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="382" /><br>

Giant Cuttlefish, north of Whyalla, South Australia. Pentax WG-3.</p>

 

<p><strong>Big Handsome Buck Poses on Ridge</strong></p>

<p><a title="Big Handsome Buck Poses on Ridge by David Stephens, on Flickr" href=" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3912/15011339302_5eaaff7b00_c.jpg" alt="Big Handsome Buck Poses on Ridge" width="800" height="534" /></a></p>

<p>Recent rains has encouraged new growth in upstate NY. - these fungi have re-appeared on the same butternut tree as last year. Two days before photo they were only little nubbins emerging from cracks in the bark. Laura, if you would, please identify - thought they were bracket(artist) fungi but they never hardened off last year.</p>

<p>Attached wrong photo, trying again :-)</p><div></div>

<p>Bob - I'll guess at <em>Laetiporus sulphureus</em>, but Laura and Rick are the experts!</p>

<p>I've not posted here for a little while; spent much of the summer doing fieldwork and was usually away from my computer on a Monday. This is a labyrinth spider <em>Agelina labyrinthica</em>; for once on its web rather than lurking within it.</p>

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<p>From a trip to a butterflygarden;</p><div></div>

<p>Late Summer in my back yard.....</p><div></div>

<p>Didn't even have to go any further than the back yard to get the sunflower shot.</p><div></div>

<p>Impressive stuff, everyone! Especially Jonathan's spider!</p>

<p>...and with the picture this time.</p><div></div>