Camera Critters: Farmer Bob's Heifers: The Jersey Boss

When Farmer Bob got this heifer she immediately proclaimed herself boss of the heifers. She uses her horns to push and intimidate the others — and she always gets her way! When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

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Camera Critters

My other Camera Critters post features more of Farmer Bob's heifers.

Technorati Tags: Jersey heifer 
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Garden Loosestrife

Lysimachia punctata

This plant is in gardens and also wild. It is not the same loosestrife as the invasive loosestrife we should be eradicating. When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati Tags: Lysimachia punctata, garden loosestrife 
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Flowers & Moth

This looks like a sunflower or coneflower. It grew on a leafless stem about two feet (0.6 m) tall. I can't find this in any of my flower books. If you know, please tell me!

White spring moth (Lomographa vestaliata) on common milkweed.

All photos open full-size in a new window when clicked.

Technorati Tags: Lomographa vestaliata, white spring moth, common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca
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The Aphid Farm

The photos with adult ants have not been processed in Photoshop.

The small black oval creatures are the aphids.
These photos have been manipulated in Photoshop so that I could see the aphids.

Earlier this spring, I decided to let one of my rhubarb plants go to seed because I wanted to see the process and because I don't like yellow rhubarb. This week, Wingnut and I found that there were hundreds of ants on the rhubarb stalk. We have been trying to photograph the ants but it's been difficult. The light and weather have not cooperated. I still have problems focusing the Canon. Today I finally got some shots that were good enough for me to see what was going on on the rhubarb stalk. I had to manipulate the shadows and highlights to see, and I saw a huge aphid farm.

When I need information on bug behavior, I go to Bug Girl's blog. She keeps up with the latest research and this is what I found: ants may actually drug the aphids in order to control them so that they can harvest the aphid honeydew. Go and read more at the blog. I will go back out and try to get better photos.

When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati Tags: aphid farm, ants, honeydew
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Moose

I think it is a young bull. He came down my driveway, crossed the road and wandered over the beaver bog. You can see how tall the grass is and how deep the water is. When Amy took the dogs for their walk this morning they wanted to smell the moose tracks for quite a long, long time.

When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.
Cross-posted at meeyauw.

Technorati Tags: Alces alces, moose
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Northern Crescent Butterfly

These photos were modified in Photoshop to remove shadows so that you could see facial features better. The colors of the wings are, therefore, not as bright as seen in real life. When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

See also Northern Crescent Butterfly

Technorati Tags: Phyciodes cocyta, Northern Crescent butterfly
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The Life Cycle of Interrupted Ferns: Part 2: The Interruption Appears

This is the second of a three part series on the life cycle of interrupted ferns from May 4 - June 15. In this installment you will see the fiddleheads growing larger, the ferns growing taller and the spore appear. The first two photos, above and below, are from May 14 — 10 days after the tiny fiddleheads appeared on the bank of my brook in the woods. The way the fronds grow is so mathematically rich that I focused on them entirely.

The photograph below is from May 17. You can see how tall the ferns have grown.

This is the only Vermont fern that has the spore in the middle of the frond — which is why it is called "interrupted." In this photo you can see this clearly. Click on any of the photographs to see them full-size in a new window. I first spotted the spore on May 17. The last two photos are from May 24 — seven days later. The spore are more pronounced. Please click here and here to see macros of the spore itself.

I will continue this series with one more post for summer growth. In the fall and winter I will pick it up again to see what happens to interrupted ferns then.

Related posts:

The Life Cycle of Interrupted Ferns, part 1

ABC Wednesday: S is for Spore

Technorati Tags: Osmunda regalis, interrupted fern
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Arctic Skipper

Ordinarily I wouldn't post so many photos of one species but this Arctic skipper is "high priority conservation" in Europe. I don't know exactly what that means, but I assume it means this tiny butterfly is endangered. Identified at bugguide.net.

When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati Tags: Carterocephalus palaemon, Arctic Skipper
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Vermont State Flower

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
Used by farmers in crop rotation to restore nutrients, especially nitrogen, to soil.

When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati Tags: Red Clover, Trifolium pratense
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ABC Wednesday: Common Whitetail

Common Whitetail Dragonfly (Libellula lydia)
When clicked, this photo will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati Tags: Common Whitetail, Libellula lydia, dragonfly

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Milkweed and Lupine

above and below: Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Lupine (genus Lupinus)

Photographed today at the Glover town clerk office, where grandson Wingnut and I went to sign up for swimming lessons. His photos of these flowers can be seen here. When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati Tags: lupine, Lupinus, Asclepias syriaca, common milkweed
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Swamp Dewberry (Bristly Dewberry)

Rubus hispidus

Rose family; native
Photos taken after many days of rain so that the blossoms are bedraggled.

George helps.

"These plants and the related blackberries and raspberries (both in Rubus) are among the most important summer foods for songbirds and game birds as well as for many mammals." When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.

Technorati Tags: Rubus hispidus, swamp dewberry
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