Oh, the indignity. (I was conflicted as to where I should put this – in humor or here. But since we were talking about owls…)
(I was actully looking for “moist owlettes”. 
)
4 Likes
I’m sorry if I offended anyone by posting a kind of sad rather than funny picture. I have no clue about why the bird was in captivity, and a noble creature should not be made fun of. (The incongruity is rather startling, though.)
1 Like
If that was directed by any chance at me and my deleted post I only deleted my post because the image would not load just kept showing text so I deleted it.
2 Likes
On a walk in the woods in my back yard. These are mostly maple, though a few beech, wild cherry and butternut sprinkle in. Most of our ash have died off with the emerald ash borer. I can barely tell any difference when they are bare in the winter, just by looking at their tops. Heavy deer grazing keeps the undergrowth down, I think. This morning view reminds me of a Gothic cathedral.
4 Likes
Could not sleep. Not sure why. The last 10 days now I’ve not slept more than 4 hours a night. If I could pass out right now I would get 4 hours and 1 minute of sleep. So instead decided to just go outside. But outside it’s really lovely and bright. I’ve noticed when the moon is close to full, and their is cloud cover across most of the sky but not “full of water” they just light up. Like when you put a like behind a thin white blanket and the whole thing lights up.
I’ll probably end up just grabbing my sleeping bag and sleeping outside by the creek. The water is relaxing and as the sun is coming up and the birds all begin singing it’s great. It’s why I’ll always live in a forest. I stayed over at a friends house few weeks back and when I woke up and went outside it was so quiet because she lives in this subdivision and there are almost no trees there.
5 Likes
I know this is not a exceptionally beautiful plant or photo but I always really enjoy finding “ fairy rings” of plants or mushrooms. Always remember as a kid the fascination I had with them because I was told that it meant a fairy took a nap there lol. My grandmother use to also cut up fruits and seeds in a small bowl and we would set them outside in hollow trunks and under bushes and a few days later come back and it was empty xd. I thought that it was brownies and other mythological beings eating it.
Also while cleaning and then taking a break my youngest cat, Uhyre. He still prefers to lay belly up and have it and his chin rubbed xd.
I’m really looking forward to summer and late spring as well. Planning several swamp hikes and hitting up a lot more creeks that are less than 2-3 feet deep. Preferably clear. Murky rivers that are chest high with lots of aquatic plants growing in it are always a bit scary.
Never get use to accidentally stepping on a large 40+ pound snapping turtle and feeling it rip out from beneath you.
4 Likes
Do you run into cottonmouths? We often take salt with us for leeches, though I don’t do a lot of wading lately. I enjoy your nature photos. What kind of plant is in the top 2 photos?
It snowed yesterday morning, but with unseasonably warm 40 degree weather, the Lake Michigan shoreline showed some bare sand last evening. My wife and I took some Indian food down to watch the sundown.
4 Likes
Can’t quite figure out that second photo. At first I thought it was frozen waves. Do the great lakes freeze in winter sometimes? I know they’re large enough to have some big waves. Somehow I can’t imagine it freezing like that though.
1 Like
I believe it is from ice forming then wind and currents force it towards shore, and it mounds up like the Himalayan mountains when India hit Asia. Here is a more dramatic example:
2 Likes
Geez, looks like the bridge in the background or other structures could be endangered with those masses and forces. That is amazing. Never saw anything like it.
1 Like
I think they all have, at one time or another. I’m sure Superior does – even though it’s the largest, it is the northmost.
2 Likes
Yes, the ice does pile up on the edges. It can get up to 20 or more feet thick, but in chunks that look like icebergs. If the shelf is thick enough, many do walk out to the bergs, but it’s very treacherous. There are lots of weak spots. Lake Michigan nearly freezes over on very cold winters. Here’s a neat animation
Historical Ice Animation: NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory - Ann Arbor, MI, USA
1 Like
Fantastic late winter. It’s 72°f with a slight breeze. The water is still a bit cold but manageable. Looking forward to spring forward so after work I’ll start having 2 hours roughly of sunlight to kayak the coast, hike the dunes and begin my snake tracking. Can’t wait until the lows are in the 80s though.
I’m told that those holes found in shells are from octopuses breaking through to get to the clams.
3 Likes
Mantis shrimp? (I have no clue what their range is.)
3 Likes
Yeah I see cottonmouths often. At two different times I’ve even had one climb on to my kayak. Which does scare me a little bit but often they know I’m there and so when they get on they will be at the very tip and curl up. When it happens I think that a turtle must be after them or something.
As for the plants I have no idea. I’m not good enough to identify a ground cover by its leaves yet unless I already know it.
1 Like
Not so much around the world, but around another world. A chap’s put up a YouTube video made from the 4K Perseverance Rover panoramic photos… and it is breath-taking. Full screen recommended:
6 Likes
Amazing stuff. I was looking at Mars last night, it is the reddish light just a little to the left of Pleiades, if your sky is dark enough to see. To the right of Orion. (facing west on both). Of course, like football games, you can see it better on the video screen.
2 Likes
