These photos are of what nature has shown me over the last week or so.
Piece of a hornet’s nest blew down onto the snow, so I had to get a picture of it. It looks very abstract and I wonder if I would guess that it was a picture of part of a hornet’s nest if I didn’t already know.
When I took pictures of it with the new Panasonic macro master camera, it was even more abstract, but also more interesting and beautiful.
Common gold speck lichen (Candelariella vitellina) grows on granite rock in full sun. This crustose lichen grows in small patches in this area so I always need a macro lens for it. The fruit bearing bodies of this lichen are tiny, flat discs-so small that I’m not even sure that I could get a picture of them.
I took a picture of turtlehead blossoms (Chelone glabra) last fall and wrote that I didn’t really see any resemblance to a real turtle’s head. A friend said just the opposite-he thought the blossoms looked just like turtle heads. Now, on the other side of the solstice, the seed pods do remind me of turtle heads- a bunch of hungry, snapping turtle heads. According to the U.S. Forest Service this native plant is also called balmony, bitter herb, codhead, fish mouth, shellflower, snakehead, snake mouth, and turtle bloom.
The hawthorn (Crataegus species) is a tree that doesn’t mess around and is not about to be used as browse for moose and deer. Its 1-1/2 inch long thorns are every bit as sharp as they look, and they keep the browsers away. The unlucky person who finds themselves tangled in a hawthorn thicket will most likely need some new clothes. And maybe some time to heal.
I like the way the branching structure of shrubs and trees is so visible in the winter .This is a low bush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) no more than 8 inches tall.
Something about this oak leaf on top of the snow grabbed me, but I’m not sure what it was. Maybe that it seemed so alone.
Rose hips are the fruit of a rose. In this case the plant is a multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora,) which is considered an invasive species. Its small red hips are one of the most colorful things in the winter landscape. Unfortunately, birds like them and spread them everywhere. I think I could have worked on the depth of field a little more in this picture, but you get the idea.
Intermediate woodfern (Dryopteris spinulosa var. intermedia) doesn’t let a little snow slow it down. This is one of our native evergreen ferns and is also called American shield fern, evergreen woodfern, or fancy fern. This clump I saw growing on a boulder was smaller than my hand.
I drive by this clump of tall grass quite often and have admired not only its 4 foot height, but also its resilience. It’s been through two snow storms and still stands proud as the tallest weed in the field.
I took a couple of pictures of a cluster of oak leaves that interested me because of the way they hung-they seemed to all be clasping each other, trying to stay warm. When I got home and looked at the photo though, I didn’t like it. Then I cropped it just to see what would happen, and it became an entirely different picture that I do like.
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is, in the eyes of others, only a green thing that stands in the way ~William Blake
Thanks for stopping in.
My son and I spotted a wasp’s nest/hive when we were hiking up to Lake Blanche last Sunday…he thought it was pretty cool that birds could make such a nest…he was less impressed with it when I shared that it was from wasps…intriguing, but eh….
I like what you’re doing with your macro lens, Allen…and do rather enjoy that photo of the cropped oak leaves…well done.
That’s funny, but also great that your son is learning about nature through you.
Something about those oak leaves grabbed me-I’m glad they grabbed someone else too! Thanks again.
Yep, kinda funny…and he’s almost 30yo!
Those oak leaves were very attention grabbing…you’re welcome, Allen.
I wonder if that lichen is the same one that I see so much of here. there are cliffs with very large patches of that color on them.
It might be the same one. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of yellow lichen. My lichen book only shows 3 yellow ones that grow on stone in this area.
A wonderful set of photos! I love the natural abstract of the hornet’s nest. The texture and colors are so interesting. I also really like your shot of the turtlehead blossoms: they really do like they’re snapping away! The composition, color, and texture of the oak leaves photo are all very nice. The leaves in that shot almost look velvety to me.
Thanks Melanie. This is when I have time to explore shapes, colors and textures that aren’t often noticed because there isn’t such an overwhelming amount of growth going on like there is at other times of year. I don’t think everyone likes macro photography but I find it really interesting. Those oak leaves look velvety to me too-they have an unusual texture that I wasn’t expecting.
As soon as I saw the hornet’s nest I thought to myself, “Ah! A hornet’s nest!”
The rose hips remind me of a popular song that mostly bugs me to death. You might recognize it:
“Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love
In the spring becomes the rose”
It’s “The Rose by Bette Midler. The problem with this song is that it should have been written more like this:
“Just remember in the winter
Just above the bitter snow
Hangs the seed that ruins my analogy
Because I don’t know my botany.”
😉
Now that’s funny. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that song, but rose hips are filled with seeds and if they somehow fell off the bush and got snowed on, Bette would be accurate. But that’s a lot of iffing. Bitter snows?
Glad you recognized the hornet’s nest. I really did wonder if I would have or not for awhile, but then this morning I realized that I knew what it was when I found it, so that was a real DUH moment.
It looks like you are getting the macro function of your camera down well! As for the rose hips, maybe humans should try to beat the birds to them, since you can brew a tea from them that is very healthy for us.
You’re right-rose hips have more vitamin C than citrus fruits, but the hips on this rose are about the size of a pea so you’d have to pick a lot of them.
Your beautiful photos today really seem to emphasize shapes and textures as you really went in close. I think it’s one of benefits of winter that we are not distracted by bright colors, which allows us to look more closely at these other elements.
I agree Mike. There are few bright colors to be seen in winter so I usually look a little closer than I would at other times. It’s a great time of year to see many things that you wouldn’t ordinarily pay attention to. It’s also a good chance to truly see what plants look like year round, and so helps with winter identification of them.