This photo isn’t really about Mount Monadnock; it’s about the incredible shades of spring green that the surrounding forests are clothed in right now. I’ve tried several times to capture these colors on “film” and have failed. Even this photo doesn’t do them justice, but it’s the closest I’ve been able to come.
The long antennas on this insect tell me it isn’t a hoverfly, but what look like little knobs at the ends of the antennae have me wondering if it’s a bee or not because I can’t seem to find an example of a bee with those knobs. A carpenter bee maybe? Whatever it is, it seemed to want its picture taken. I was shooting over this branch focused on something else when it walked down the branch and stopped right in front of the lens. And then it sat there letting me snap as many photos as I wanted. Usually the minute I point the camera at them they’re off and gone. Maybe it was the sunny spot on the branch that attracted it.
Some friends had a robin’s nest in their holly bush so I snuck my camera in and took a quick couple of shots after momma flew off. They look green to me but my color finding software sees blue and turquoise.
The same friends that have the robin’s nest deal in antiques and found this stuffed and mounted juvenile black bear at a tag sale recently. If it was standing on its hind legs those front paws would fit comfortably right on your shoulders as if you were about to waltz. Being surprised by a cousin of this guy on a trail wouldn’t be good at all, so you have to be aware of what’s going on around you. The black bear population is on the rise in New Hampshire and I’ve even seen them in my own yard.
Someone once thought that the fertile fronds of cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) looked like cinnamon sticks and that’s how it got its common name. The reddish brown, fertile fronds appear after the green, infertile ones. Once the fern grows its fertile fronds it stops growing and puts all of its energy into producing spores.
Many ferns have their spore bearing sporangia on the undersides of their leaves but cinnamon and other ferns in the Osmunda family grow them clustered on small leaflets on fertile fronds. The sporangia are tiny round growths that will dry as they mature until finally splitting open to release the spores.
The lighter green color in this photo means that great scented liverworts (Conocephalum conicum) are showing plenty of new growth, but I still haven’t seen any of their umbrella-like fruiting structures.
I don’t have any idea what is going on here except maybe that the fungus that looks like bread dough has a fungus on it. The larger of the two was as big as a marble and was growing on a pine tree.
Splash cups on juniper haircap moss (Polytrichum juniperinum) are as rare as hen’s teeth in this area. Mosses in the polytrichum genus have male and female reproductive organs on separate plants, so when you see these little cups you know you’ve found a male plant that is ready to reproduce.
The male moss produces sperm in these splash cups and when a raindrop falls into the cup the sperm is splashed out. If there is enough water to swim in, the sperm will then swim to the female plant and fertilize the eggs. Each cup, about half the diameter of a pencil eraser, looks like a tiny flower with its rosettes of tiny orange leaves surrounding the reproductive parts.
This spider magically appeared in the photo I took of a small leaved rhododendron blossom. It’s a tiny little thing and I didn’t even see it while I was taking the photo. I’m not sure about its name. I know it isn’t a crab spider but that’s about as far as I was able to get.
I think this creature is the caterpillar of a viceroy butterfly. It tries to look like a bird dropping so it doesn’t get eaten. It looks to me like it was successful.
Giant swallowtail butterfly caterpillars also resemble bird droppings but they don’t have the horns that this one does. It is said that viceroy caterpillars feed at night and stay still during the day when birds are out and about, but this one was crawling along a twig in daylight. It couldn’t have been much more than an inch long.
For over three years now I’ve been practicing photographing cresting waves on the Ashuelot River and I’ve learned a little by doing so. Like a great blue heron I stand at the ready and wait for the perfect time to strike, because just a fraction of a second either way can make a big difference in how advanced the curl of the wave is. Click the shutter too soon and you have a strange lump of green water, too late and you have only white foam and spray. In this spot the best colors and sharpest detail are found in the morning when the sun is over my shoulder and the river is before me. Noon or later means washed out color and less detail, and on cloudy days trying for stop action isn’t worth the effort.
If you take the time to sit and watch for a while, and then close your eyes and just listen to the crash of the waves, a river will speak to you in its own way. After a time you’ll come to feel as well as see and hear its rhythm, and the rejects will become fewer as a result.
Nature is man’s teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence. ~Alfred Bernhard Nobel
Thanks for stopping in.
Your bee is very interesting, I’ve never seen in like that. If we had bears in our woods it might make me think twice before wandering around, the biggest thing I’ve seen, apart from a pony, is a rabbit. The wave photo is lovely. I’ve stood trying to capture them myself so I know how hard it is.
That bee is a real head scratcher. Even Amelia, who knows everything about bees, doesn’t recognize it. Yes, having animals that big in the woods would make you think differently, I’m sure. Especially when the berries are ripe.
I have a lot of fun with the waves but catching one at the right time can be difficult. Like most things though, it takes practice.
A stunning post! I love the thought of you waiting for the perfect wave! the photographs are brilliant. I thought at first you had a bee warming itself up in the sunshine but I agree the antenna are more like a moth and you do get moths with clear wings or female almost wingless ones. Do you know any “moth” people? Amelia
Thank you. I’ve spent a lot of time waiting for the perfect wave, but it’s been enjoyable. I don’t know any moth people. I should probably check with the people at bug guide.net. They’re very good at identifying insects.
A’mazing photos of those caterpillars. I’d say they were very successful at making themselves look unappetizing. And I have to say I don’t feel too deprived that we have no black bears in our area.
Yes, that caterpillar is about as unappetizing as anything I’ve seen but you have to wonder how the species ever came up with such camouflage.
Black bears are getting more comfortable being around people but I can’t imagine them visiting Chicago.
All your pictures are so interesting … the river picture .. is beautiful beyond description!
Thanks, I’ve had a lot of practice!
Wonderful posting, Allen. You found lots of interesting plants and insects, but I couldn’t help but be especially drawn in by the gorgeous colors of the robin eggs and the amazing shot of the water (and like others, I initially thought the bear was alive),
Thanks Mike. Nature has many surprises and colors are one of them. The range of colors we can see out there is pretty amazing. Beautiful colors can even be found on flies, as you’ve shown in your latest post.
cool pictures Allen, when I first saw the black bear photo I thought you had run into a black bear but that was before I read your comments. I bet you could scare a few people on the trail if you set-up that bear near by. 🙂
Love the flowing water picture! Is the dark color of the water caused by snow run off?
Thanks Michael. Yes, I’m sure I’d hear some screams if I put that stuffed bear near a trail. I’d probably be chased out of the forest when they found out it wasn’t alive though!
The water in that part of the river always looks very green to me but I’m not sure what causes it. The morning light has a lot to do with it though-if you take a photo from the same spot in the afternoon it looks very different.
Another set of beautiful photos. The shades of green are fantastic.
Thanks Sue, I’m glad you can see them. It looks like one big green lump to me.
Do you ever try cheating and use continuous shooting mode for your water shots? It makes for a tedious amount of looking through pictures but may well give you a better shot than you thought that you had taken from time to time.
What an interesting post this was. If I had had you as a teacher when I was young, I might have learned something.
To be honest I had to look in the user’s manual to find out if my camera even had a continuous shooting mode. It does, but I haven’t any idea how to use it yet. I probably wouldn’t if I did, actually. I like the challenge of trying to catch each wave just at the right moment. It makes me feel as if I have “tuned in” to the river.
I often wish I’d had a naturalist teach me about nature when I was younger but I had to read about what I was seeing. It’s a very slow, plodding way to learn.
Great post and photos, the Robin eggs look beautiful , I have been on the Moors near were I live and quite a few of the mosses are fruiting and look stunning at the moment like your Haircap moss. It’s nice to see all the colour in your post after all that snow you had.
Amanda xx
Thank you Amanda. I agree-it’s great to see some color, and this is such a colorful time of year. I’m always watching for mosses fruiting but that’s the only one I’ve seen lately.
Well, You’ve outdone yourself with this one! As other have said, lots of fascinating information in this one!
I’ll start with a tip, for the foliage photos, go down, way down, with your exposure settings. I’ll start at -2/3 and go down from there, and early morning light helps a lot.
The bear had me startled for a second, black bears are normally more afraid of us, but if it’s a mother protecting her young, you never know. I see them once in a while in northern Michigan, and a good yell is all it takes to start them heading for cover, but I always look for young before I yell.
I think that the object attached to the fungi that looks like bread dough may be an insect egg case, but I’m not positive on that.
Great take on getting good photos of the waves on the river!
Thanks Jerry. I tend to underexpose most shots on sunny days but this one was tough because the breaks in the clouds meant some parts of the shot were in sun and others were in shadow. If I dropped the EV too much the mountain was too dark and if I raised it to lighten the mountain the white cloud highlights became blown out. I should have picked a day with blue sky and puffy white clouds!
I do not want to meet a momma bear and her cubs on any trail at any time, but since I spend a lot of time in the woods I know it’s inevitable that I will meet a bear at some point. What I will do when that day comes is anyone’s guess. I’m hoping it has read the same books I have and knows that it is supposed to be more scared of me than I am of it.
An insect case is certainly a good guess for the unknown growth on the fungus. I didn’t think of that.
Reblogged this on Dawn of Divine Rays.
Thank you Agnes, for another re-blog.
You’re very welcome, Allen. Sending bright Reiki blessings your way, – Agnes
Loved your reflections on the timing of the wave!
Thanks! It’s a glimpse into how I do what I do.
Absolutely riveting, educational and stunningly beautiful. Thank you for brightening what is here in Nottingham UK an abysmal rainy horrid day……
Thank you Sue. We’re very cloudy and cool here today. It seems like we can’t get more than two sunny days in a row this spring.
We are the same ……
Fascinating information on the splash cups on juniper haircap moss. I know what you mean about the greens of spring. It’s difficult to do them justice. For me it’s their translucent quality that, when backlit, creates a stained glass effect.
Thanks! True, backlit foliage can be magical. What amazes me is all of the different shades of green and that’s what I was really trying to show, but they are very subtle and turn out to all look pretty much the same in a photo. I’ve noticed that they go from almost white green to very deep green, but the camera can’t seem to catch a lot of it.
The picture of the bear startled me, lol. I thought perhaps you and it crossed paths and I was glad thinking you had come away unscathed! Interesting how animals and insects camouflage themselves. I wonder what the average human would do to become “invisible”? Trial and error certainly paid off with the wave shot! Lovely!
Thanks Laura. I was wondering, if I met that bear on the trail, if I’d be here writing about it! I’ve heard a lot of bloggers talk about becoming “invisible” to animals by standing next to trees, wearing black clothing, etc. but I’ve never tried it. It’s an interesting subject.
It looks to me like your bee has damaged its wings and that might explain its reluctance to fly away.
Thanks Jim-I wondered about that too. That wing doesn’t look quite right, but I’m not familiar enough with bees to be 100% certain.
Lots of flora and fauna here! Thanks for these excellent shots and informative dialog. I wish I had your patience, it certainly pays off in your posts. Wonderful!
Thanks Martha. Nature has taught me more about patience than I could have learned any other way.
Very much worth reading and I loved the wave picture you finished with. Moving water always fascinates me.
Thank you Susan. I find rivers and streams very relaxing, and fascinating, too.
Wonderful informative and inspiring post. Brilliant photographs and I love the last one of the cresting waves, your patience has rewarded you well.
Thank you Julie. That’s all it really takes is a little patience, and nature teaches you that.