Things I’ve Seen
August 1, 2020 by New Hampshire Garden Solutions
Good Morning everyone. I’m sorry this post is later than usual but I woke to no internet this morning, and there isn’t much you can do about that.

The monarch butterflies have returned and have gone straight for the Joe Pye weed, which they seem to love. Nature has its own rhythm but I can’t think of anything that illustrates it more beautifully than the monarch butterfly.

I hoped the monarch would open its wings for me but this was the best I could do.

Bull thistles are attracting more insects this year than I’ve ever seen. Here was a silver spotted skipper and a bumblebee sharing this one.

And here was an eastern black swallowtail on another. What a beautiful thing; I think this was the only one I’ve seen.

Early one morning I found this pretty moth resting on a leaf. Imagine sleeping on a leaf, waiting for the sun to warm and wake you at dawn. I took a few photos and it never moved. I think its name is the large lace-border moth. It has a lacy fringe on its trailing wing edges.

I never knew there was such a difference in the size of milkweed beetles. I’m assuming one is a male and the other female. It seems like every other time I’ve seen them they’ve been the same size.

I found another insect I had never seen before one morning; a dobsonfly. Luckily a coworker knew what it was. It was quite big; it must have been 3-4 inches long including its big, fierce looking pincers. Actually they’re called mandibles and males, which this one is, use them to fight off interlopers. I’ve read that these insects can give you quite a painful bite but it is more warning than anything serious.

Here’s a closer look at the dobsonflies many eyes. The larvae are called hellgrammites or toe biters and are aquatic. They are eaten by fish and are often used for bait by fisher folk. They can also give you quite a bite, hence the name toe biters. They stay in the larval stage for one to three years before leaving the water as a male or female dobsonfly. Once they leave the water their lifespan is shortened to three days for males and eight to ten days for females. During that time it’s all about continuation of the species.

One morning a dragonfly flew off a pickerel weed stalk and landed bang, right on my left shoulder. It was odd because I saw the dragonfly on the pickerel weed and then saw it fly at me as if in slow motion, as if it had it all planned out. Luckily I’m right handed so I was able to get my small macro camera out of its case on my belt and get this photo. But then there was a problem; how do I get the dragonfly to fly away? I put my camera away and put my finger on my shoulder and much to my surprise the dragonfly climbed aboard.

But then there was another problem; how could I get a shot of it on my right finger when I had to use my right hand to take the photo? So, I put my left my left finger up to my right finger and sure enough, it climbed right on just like my grandmother’s parakeets used to do. I was able to take several photos but since the sun hadn’t come up over the hills I was able to salvage only this one by adjusting the exposure in post processing. But then I faced another problem; how to get the dragonfly off my finger. I wiggled it gently but it held right on, so then I put my finger up to the siding of a building and it finally crawled off and flew away. I love it when insects and animals decide they want to be friends. It happens more often than I would have ever thought.

I thought the color of this dragonfly would make it very easy to identify but that hasn’t proven to be so. I’ve included it here so you can simply enjoy its beauty as I have. Beauty doesn’t need a name and as time passes I find that I care less about the names of things and more about their beauty. In 1970 Ray Stevens sang a song called “Everything is Beautiful.” At the time I didn’t believe it; I thought well that would be great if it were true, but as I’ve come down through the years I’ve found that it is indeed true. Everything is beautiful, in its own way.

Up to this point we’ve seen a lot of relatively big insects, but now imagine one so small it can actually feed between the upper and lower surfaces of a leaf. That’s a leaf miner and that’s amazing, and that’s why nature study can change the way you look at life.

In a normal year I would have done at least one mushroom post by now and possibly two, but we’ve had so little rain until recently mushrooms just weren’t happening. Then it rained a little each week for a couple of weeks and I saw this mycelium on a log, so I knew I should see mushrooms soon. If you think of a mushroom as a vascular plant, which it isn’t, the mycelium would be its roots and the above ground part would be its stalk, and its spores would be its fruit.

Yellow spindle corals (Clavulinopsis fusiformis) lick up out of the soil like tiny flames. Each cylindrical finger is about the same diameter as a piece of cooked spaghetti. The tips are usually pointed as they are here. This species usually grows in tight clusters, often in the hard packed soil on the side of the trail, which is where I found these. Because they grow where they do you often find them broken from being stepped on, as some of these were.

If you find a shelf like fungus that shines like it has been varnished growing on an eastern hemlock tree then you’ve found a hemlock varnish shelf mushroom (Ganoderma tsugae.) I show this mushroom regularly on this blog because I see it regularly, but not often in its mature form as it was here. Brick red, often quite large, and shiny.

I’m seeing quite a few boletes all of the sudden so I’ve ben doing some reading, trying to learn more about them. There are a few with red caps and yellow stems, but I think I know how to tell them apart.

When you touch the spore surface or gently squeeze the stem and where you’ve touched turns very blue, you have found Boletus pseudosensibilis. If the surfaces turn only moderately blue, you’ve found Boletus sensibilis. This one stained what I thought was quite intense blue immediately when I touched it.

This bolete did not stain blue and its pore surface on the underside of the cap was bright yellow, so it must be Boletus bicolor. Of course this is all very interesting but these mushrooms can very greatly even among the same species so I’d never eat any of them without an expert identification, and I hope you won’t either.

I rolled over a log and here was this tiny being on the side of it. I believe it is called a cotton based coral fungus (Lentaria byssiseda,) which gets its name from the creamy white, furry, feltlike, mycelial patch that it arises from. It is a pliant but tough little thing that could comfortably sit on a penny with room to spare. According to my mushroom guides they can be whitish, pink or gray.

Sometimes you don’t realize you’ve been looking for a thing until you find it, and that was the case with these Indian pipes. I’ve seen many thousands of Indian pipes (Monotropa uniflora) but these were just coming up out of the soil, and that’s something I’ve never seen.

Of course this is what Indian pipes usually look like when we notice them.

The female spore capsule (Sporangium) of juniper haircap moss is barrel shaped with a beaked end cap or lid called the operculum. When the time is right this end cap will fall off and release the spores to the wind but I’ve never seen it happen, so this year I took an end cap off myself and I was surprised by the cloud of spores that came out of the capsule. They were like dust and must have numbered in the thousands, so it’s no wonder I see so many mosses. The capsules are about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch long and about 3/16 of an inch in diameter and are a challenge to photograph. Since they’re too small for my tired eyes to be able to see any real detail in person I was pleasantly surprised to see the line of tiny water droplets when I saw the photo. They must have been very small indeed.

I’m guessing that we’ll have a great blueberry crop this year. The bears will eat well.

The blue of blue bead lily berries (Clintonia borealis) is quite different from the blue of blueberries; what I call electric blue. The seeds in these berries can take two years to germinate and adult plants can take twelve years to finally show their yellow, lily like blossoms. This plant is also called “cow tongue” because of the shape of its leaves. Deer, chipmunks and many other animals and birds love the berries and I often have trouble finding them because they get eaten so fast. Native Americans used the plant medicinally to treat burns and infections, and bears are said to be attracted to its root.

These blue bead lily berries were much darker and closer to a blueberry blue, but I’m not sure why.

In last Saturday’s post I was complaining about how hot it was and this stone illustrates it perfectly, because it was sweating. Porous rocks have the ability to absorb water and when it’s hot they can sweat, much like we do. I see this fairly regularly. There was no other explanation on this day because it hadn’t rained recently.

Congratulations are in order, because you’ve made it to the end of the longest post I’ve ever done. I hope it was worth your time and I also hope, as always, that it will entice you outside to see these things for yourself. Nature is endlessly fascinating and always beautiful so I hope you’ll get outside and let it change your life. I thought I’d leave you with this shot of the view I see when the sun comes up over the hills every morning, just before I start my work day. It’s one of my favorite scenes and yes, I do know how lucky I am. I hope all of you are every bit as lucky.
Seeing, in the finest and broadest sense, means using your senses, your intellect, and your emotions. It means encountering your subject matter with your whole being. It means looking beyond the labels of things and discovering the remarkable world around you. ~Freeman Patterson
Thanks for stopping in.
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Posted in Nature, Things I've Seen | Tagged Ashuelot River, Black Swallowtail Butterfly, Blue Bead Lily Berries, Blue Dragonfly, Blueberries, Boletus Bicolor, Boletus pseudosensibilis, Boletus sensibilis, Canon SX40 HS, Cotton Based Coral Fungus, Dawn in the Forest, Dobsonfly, Friendly Dragonfly, Hancock New Hampshire, Hemlock Varnish Shelf Fungus, Indian Pipes, Juniper Haircap Moss Spore Capsules, Keene, Large Lace Border Moth, Monarch Butterfly, Mushroom Mycelium, Mushrooms, Native Plants, New Hampshire, NH, Olympus Stylus TG-870, Red Spotted Milkweed Beetles, Sarsaparilla Leaf Miner, Silver Spotted Skipper Butterfly, Summer Wildflowers, Swanzey New Hampshire, Sweating Stone, Wild Mushrooms, Yellow Spindle Coral Mushroom | 35 Comments
Your Juniper haircap moss capsule photo is a prize-winner! That is one species I have not yet found, but every time I see a Polytrichum, I check the leaves, hoping to find that there are no teeth at the distal end because the leaf is folded over (I think Juniper is the only Polytrichum with this characteristic).
I happen to feel that the underside of the Monarch wing is more beautiful than the upper side, with its contrasting orange and pale yellow, so no need for disappointment here!
Thanks again for your excellent posts.
Annie
Thank you Annie. I have a moss expert who reads the blog and he has corrected me in the past, letting me know that my moss was actually the mountain haircap moss rather than juniper haircap moss. But I have read that male juniper haircap moss plants are unusual because they continue growing without losing the old male organs, and since I see these plants every day I know that they do indeed do that.
I’m glad you were happy with the monarch shots!
What an interesting post! I hadn’t realised it was the longest you’d ever written – it didn’t seem long to me!
Ray Steven’s song! That was a favourite of my younger sister who was eight in 1970. She sang it all the time! The insects, especially the butterflies, are lovely and I’m pleased you’ve been able to find some fungi at last.
Thank you Clare. Yes, it was very long I thought.
I hope your sister still sings that song and I hope she still believes it.
We’re still short of fungi but I’m seeing butterflies everywhere. I hope you are too!
We are seeing more butterflies and bees this year than we have seen for many years. I am sure those few months when everyone stayed at home and the pollution levels dropped contributed to the numbers of insects we have now.
I think so too. I’m also seeing a lot more animals like deer now.
What a wonderful encounter with the dragonfly! I enjoy these posts, Allen, no matter how long they are.
Thank you Lavinia, I’m glad to hear it.
That dragonfly was a surprise!
That’s a fascinating dragon-fly story, Allen. I met a similarly friendly lizard on one of my hikes. He/she was quite content to rest on my boot and didn’t mind my movements or the nosy camera.
You have a great view to start your workdays, Allen…and yes, you are very lucky indeed. 🙂
Thank you for the post….
Thank you Scott. It’s great when creatures decide to be friendly. I’ve had everything from owls to porcupines do it and it’s always an unforgettable experience. I doubt you’ll forget your lizard friend!
I love seeing that view each morning and I’ll miss it when I retire.
You’re welcome, Allen…and yes, it is unforgettable. I’m sure you’ll be seeing other equally wonderful sights when you retire, given your knack for wandering and hiking. Will you be retiring soon?
Probably in about a year or so. I’m not sure what I’ll do with so much freedom but having fun is at the top of the list!
Good for you!
I’m learning so much from your mushroom posts. Thanks. The dark blue dragonfly is a male slaty skimmer (Libellula incesta) and the one you were so lucky to have land on your shoulder looks like a female slaty. Immature males look like this too, but notice the slight flaring (flange) at the end of its abdomen. That identifies it as a female.
Thanks for the help Cindi, when it comes to insects (and birds) I can always use it!
Gorgeous shots you captured here, and I enjoyed every one of them. Happy hiking in August. 🙂
Thank you Judy. I hope August is a little cooler!
Wonderful post as always. Reminds me to look closer at all life forms and appreciate the wonder.
Thanks Jim, there’s a lot of it to appreciate!
Your macro photography seems to me to be getting better and better. Your hand must be amazingly steady.
Thank you. Actually it isn’t steady at all, but I’ve learned ways around it.
I’ve thought my macro photography was going downhill lately, because I’ve discovered that the camera I use has very fine scratches on the plastic lens covering, so it looks like I’ll have to get another new camera soon.
Thank you for another wonderful post. Many of us, even those of us north of your border, are not getting out in the same way so we appreciate so much that you do and then take us with you. It has been very dry here too so I am not seeing many of the species that I would normally. Lawns are brown and my garden is gasping as we are being careful of our water resources as well. Thanks again for a breath of nature.
You’re welcome Cathy. Though it might seem sometimes that I’m not paying attention to the rules I take them very seriously and I go only where I know there won’t be crowds, so I don’t really feel in danger at all in the woods. I might see an occasional hiker but “Hi” is about all that passes between us.
I’m sorry to hear that you’re also dry. We’ve had a rough July and many plants aren’t doing well. I saw a cornfield today that had no corn in it, even though it was planted in June it was just too dry for the seed to germinate. Nature always strikes a balance so things will even out but I hope all that rain won’t be made up by snow!
Your posts are the highlight of my week! They could never be too long as they are just as absorbing as a good book. I live in Greenfield, Massachusetts and so am not far from the places you visit. However, I doubt my eyes would take in all that you see and photograph. Yes, I agree – there is beauty everywhere, and the photo of the tiny water droplets definitely caught my eye.
Thanks so very much for taking us on your nature walks and sharing not only your knowledge and beautiful photographs, but your deep love and sheer enthusiasm for Nature. Stay well!
You’re welcome Linda. I used to have many good times at a little park in Greenfield. It was in the heart of the city and had a nice pond, but I don’t remember its name.
The “secret” to seeing that same things I see is walking slowly at a toddler’s pace, and that’s really all it is.
I hope you’ll stay well too, and get to feast on all of that beauty that surrounds you!
Oh! Was it Highland Park? It has a pond. Small world. I will remember what you said about toddler steps. In this world I and your other readers are certainly very grateful for you.
Many thanks again!
I don’t remember the name of that park but that must be it!
The length of time spent with you post was trivial, but the quality was timeless. Always appreciated, and this from another person who knows her blessings. Thank you!
You’re welcome Lynne, and thank you!
It was longer than usual?? Have to say it was so absorbing that I certainly didn’t notice any extra length..This was another wonderful walk in the woods. I was surprised by how pleased I was to see the hemlock varnish shelf fungus. As if it were an old friend, as indeed it is..
Thank you. I thought it was very long but every time I thought about stopping it a dragonfly would land on me or a butterfly would want to pose, so it went on.
That hemlock varnish shelf was a perfect example of its kind and I was happy to see it too!
Your writing, your pictures, your love of nature. All are a joy and inspiration. Thank you for the dedication you have and thank you for sharing it with the rest of us.
You’re welcome, and thank you very much Beth. It’s always a pleasure to hear that people are enjoying these posts.
It certainly was worth my time, I particularly enjoyed those colourful butterflies. You provide me with my access to nature which is in rather short supply here in London!
Thank you Susan, I’m happy to oblige. I’d have a hard time of it in a city, I think.