Nature
grrlscientist | December 11, 2006
Wandering Glider, Pantala flavescens
Notice the beautifully delicate body coloration and nearly invisible black veination in the otherwise transparent wings.
W. 11th St. Park Butterfly Garden, Houston, Texas.
October 2006
Biosparite writes; While I visited the West 11th st. Park, I was fortunate to find a perched Wandering Glider. These dragonflies rarely go to ground in the daytime, instead feeding above open areas and abruptly executing 90- and 180-degree turns.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the…
grrlscientist | December 10, 2006
White pairie aster, Symphyotrichum ericoides var. ericoides
W. 11th St. Park Butterfly Garden, Houston, Texas.
28 October 2006
Biosparite writes; This tiny aster, about 8 mm or so, was driving a lot of the bee and butterfly nectaring activity this past summer at the W. 11th st. Park. People with grass lawns consider it a weedy nuisance as it will run along the ground when it is mown a lot. The plants I was monitoring stood around four feet high and had hundreds of flowers open, yielding a mild scent detectable several inches away from the flower masses.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving…
grrlscientist | December 9, 2006
Texan crescents, Phyciodes texana, mating.
W. 11th St. Park Butterfly Garden, Houston, Texas.
28 October 2006
Biosparite writes; The Texan Crescents pictured here are also multivoltine. This species is the mascot of BEST-NABA (North American Butterfy Association).
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me,…
grrlscientist | December 8, 2006
Green Tree Frogs, Hyla cinerea.
Nelson Farms Preserve, KPC, NABA Butterfly Count, 4 September 2006.
Biosparite writes; For the sake of completeness, here is the entire frog photo from an earlier image. The male is supposed to be smaller than the females. Color is variable, but the paler specimen may be a female.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your…
grrlscientist | December 7, 2006
Unknown moth species.
Houston Heights, Texas. 27 October 2006,
The photographer writes; This green moth visits my breezeway at night in
response to the lights. To get this flash shot I had to stand back and use the
macro-zoom feature on the Fuji Finepix 5200. Presumably the green wing color
allows the moth to safely roost on green tree leaves in the daytime with the
white markings likely helping to blend with leaf veination. The moth is about
3/4 inch wide along the rear wing margins. This species shows up with some
frequency. I think it is beautiful and mysterious.
Image: Biosparite.
Can…
grrlscientist | December 6, 2006
These Lower Pleistocene shells date to around 1-1.6 Myr ( Bermont formation). I collected them on a Florida Paleontological Society field trip nearly two years ago. If you were a Florida-Gulf-Coast sheller, you would recognize many of the shells as having modern representatives despite their age. There has been essentially a "freeze" on molluscan evolution in the Atlantic shell fauna since the inception of the 20 or so ice ages that have occurred in the Pleistocene. You said you were not averse to having fossils shells, so take a look. Notice the cone snails (Conus) in the strew. Nature ran…
grrlscientist | December 5, 2006
Adult Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus,
the only eagle species that is unique to North America.
Image: Dharma Bums.
The photographers, who live near my other beloved home, Seattle, wrote; I'm sure you heard we had an amazing snowfall last week. We've been taking walks along Chimacum Creek and checking out all the wildlife. It is beautiful in the winter with the snow and ice.
We've been seeing eagles a lot lately. We know their favorite trees, so can pretty much find one most days. I particularly like this snag. It's right behind some houses that hug the cliffs above Port Townsend Bay…
grrlscientist | December 4, 2006
A Pelican in the Swan
The Pelican Nebula lies about 2,000 light-years away in the high flying constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Also known as IC 5070, this cosmic pelican is appropriately found just off the "east coast" of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000), another surprisingly familiar looking emission nebula in Cygnus. The Pelican and North America nebulae are part of the same large and complex star forming region, almost as nearby as the better-known Orion Nebula. From our vantage point, dark dust clouds (upper left) help define the Pelican's eye and long bill, while a bright front of…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2006
Male monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus,
on its host plant, Asclepias curassavica.
Notice the pheromone glands in the two dark spots,
one on each hindwing near the abdomen.
This Monarch was in very good condition so it is difficult
to know whether it was migrating since there is a small,
nearly-year-round population near Houston, Texas,
where this photo was taken.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2006
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus,
Lance Rosier Unit in the Big Thicket around 50 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico in Eastern Texas,
20 March 2004.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: butterfly, eastern tiger…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006
Banded Argiope, Argiope trifasciata.
Photographed in the "Spider Ranch" part of my gardens here at my farm in eastern Ontario.
Image: Bev Wigney.
I know this will amuse many of you dear readers, because I am a zoologist, but I am terrified of spiders -- and I once kept spiders as pets when I was a kid, can you believe that?? Well, to prove to you that I am not biased against spiders, I include this lovely picture of a very scary spider here for your enjoyment (and for my heebie-jeebies).
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of…
grrlscientist | November 30, 2006
Stinkhorn Mushroom, Clathrus crispus??.
Click each picture for a truly large mage and then
feel free to correct me on the scientific name of
this mushroom, since I am not a mushroom expert
and need some help from those of you who are!
Images: Todd Smith.
The photographer, Todd, writes;"Here are a couple of pictures I took in my backyard this summer. I noticed a few golf ball sized spheres (see figures below the fold) growing in some mulch I had laid the year before. I thought they were common puffballs. However, inside, they looked like nothing I had seen before.
Soon they grew into what…
grrlscientist | November 29, 2006
California sea lions, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2000.
Image: Neil Moomey and Dan Beeler.
Tourists love to visit Fisherman's Wharf for the seafood, the view of San Francisco Bay, and also to watch the many dozens of playful sea lions that lounge by the water's edge, eating fish. However, in southern California, sea lions have begun attacking god-fearing American citizens. For example, this past June in Southern California, a sea lion charged several people on Manhattan Beach, eventually biting a man before escaping justice. Last spring in Berkeley, a woman was hospitalized after a sea…
grrlscientist | November 28, 2006
Blue-spotted Salamander Ambystoma laterale
Photographed on the same day as the one shown previously.
Image: Bev Wigney.
.
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: salamander, blue-spotted salamander, amphibian, zoology
grrlscientist | November 27, 2006
False Crocus Geometer Moth, Xanthotype urticaria.
Photographed at my farm in eastern Ontario
Image: Bev Wigney.
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: moth, False Crocus Geometer moth, insect, Lepidoptera, zoology
grrlscientist | November 26, 2006
Spotted Salamander, Ambystoma maculatum.
Photographed when a friend and I were out looking for
herps and spiders in south of Ottawa, Ontario in Sept. 2005.
Image: Bev Wigney.
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
.
tags: salamander, spotted…
grrlscientist | November 25, 2006
Pallid Bat, Antrozous pallidous,
Big Bend National Park, summer 2006.
The photographer writes that she is a research assistant in the mammalogy department at Auburn University and that she took this picture while carrying out biodiversity studies at Big Bend National Park. In the photographer's opinion, the pallid bat is among the most beautiful of all bat species.
Image: Anne-Marie.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (…
grrlscientist | November 24, 2006tags: Cinerocaris magnifica, Nymphatelina gravida, ostracod, arthropoda, crustacean, fossil, zoology, biology
Recently, geologists made a stunning discovery: hard boiled eggs that are over 425 million years old! The scientists, who are from the USA and the UK, discovered a female from a new ostracod species, Nymphatelina gravida -- a minute relative of the shrimp -- complete with a brood of approximately 20 eggs and 2 possible juveniles inside her body. Other parts of her soft anatomy were also preserved, including legs and eyes.
"Ostracods are common, pin-head sized crustaceans known from…
grrlscientist | November 24, 2006
Passiflora lutea.
This is a companion photo to an upcoming Gulf Fritillary picture. This photo is of Passiflora lutea, one of the native host species for the Gulf fritillary. Notice the prettily lobed foliage.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd…
grrlscientist | November 23, 2006
Tiger moth, Grammia geneura.
The Grammia geneura or "wooly bear" caterpillar sacrifices food quality to imbibe a
witches' brew of toxins from various plants to make itself unpalatable to predators and
resistant to parasitoids. [AmNat PDF]
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information…