Domestic Roses

I had the pleasure of seeing these beautiful domestic roses out at our local scout camp.

They were pruned in August, and were blooming like crazy in late October.

I love the splash of color, and had to share!  :)

Rage Against the Dying of the Light

I do not understand all of Dylan Thomas's poem, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", but somehow the words of that poem came to mind as I walked the autumn woods and saw the season dying.  Everything is folding up, shrinking, and blowing away.

When I saw these weeds standing bright and tall in the woods, I thought how they blazed with glory in the afternoon light, arms stretched up in a show of defiance.  They are not going gentle into the night of winter, but are standing fast against the wind and frost.

It cheered me to see it, and reminded me that I, too, can rage against the dying light as we go into the darkest season of the year, where the minutes of daylight shrink at an alarming rate.  I can get out and take walks and keep my thoughts elevated, and focus on the joys of life even as the world is slowly wrapped in the darkness of winter.  It will be a long traverse, but I know that in February and March, life will spring anew and everything will bud and be beautiful again!

End Band Net Wing Beetle

Here's an End Band Net Wing - just another beautifully colored beetle of the deciduous forest:

Each antenna is jagged, like a saw blade.  These are harmless insects.  I loved the colors of this one against the nondescript gravel.

American Toad

This is an American Toad.

You can tell because it has warts on top of each spot on its back. This is a most common variety of toad in North America, and one that most people are familiar with.

The species name for the American Toad is Anaxyrus americanus.

Anaxyrus is a from Greek.   "Anax" stands for king, and "yrus" may stand for tail.  (That's the best I can tell you, based on the research I've done.)

Toads don't have tails as adults, but they do as tadpoles.  Americanus is from Latin, meaning America, of course.

By the way, toads do not give you warts!

Running Deer

Here are a couple of pictures of a running deer I took last weekend:

Must have heard that my friend Art was in town, and wanted to get well off the roads before he came by!

Echinacea

Here's a purple cone flower on its way out.  

This flower was used for many medicinal purposed by native people here in North America, and is used today as well.  Many people know it by the name "echinacea".  

This name apparently comes from the Greek word, "echino" which means "sea urchin".  You can see the spines on the head of the flower.

I love it's healthy, healing properties, but I also love how beautiful it is!

Great Blue Lobelia

I photographed a new flower near a wetland last week - Lobelia.

Great Blue Lobelia

Lobelia was used by many native peoples, in internal preparations and in poultices.  They also smoked portions of it.

This herb was so valuable that it is said it was sometimes a trade item among the tribes here in North America.  Today lobelia is still highly valued by modern consumers of herbal remedies.

Some of its many names show how it was used, its affect and its physical shape.  Here are three:   Indian tobacco, puke weed, and bladder-pod.

Crayfish Chimney

I was out hiking with Hyperion between a cattail marsh and a little stream when he spied something before I did, as usual.

"Hey, it's a crawfish chimney," he said.  I was excited to see it.  It was only the second time I've ever seen them.

The crayfish, or crawfish as they are sometimes called, excavate these chimneys and dwell below. 

Here is a link to another post I wrote about such crustacean constructions, describing how the builder's work:

 http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/2012/06/crawfish-chimney.html

Whooo's That?

Guess whooo?

Do you see what I see?

I think there is an owl in the cavity of that tree, peering out at me!  I was taking general shots from the lake shore and didn't realize there might be an owl looking out at me.

What do you think, readers?  Is it a living creature, or just a coincidental look-alike in the formation of the old stump?

Crowns of Purple

I loved these beautiful blue vervains at the edge of a swampy lake, with their crowns of purple.

Green Leaf Bug

The wings on this bug look just like a green leaf, with veins and all:

It's a katydid!

It's hard for me to believe that I could reach this ripe old age without ever having seen a katydid before. but it's true.  I just found this one last month.  It was on a window screen or I never would have noticed it - so perfect is its camouflage.

There are several kinds of katydids in North America, and even though I've never seen one until now, I've heard them all the days of my life. It is the sound of summer.

Take a listen on NaturesFairy's YouTube video, found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob2rEjRz-RM

Anyone interested in learning more katydis them should check out this wonderful website called "Valerie's Austin Bug Collection".  It has many fabulous photos of the different kinds, showing their various features such as wing shape:  

http://www.austinbug.com/tettigoniidae.html

The ovipositor on this one lets us know it is a female.

Chipping Sparrow

I sometimes despair of ever being able to identify all the different kinds of sparrows, but at least I have figured one out - the chipping sparrow!

They have chestnut crowns, and black eye streaks, and are very common in the midwest.

This one was busy gathering materials, probably to reinforce the traditionally flimsy nest that most chipping sparrows build.  

They build low to the ground and have a penchant for using hair in their nests.  

Thinleaf Sunflower

Have you ever heard of thinleaf sunflowers?  I had never heard of them, until today.  However, I've SEEN them dozens of times.  

Here's a picture:

See the thinner, sharply pointed leaves?

These sunflowers are also called "ten-petal sunflowers", although they can actually have 8 - 12 petals.  They are woodland flowers, and I found these in western Illinois.

Butterflies seek out this plant to lay their eggs, and muskrats favor this plant as well.  

The species name is Helianthus decapetalus.  Isn't that perfect?  Helianthus comes from Helios, god of the sun (that equates with Hyperion of Green mythology), and decapetalus represents the ten petals. 

Turtles Galore

A walk along a quiet lake shore turned up turtles galore:

There are over 30 turtles in this photo, big and small, basking in the spring sunshine!

Here are some close-ups:

This is either a turtle convention - possibly met to plot the destruction of human-kind, or there is a whole lot of poikilothermism going on.  What's that, you say?  Yes, poikilothermism, which means the state of being cold-blooded.  Now, did they have murderous intent, or were they simply sunbathing in order to warm themselves up a little?  We may never know.

What we do know, however, is that "poikilos" comes from the Greek and meshes with "thermal" to indicate these kinds of creatures (fish and reptiles) that cannon maintain their own body temperature the way mammals can.  

Dragons & Damsels

I found this stunning little creature last Friday.  At first I thought it was a black butterfly, and fumbled with my camera to get a picture of it before it fluttered away. Much to my surprise, when I got home and put the pictures on the computer, I saw that this was a dragonfly.  Or so I thought.

Calopteryx maculata, resting on a poison ivy leaf.

When I researched a black-winged dragonfly, I was let to understand that this ebony beauty was really a damselfly.  Isn't that a great name?!  I picture a beautiful lady with sparkling, flowing scarves and a wind-billowed, shimmering dress standing on a castle rampart with her hair streaming behind her.

So what is the difference between a dragonfly and a damselfly?

Well, the biggest difference that I think would help a person identify them in the field is the way they hold their wings at rest.  Both dragonflies and damselflies have two pairs of wings.  However, a dragonfly will rest with his two pairs outstretched, and a damselfly holds hers upright, like a butterfly at rest.  (Hency my mistaken initial identification.)

Here is a dragonfly (below).  You can see how his wings are outstretched as he rests on the stalk of grass.

Libellula luctuosa, resting on tall grasses near a lake shore.

The damselfly (in the first photo) is an ebony jewelwing, and what an apt name.  It is lovely and shiny.  This one picture is a male.  The bodies of the males are more of a metallic green, and the females are more brown.  Their scientific name is Calopteryx maculata.  Calopteryx is from the Greek, meaning beautiful wing.  Maculata refers to the white spot the females have on the tips of their wings.

The dragonfly (second photo) is a male widow skimmer.  The males have white coloring at mid-wing, whereas the females do not.  His scientific name is Libellula luctuosa.  I had a hard time finding the etymology of Libellula, but it may be related to the Latin word for booklet.  Luctuosa has reference to mourning, and may be related to the black coloring on both the male and female.

The Buzz on Bergamot

Today's post is about bergamot - a lovely, lavender wildflower - also known as bee balm.  It grows along wood lines and in abandoned meadows in large groupings, growing to 4 1/2 feet or taller.  It has many medicinal uses.

The name "bergamot" is an unusual name, and led me on a merry chase back as far as 550 B.C. to ferret out its etymology.

This native wildflower is a member of the mint family, and has a lovely and unique fragrance.  The fragrance reminded its namers of the similar smell of a completely unrelated plant - the bergamot orange.  And so our story begins.

The bergamot orange grows chiefly in southern Italy.  The fruit is the size of an orange, but it is greenish-yellow in color.  It has a bitter taste, so people don't generally eat it outright or juice it.  However, it is grown for its essential oils.  The unique aroma is, according to Wikipedia, evident in Earl Grey tea - much-loved by the famed Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the starship Enterprise.

Back to my main theme.  The bergamot orange takes its name from the town of Bergamo, Italy, where - presumably - many of these oranges grow.

So how did the town of Bergamo get its name?  Let me tell you.  Bergamo comes from the Roman name of Bergomum.  And before it was latinized as Bergomum, it was called Berghem by the ancient celts who settled there.

And Berghem?  Berghem comes from the Old English (and prior to that the Proto-Germanic) "berg", meaning "mountain", and "hem" meaning "dwelling place".  Thus we have the origin for the name of this wildflower that grows innocuously on the Illinois savannas.  Who knew that such a little flower could have such a loaded name?

The Bluebird of Happiness That Wasn't

I was on a mission.  Hyperion & I were on a gator in the back forty at Loud Thunder, transporting critical fire-starting materials to our fellow campers. Suddenly we crossed paths with a stunning bird!  He sped into view and lit on the ground in front of us, looking for water in an old puddle.

"Look, it's a blue bird!" Hyperion shouted over the noise of the gator.

"Stop!  Stop!" I yelled, scrambling for my camera.  I had never photographed a bluebird before!

The bird hopped down the trail in front of us a couple of times and then soared into the treetops.

With our naked eyes, we thought it was a bluebird.  It certainly was blue. However, upon examining this digital image, I realized that no - this was not an Eastern bluebird!  They have brown breasts.  So what was it?  I noted the two-toned beak, with the upper beak actually curving, and the deeper bluish-purple on the head.  Purple is not a common bird color in the Illinois woodlands.  I soon discovered that this was an indigo bunting!

This one is a male.  The females are always brown.  The scientific name is Passerina cyanea.  A passerine is a sparrow or a sparrow-like bird.  Cyanea comes from Greek, meaning "dark blue" - you know, like the color cyan.  Indigo comes from another Greek word that stands for "dye from India".

So, in the end, this wasn't my bluebird of happiness.  Instead, it was my indigo bunting of happiness - a lovely jewel in the crown of my conclave weekend.

Mystery Solved

I have been wondering what this plant was for a while now:

Do you know it?

Every time I have seen it, I have photographed it, and then searched my field guides for it.  I tried googling it by putting in key words representing its most outstanding features.  No luck - until last week.

It's elderberry!

Most photos I've found on this plant online focuses on the white blossoms, rather than the beautiful, net-like appearance of its stalks and stems.

Elderberry a native plant, and is common in Iowa and Illinois.  It is an important food source for songbirds.  Deer, squirrels and mice also eat it.  Its scientific name is Sambucus.  While the plant can be poisonous, people do use the berries for food and to make drinks.  The wood has been used around the world to make musical instruments.

Elderberry has an amazing history, and I can't resist sharing with you a link to a super-informative online paper about elderberry for your further reading pleasure.  It was written by Charles E. Voigt, entitled "Elderberry, Herb of the Year 2013".  Here's the link:  http://jhawkins54.typepad.com/files/elderberry-hoy-document.pdf .

In his section on the history and lore of the plant, Voight states the following on the fascinating etymology of the name:

"Elderberry has been involved with human history for hundreds of years. Sambucus comes
from the Greek word “sambuke,” a musical instrument made of elder wood, whose music was
believed to heal the spirit. (In Europe, Elderberry wood was used for making musical
instruments.) The common name “elder” comes from the Anglo-Saxon “ellen”, meaning firekindler, because of the dry, pithy stems."

A Wren

This is Awren.

 She was named by a camp staff member out at Loud Thunder - quite cleverly too, I think.

She lives out at the Eco-Con shed, in a birdhouse.  She put up with weeks of Boys Scouts and Cub Scouts and church campers working and playing in close proximity to her home.  Perhaps this is why, as Jason tells me, that she was not afraid of people.  Reportedly, the only time she would fly away was if you actually looked directly into her birdhouse.

Beaks & Bills - Part 1

Can you identify this bird?  I couldn't, at first.  When I photographed it, it was too far away in the trees for me to see it properly.  When I saw this picture up close, thanks to the zoom feature in my photo program, I still had to stop and think about it.  The most easily identifiable feature of this bird was hidden from view on its breast, but I didn't know that.

The back view of this bird was not familiar to me.  All I could see was a black-head bird, a black back with white feathers, and whitish side breasts.  Woodpeckers have black and white backs, but this bird wasn't shaped like a woodpecker.  It was more round.  The beak really gave it away.  It is more massive than a woodpecker's beak.  Sure enough, when I did a little research, I was able to confirm that this is a Red-breasted grosbeak.

Had I seen it from the front, I would have been able to identify it very quickly.  To see what I mean, look here:  http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/search/label/Rose-breasted%20Grosbeak .

"Beak" is self-explanatory, but what about "gros"?  It comes from French, and means large, or thick.  Cardinals have this same powerful, cone-shaped beak.  It is a great for cracking open seeds, which is the main part of their diet.

Now take a look at this wren's bill, below.  ("Beak" and "bill" can be used interchangeably, but beaks are more for tearing, like an owl would do with their prey, and bills are more for catching insects from the air.)  You can see how thin and elongated this wren's bill is, compared to the grosbeak above.

Beak and bill shapes can reveal a lot about a bird's diet, and are key features to observe when you are trying to identify birds.