With, not apart from

I was on a mission. There was a flower I had seen the previous evening that I had never seen before, and I wanted to get a picture of it. I grabbed my camera and my binoculars, put on my boots, and off I went to get my pictures. I walked deliberately through the field and into the woods. I had a destination in mind, but I wasn't absolutely sure where the flowers were, so I would have to pay close attention. I was very much aware of myself, of my camera, of my footsteps, of my destination. There was separation between myself and my surroundings.

Ground Ivy (or Gill-over-the-Ground) - Glechoma hederacea
I tried to walk softly and quietly, because I wanted to be able to hear the birds. They were quiet at first. I did, however, hear the creek running - a soothing sound. A sound to help me slow down. I stepped on ground ivy and a wave of minty odor wafted up to my nose. I stopped to bend down and inhale it more deeply. The evening sun was starting to fade, so I had to keep moving, but my pace lessened. Stop. Look. Listen. Smell. Keep moving, but keep noticing. Be open, aware, and receptive. I began to meld into the landscape. I was soon rewarded for my noticing. No, I hadn't found the flower I was seeking, but instead I happened upon the business of creation.

Snowberry Clearwing moths, mating - Hemaris diffinis
My first reaction was one of awe and immense gratitude. How lucky was I to come across this scene? This is, after all, not something you see every day: a pair of insects mating. I felt blessed to be able to observe them in this amazing but fragile state. Then there was the work of documenting what I saw. Thank goodness I had my camera with me! As I took photos, my brain started to process what I was seeing, wanting to put a name to it. What I thought at first to be bumble bees were, upon closer inspection, most definitely moths. But which species? With no field guide at hand, I knew I would have to research it later, so I let it go for the time being. After taking a few more photos, I gave them their privacy.

white deadnettle and purple deadnettle - Lamium album and Lamium purpureum
A quick meander away from the moths I found the flowers I was looking for: white deadnettle. It was mixed in among stands of purple deadnettle and readily stood out. Even though I was using my camera to get close to this flower, I did not especially take note of this tool in my hands. By this time, 20 or so minutes into my walk in the woods, I had become my senses. Even though I was aware that I was this person, sitting in the woods taking pictures of flowers and moths, there was also a feeling of belonging with everything around me. I felt that I was with, not apart from, the landscape that I was in. I was invited to have a seat and continue with this feeling. So I sat - I listened to the birds, watched the bumble bees and let my senses take over. I allowed myself to just be for a bit.

I've said it before, and I will say it again: we should allow ourselves to do this more often. I know I should, at least. To take time to get away from politics and money and our goods and possessions and just blend into the world around us. To be one with it. It is uplifting and refreshing. I am very fortunate to have woods and fields nearby and at my disposal whenever I feel like stepping into them. I acknowledge that not everyone has this luxury. Even if it's just a small patch of yard, a local park, a playground, a bike path, a lake - find a place that resonates with you, go there as often as you are able, and drink it in. And let it drink you in, too.


Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) and white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
After finding the white deadnettle and realizing I still had plenty of sunlight left for a leisurely return trip, I took my time the rest of the way. I stopped to cross the creek and look at the white trillium growing on the steep hillsides. I found, with effort, the Dutchman's breeches that had obviously been in peak bloom when I had seem them the day before. As dusk began settling in, the birds became more vocal, and I heard for the first time this spring a Wood Thrush singing. This beautiful song holds a very special place in my heart, and it always stops me in my tracks the first time I hear it each spring. If someone had come across me at that moment, they might not have guessed that I was listening to a bird sing. My hands were raised to my lips in a prayerful gesture, I was smiling and there were tears in my eyes. All my attention was focused on the ethereal notes of that thrush, an angelic voice to be sure. It was pure bliss.

As I emerged from the woods and onto the road, there was a spring in my step and not a cloud in my heart. I was at peace. I look forward to returning to that state again soon.

Marvelous mallow

I've got such a backlog of photos to share, it's shameful. One flower that I finally got photos of this year was a lovely, large, showy hibiscus-looking flower that grows out in the middle of one of the fields on our road. It grows down in a low spot that tends to have its feet wet, so to speak, when we go through spells of rainy weather. It stands out not only because it's so gorgeous, but because it's pretty much the only flower of its kind in that immediate area.


I am still trying to determine if this is Common Rose-Mallow or Halberd-leaf Rose-Mallow. One way to differentiate between the two is to look at the leaf shape, but both types could have 3-lobed leaves. I didn't get great shots of the leaves, but they are definitely 3-lobed. I need to go back and see if the leaves are hairy or not - if they are hairless, then the ID is most likely the Halberd-leaf species (at least according to my handy-dandy National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Wildflowers of North America).


A not-so-great shot of the mallow leaves and blossoms
The seed pod can also aid in identification, but both rose-mallows have "many-seeded capsules," so that doesn't really narrow it down.


These dried out seed pods are from last year's flowers, mixed right in with the new flowers from this year. I guess I could snag a few and try planting them somewhere else closer to home.
They both prefer similar habitat (wet, marshy areas), so again, no help there. For now I will be content to simply admire how beautiful they are, but my learning antennae will be up to find the key to lead me to a positive ID.



Nice pollen. I have to wonder what evolutionary purpose these large petals, which can catch pollen, might serve? Is it to be a "landing pad" of sorts for the insects that are meant to pollinate it?

Does the stamen of this flower look like an elephant's trunk to anyone else?
P.S. A big thanks goes out to Dave, who mowed a path with the tractor so that I could get to these flowers. They are amidst very tall grass and dicey terrain, wherein I worried that I might encounter snakes or other surprise animals hiding out. I wasn't too crazy about the possibility of bushwhacking my way to said flowers, so my man helped me out. He's pretty nice like that. ;)

Looking back...

It's hard to believe 2009 is in its last days. We all say it: where does the time go?!

Here are some random highlights from 2009

Birding by ear at the Wilds, May 2009
-16 birds added to my life list, including the Bobolink (aka Dennis Rodman bird) and Grasshopper Sparrow (my first bird in the hand - SUCH an amazing experience!). Not to mention the learning of lots of new bird songs.




Oops - I incorrectly identified this as a Savannah Sparrow on my post about the Birding by Ear weekend back in May (it's a Grasshopper Sparrow)!


Making friends with a Grasshopper Sparrow
Met fellow bloggers.
I had the good fortune to meet up with several of my blogging friends in person throughout the year. I met Jim McCormac during the aforementioned birding weekend at the Wilds. Then I met Kelly (aka Peanut) of Red and the Peanut, with whom I spent a whole day birding in the beautiful Hocking Hills region in July. Several days later I met Shelley of Birding in Michigan on our way to vacation in northern Michigan. I almost met Tom of the Ohio Nature Blog while he was working at the ODNR Natural Resources Park at the Ohio State Fair, but our timing didn't quite work out. Maybe in '10, Tom! In September, Dave and I made our way up to Lakeside, OH, for the Midwest Birding Symposium. There I met Nina (Nature Remains), Julie Zickefoose, Bill of the Birds, and Mike Bergin, founder of 10,000 Birds and creator of the Nature Blog Network. It was really good to make face-to-face contact with all these folks with whom I had only had virtual conversations for so long.

Added Athens County to the state map
...for the presence of several moths (Polyphemus and Hummingbird Clearwing) to Butterflies and Moths of North America. Hooray for citizen science!


Polyphemus moth


Hummingbird Clearwing moth
Took a record number of flora photos.
I took more pictures of flowers in 2009 than in any other year since I got my Nikon D50 (653 flower photos in 2006, 131 in 2007, 784 in 2008, and 4,117 in 2009). Among them, new finds on the property, such as...


Lily-leafed Twayblade and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
Started another blog
Yes, in a fit of madness I decided that I needed another blog by which to convey my photographs. Thus, Photography of the Hills was born. No descriptions or writing there, just images meant to evoke some emotion. That blog has been languishing a bit as of late, but I hope to revive it in the new year. It's possible that I will discuss photography a bit on that blog in the future, but we'll see how it develops. I'm crafting in my mind a "Looking back" post for that blog as I write this, so check it out. Also, as a part of the creation of the photo blog, I learned just enough HTML to enable me to jazz up both of the blogs a little beyond the simple Blogger-provided templates.


Midwest Birding Symposium, September 2009
I knew the MBS would be interesting and educational, but who knew it would be so much fun, too? I went into it knowing I would see quite a few of my blogging friends, most for the first time, which made it that much more special.

Whilst attending the symposium I got to attend a bird banding demo, where I saw so many birds up close and personal, like the Swainson's Thrush (lifer!) and Brown Thrasher.




One thing I learned while at the symposium: when going to a new, interesting location that has lots of natural attractions around, try to add a few extra days to the trip outside of the scheduled symposium/festival/workshop days. I did NOT do that, and I really feel like I missed out on seeing lots of cool stuff in this area of northwest Ohio.

In my next post, I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to in 2010!

Lunchtime nature walk

Almost every day on my lunch hour I make a short pilgrimage to my favorite local coffee house to get a fancy caffeine fix. It's a short walk, about 30 minutes round trip, unless I happen to get distracted by the local flora and fauna along the way. I know many of you out there reading this are also fond of "taking in" nature during lunch breaks and after work, so I'm sure you can relate.

I've walked this route for several years now, so I know when to look for certain things (like keeping an eye out for the blooming of the huge Catalpa tree in spring, and then the Mimosa tree in summer), but there are also many things still to discover.

I took my camera along during a couple of recent walks to capture some of what I see.

One of the main things I wanted to photograph was the beautiful flowers of the Catalpa tree. Very often these flowers are pretty high up in the air, and it's hard to see all the amazing detail contained in them. Luckily there is a Catalpa along my route that has some shoots that grow very low to the ground.

The leaves are huge!

A progression of flowers

Not only are the leaves huge, but the tree itself is huge. And the bean pods that they produce in the fall? You got it, huge (10" long maybe?)!

On to the flowers... (The street I travel is largely filled with student rentals, so no well-kept lawns here. Makes for good "weed" watching!)

I'm guessing this is something in the Morning Glory family, but I can't pin down an ID.

Yellow Stonecrop

Yellow sweet clover. Red clover and white clover grow in abundance along here as well.

Bittersweet Nightshade

This one is a stumper! I'm quite sure it's a member of the Geranium family, and the closest thing I can come up with is Herb Robert, but I know that's NOT what this is. The whole thing seems to start off green (with the little white flowers), but then...

Things start to turn red and black. If anyone can pinpoint an ID on this one, I would appreciate it, because it's unlike anything I've ever seen!




Clockwise from upper left: Field Garlic, Grapevine leaves, and two unknown beauties.




Chicory

A 15-foot (approximate) section of "wildness" along the side of the road that so many walk and drive by every day, without so much as a thought to the diversity of life contained within. Probably at least 25 different species of flowers, who knows how many species of grasses and sedges, lots of trees and shrubs, countless bugs (most noteably, snails galore!), not to mention micro-organisms.... And I can't help but wonder how many of the flower species are edible by humans.

And then... the destination for my fancy coffee fix, Donkey Coffee and Espresso. I love this place, and I love the employees. They serve only fair trade coffee, awesome sweets and pastries made by local bakers, and they're even trying to make the "fancy" stuff like syrups good for us, with no high fructose corn syrup and light on the sugar. If you're ever in Athens, be sure to stop by 17-1/2 W. Washington St!