ANOTHER nature post because I have nothing else to talk about...

[rubyelf]

School is school and I love the subject matter... it's just that this program is too good to have people in it like Rainbow Unicorn Fart Girl for me to laugh at and/or bang my head against the wall over. If you want, I'll tell you about the final paper I wrote for my one class about the Sin Nombre hantavirus. If you don't want, I won't. I think it'

Comments

[sadme4b]

Loved this - I like the aster flowers - actually have one growing beside the front steps - I refuse to cut it - (with the sil gone, I can let things grow and flower - LOL)

The woodpecker trees are amazing! We have a few, I see in late winter or early spring, but they don't seem to stay around.

Enjoy your lake!

oh, would love to know what's on those leaves if you find out!

[rubyelf]

If you leave the asters alone, they should spread and make a pretty display for you over time.

And when I solve the mystery of the Leaf Stuff, everyone will hear about it!

(hope you're doing well!)

[monkiainen]

The woodpeckers sure have done quite a lot of damage to those trees!

[rubyelf]

It was a rough winter, so they went in hard looking for ants, beetles, anything they could find. They don't usually tear up trees quite that much, because that's usually them excavating an ant nest and ants are not their favorites, but when winter is as bad as this one, you need all the food you can get.

[brigantine]

Bumblebeeeeees! :D

[rubyelf]

I am very fond of bumblebees. I have only been stung by one once and that's when I was a small child running around barefoot and I stepped on one, in which case I think the stinging is quite a justified response. Otherwise, in all my time messing around in the woods they have never done more than occasionally bounce off my head.

[bluegerl]

Thank you little Elf... a lovely walk in the woods after living on a plastic ship! I missed my bees and birds and greeeeen except we saw most of it in a bus! Glad the lake is alive again, and the fungi... that Dryads Saddle really looks so comfy. I wish my bike had had a saddle like that!

And bless you for the daisies... oh daisies... MY big fields of them are out now... full of white glory. Oh thank you little one.

Poor trees, those woodpeckers must be huge...
And Bumble Bees... they have such varied coloured bums!!! Andrew has several 'nests' of them in his garden, and we sit and watch for hours. They're so individual... his hive hasn't got a swarm yet. The firemen who's job it is to clear swarms will alert him when they are called out! For the stinger bees, not bumbles.

Bless darling. xxxxx

[rubyelf]

The pileated woodpeckers are the size of a crow with a head and beak to match... and this winter was harsh enough that they went very deep into the wood looking for anything that was edible. The trees that are thoroughly destroyed probably had ants nesting in them, and the birds took the entire nest apart to find all the larvae and pupae they could get (I don't know whether the adult ants are desirable as food or not... they are full of formic acid).

[moth2fic]

Lovely pics and lots of interesting info. Only just got back late last night, and am just catching up so less time than usual to enjoy the walk but I skimmed it and was happy anyway. Thank you!

[rubyelf]

It's good to have you back! :)