Month: July 2018

Summer colds are the worst. I felt awful, and hadn’t been paying any attention to the news, so missed the articles about the eclipse on Friday, July 27 and “Blood Moon” that most of the world would see. Except North America, at least for the eclipse.

Friday morning Karl left for his morning walk, and came back almost immediately. He said that we could see the Blood Moon, more orangey-red than red, though clouds were starting to cover it. He went back out, I quickly dressed and went out to see it. As I walked around the circle for a better look over the Gulf, I finally realized I needed my camera. I sprinted back (not easy when you are coughing, sneezing and on an antibiotic), grabbed the camera, and managed to get a few shots before the combination of dawn and the clouds changed the moment entirely.

This is taken at 70mm and cropped, with a lower ISO. I increased the ISO but of course the photography turned out grainy, and the shots were just not as dramatic. You can just barely see the green of the bushes lining the coast of the Gulf in the foreground.

I actually complained about growing too much parsley a month or so ago. My complaint stemmed from a conversation with fellow naturalist volunteers about butterflies. They grow wonderful native plant gardens in their back yards, some also recognized as native habitats, and regularly discuss the plants, insects, birds, and butterflies visiting various plants. I manage with a very small area, a few native plants in the sparse soil but mostly herbs in pots. I planted extra parsley this year because in years past the one plant always grew lush and verdant one day, and a couple of days later showed just spindly stems, the result of the larva of the Black Swallowtail, nicknamed the Parsley Caterpillar. Then I stopped growing any plants at all for two years, just too busy. Missing the fresh herbs for cooking and salads I restarted this year, and also this year I grew extra for the caterpillars.

They didn’t come. Until two weeks ago. And the extra naturally turned out not to be enough extra. We returned from a RV trip and I noticed the lush, almost overgrown parsley plants seemed sparse. Thinking they needed water, I filled the can from the rain barrel and started watering. Then I noticed the tiny black and white creatures. Just before we left for the trip, I saw one lone Black Swallowtail, somewhat the worse for wear based on the faded colors and the condition of her wings, stop briefly at the parsley plant, extend her abdomen for maybe a second, and take off. I hoped, but forgot about the brief sighting until I saw her offspring.

I watched as they grew, and the plants carried less and less foliage. I went out with a camera one day as the oldest, or at least largest, munched away contentedly on an outer leaf. Yesterday I saw the larger ones wandering around the other plants in the garden, hoping for another plant. A few younger siblings, still tiny and black and white, looked for leftovers in the original pot. I looked for cocoons, but found none.

I plan to replant that parsley, and maybe another large pot at the other end of the small potted herb garden. There is nothing like fresh salsa verde, tabbouleh made the traditional way with more parsley than bulgur, and the hope of more butterflies.

On our boat trip in the Okefenokee I noticed a Snowy Egret sitting on the stump in the photography next to the tree on the left. I took a few shots, and then the bird took off, dipping feet into the water. I noticed how the reflections warped and skewed with the slight ripples, and kept shooting.

Looking at it online, I might try a crop at the land and into the water, so only the twisted cypress show…

We saw these swallowtail butterflies clustered like this while on our boat tour of the Okefenokee Swamp. I’ve never seen this before. The ranger said they had seen it, and speculated that the area contained some sort of food or nutrition that drew all of them to the one area.

 

 

Take the ranger guided boat ride when you visit Stephen Foster State Park, GA. We took the tour six years ago on our first visit here, and just recently we returned. The rangers know their stuff. Though the day started hot and still, the boat ride was comfortable and thankfully the mosquitoes and other biting bugs took the day off. Both Karl and I took a lot of photographs. I’ll start with three of Karl’s, and post more over the next week or two.

As in previous years, postings will be less frequent for the next two months. While most of the northern hemisphere gets outside and active in the summer weather before the cold of their winters return, here in central Florida we get outside but lazy or indoors in air conditioning doing all the inside stuff neglected during the nice weather and wait for the beautiful warm weather of Fall and Winter replace the blast furnace of summer.