Seen on the Street category archive
Pride of Baltimore II 0
Opsail 2012 Norfolk 0
Second Son is in town with the Pride of Baltimore II, so I went over to Norfolk Harbor to join him at Opsail. Here are a few shots; there will be more during the week as I get them edited. (I posted pictures of the Pride II once before.)
The Blob! It’s Alive! 0
This mass, which appeared overnight, has the romantic name of “dog vomit slime mold.” You can judge the size by the dead rhododendrum leaf in the upper right corner.
Despite its appearance, it’s actually dry and slightly fuzzy to touch, at least on the outside (I have no interest in doing an internal). According the Wikipedia, it can move, er, ooze in its quest for sustenance.
Wasp (Updated) 0
I think this is some kind of potter’s wasp. It was about half an inch long. It certainly was not a yellow jacket, with which I am far more familiar than I would like to be, or a hornet, ditto, or a mud dauber, which is relatively harmless but which I don’t see much in these parts.
Addendum, 2012-09-25:
I did a podcast about my process for editing pictures for posting here, using this picture as the example; the podcast went up today.
I received a nice email from an HPR listener in Scotland–HPR has a long reach–suggesting that this is likely a hover fly. Here’s a bit from his email:
Hoverflies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoverfly) are smaller, more
delicate and are from the order Diptera
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly) like many common flies. They have
only one pair of wings and their heads seem to be mainly composed of two
eyes which sort of point forward. That’s why I think it’s a hoverfly,
from the head shape.
I am no etymologist and I suspect that he is correct.
And I thank him. Making mistakes is how I learn.
Seen on the Street 0
Just to give a perspective, it’s about 15 inches from front to back of shell. Note the back of the shell where a bit is broken off.
Ducks on a Pond Roof
0
One does not thing of ducks as birds that perch, so I was somewhat taken aback to see two of them walking around on the roof of the adjacent building. Here’s one. It’s a good hundred yards away, so, even with the long lens, it’s not quite as sharp as I would wish, but the novelty makes up for that:
Bunnies! 0
It was evening and there wasn’t enough light for me to stop motion. I think they were indulging in some weird long-eared ritual.
Nature Red in Tooth and Claw 0
We often see the noses of turtles poking above the surface at our nearby pond, but yesterday was the first time we’ve seen most of a turtle poking above the surface.
Seen on the Street 0
Now this is a car! It started life as a 1950s-something Plymouth.
Click for a larger image.
This used to be a car.
(Never did learn how this happened.)
