Saturday, March 10, 2007

Macro!

Word of the Day:

coterminous \koh-TUR-muh-nuhs\, adjective:
1. Having the same or coincident boundaries.
2. Having the same scope, range of meaning, duration.


After a morning program in Mason, I headed up to Caesar's Creek State Park, where Melinda
"of red-shouldered hawk-blaster fame" and others were doing a bird banding demonstration. I had never been to a banding, so I was excited when I was asked to come up and bring some birds.
Did I get any pictures of banding?
Nope.
Did I get to talk to Kathi, (who drove about a million miles to get there) for more than one minute?
Nope.
Did I get to help band any of the birds?
Nope.
But it was a fun time anyway.


On a more positive note:
I figured out the super-macro function on my camera!
There are many things starting to pop their little heads up in the yard:

sycamore baby
Sycamore bud...they always remind me of deer antlers, just as they are starting to grow out of their heads.
pinecone
Attack of the Fifty Foot Pinecone!
pine needles
The only green we have seen in the yard all winter...our pines.
mini violets
Isabelle and Lorelei were thrilled to find these little flowers poking up out of the grass in the back yard and picked me a huge bouquet of them.
I call these little guys "mini violets". What are they really called?
magnolia baby
Magnolia bud...like the tip of a cat's ear...yum!
lichen
Give me lichen, or give me death.
fungus on the fence
There's a fungus among us.
blackberry baby
Blackberry baby. May you be fruitful and prosper. I wanna make pies and cobbler.
walnut baby
I hate the walnut trees that Geoff has allowed to grow along the outside of the fence, but the velvet-dipped branches are nice in their own, obnoxious way. God help us when they are mature enough to start dropping walnuts all over the place. Enjoy your nuts, Geoff.


6 comments:

Unknown said...

Very cool pix, Susan! Love that macro fun!

Mary said...

Great macro pics! Don't you think your day was grand to see "new growth" in the yard?

Enjoy your nuts, Geoff! That's hilarious.

Spring forward!

Anonymous said...

Sorry you didn't take any banding pictures, that macro would have allowed you to get some wonderful shots! Maybe next time you can get some shots!

LauraHinNJ said...

Dead nettle, I think - mint family - Lamium.

Gotta go to bed - it's about to get late quick.

Anonymous said...

Banding was fun; sorry you didn't get to see/do more of it. Tom and Cheryl let people in the crowd release the banded birds - I got to do a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a goldfinch, a chickadee and a titmouse. The titmouse bit hard! I took a few pictures, but they all sucked majorly.

I saw Red-breasted Mergansers at the Harveysburg Rd site at Caesar's Creek. (I also locked my keys in my car - long story!)

We will have to bird that area together some day, but I will have to pack a lunch and bring an overnight bag - sheesh, was that a long drive!

~Kathi

NatureWoman said...

Ohhh, plant ID, but Laura beat me to it. Yup, that's Purple Dead Nettle Lamium purpureum, an invasive (lawn) plant
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LAPU2&photoID=lapu2_1v.jpg
Why the name "dead" nettle? There's stinging nettle where the nettles hurt if you touch the plant, but this one doesn't sting, so it's called dead for that reason.
I love all of your macro photos! Especially to show us buds and other cool stuff.