A beautiful sunny Sunday.
The first faces of spring are peeking from beneath a layer of sand by the creek.
Virginia Bluebells--their buds ready to burst forth, leaves hinting of so much color waiting within.
Some very tiny feet have left tracks here, too, before disappearing down his hole.
Hmm.
Come along in Red Canoe as she explores the quiet backwater of Ohio's State Parks and the scenic streams and rivers of the Midwest. Discover the beauty hidden beyond the water's edge, quietly waiting, past access points, often only inches deep!
Come browse my photography site, Nature Remains: nothing but a photograph, for full-page slide shows of my favorite images and opportunities to purchase them.
In Spring of 2008, I began the study of 2 vernal pools on my property as part of the Ohio Vernal Pool Partnership monitoring program.
My 2008 journal includes the first photos and findings, as I studied this fascinating wetland area just a few steps beyond my backdoor...
2009 photos and findings,
2010,... again!
Now, 4 years later, another season is just days away!
Travel beyond the Midwest has taken me to some beautiful places. Usually off the beaten track, these places are WILD!
Acadia National Park
New River Nature Festival
Olympic National Park
Pictured Rocks and the UP
Voyageurs National Park
(click on the text above each photo for a quick get-away)
A regularly appearing feature, "Have you seen..." takes a closer, more patient look at things usually not seen in a flattering light.
Take a look!
Each spring, as winter lessens its grip and days warm with the first fragrant breezes of a new season, we collect sap from our Sugar Maples and produce just enough syrup for ourselves for the coming year.
The progress of this year's backyard endeavor is illustrated here.
Summer 2008, the tiny jewel of the avian world, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, nested just feet from my front door. Pictures of her nest and the changing lives within are collected in this journal.
From life the size of a pea....
Cats that come to stay
(click on the text above each photo for stories in these collections)
15 comments:
WOW! Those are some tiny feet!
Crawdad?
One of your salamanders? It looks like those tiny feet were dragging a tail behind them.
Think smaller!
Hole is about 1/4 inch diameter.
(and I don't have the answer, so help me brainstorm this!!)
Fascinating zipper-like tracks -- rather insect -like. I wonder if it might be from a digger wasp returning from its hunt ,dragging its paralized prey up to its hole, and turning around and pulling the prey down into a chamber where it will lay an egg on the prey.
Would be fun to sit a while to observe who lives in this tiny burrow.
Hi Nina,
I love your little needles in a haystack :o)
So happy to see you have blooming going on. I feel you might be outdoors for hours on end soon!
Mary
I've enjoyed catching up on your posts from the past few days. I love all the little details you're recording with your camera. Such fun to see spring emerging.
Looks like some wonderful first faces of spring!
One of those weird little darkling beetles that come out about now?
Aren't we wonderful? That homo sapiens kneels gently to wonder at tiny impressions in the warming soil?
I hope we get a positive ID.
Thanks to all for suggestions--I wish I could give a positive for this. And, unfortunately, since this was not in my backyard, going back for another look (or following it down that hole) are not possible.
The size is right for either a waspish creature or a beetle larva like a mealworm.
The miniature footprints amaze me. That, with birds and mammals the most observable and memorable of a woods walk--I see the record of something so tiny--preserved in such a grand way.
I am thinking perhaps a millipede, but that doesn't explain the central drag mark. The more I think about it, the more I like the digger wasp theory Cestoady put forth. The other possiblity might be a tiger beetle, also dragging prey. Both digger wasps and tiger beetles live in small round holes in the ground, where the larvae mature, and both kill prey and drag it around. It looks to me like an insect that is laboring along with prey, because the impressions are deep and the drag mark is, too. Looking closely: an art you excel at.
Some things are destined to remain mysteries -- but make interesting photos nonetheless.
Julie--thanks for the idea--I looked up info about Tiger beetle and the environment sounds right--sandy bank of creek--these were from a hike at Lake Katharine. The beetle would have been pretty to see (not to mention, helpful to me!)
Marvin--yes--I love the idea of little feet working and no one seeing them.
Julie--thanks for the idea--I looked up info about Tiger beetle and the environment sounds right--sandy bank of creek--these were from a hike at Lake Katharine. The beetle would have been pretty to see (not to mention, helpful to me!)
Marvin--yes--I love the idea of little feet working and no one seeing them.
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