Thursday, July 31, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Nature Notes and Our World: Rainy Summer
I haven't been taking very many photographs on rainy days.
Today, I thought I'd try to get some rainy day shots since my natural world has had plenty of rain this summer
The positive side of all the rainy weather is that plants and flowers have stayed happy in spite of the heat.
I would prefer that the rain not come down quite as hard as it does on some days but too much rain in the summer is better than too little.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Today's Flowers: Quick traffic stop shots
At traffic lights I managed some fast shots.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Thursday, July 24, 2014
SkyWatch Friday: Shooting Blind driving home from work
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Combined Our World and Nature Notes: My Wild Deck
For the second summer in a row, a fox family has showed up on my deck.
They are fun to watch from my door and windows.
I'm guessing the bird are less amused when the foxes drink out of their bath.
Trying to nap is hard when you itch.
The male cardinal below is enjoying a bath.
I've seen quite a few bluejays lately.
American robins always spend a lot of time bathing on my deck in the summer.
Juvenile American Robins are always fun to watch.
Below a female cardinal's feathers look so soft.
Next a brown thrasher is deciding on a bath.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
The Weekend in Black and White: Foxy Fox
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Our World and Nature Notes: Caution Joggers Deer Crossing
The deer on the left hand side of this shot ran across the path in front of the joggers on the right hand side.
Once the deer crossed the path it settled in for some serious grazing. I'm going to update this post as a result of a question about whether I see a lot of deer here. There didn't use to be deer in my subdivision (or at least not for a long time) but as more and more subdivisions are being built and there are less rural and forested areas near here, the deer are turning up more in the woods beside the creeks which feed into the lake where I walk in my subdivision. I also have foxes that nest (second year in a row) in my wild back yard. Where I live use to be considered North Raleigh (I'm in a subdivision built in the 1960s) but now my part of town is referred to as Midtown Raleigh by the newspapers. The sprawl has continued with subdivision upon subdivision being built north of me in areas that use to be outside of Raleigh and part of the countryside not long ago. I decided to update this post since it is for Nature Notes and I rarely write much but this has been an issue with nature in my world. The wildlife get crowded out of more and more places and has to make do with parks and larger lots.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Today's Flowers: Regular storms helps gardens in the heat
We've had a hot June and early July but the frequent storms are keeping the gardens happy along with occasional cooler nights and days.
Although some of the storms have been strong enough to knock off a few limbs for the most part we haven't had much damage.
I also think that our wet winter and spring helps because bushes and trees with deep roots have plenty of moisture to draw from on the dry days.
The photographs in this post are from the J C Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.
In addition to the meandering section of the garden there are also large beds of specimen plants.
Over the fence are more plants but they are not open to the public.
The area beyond the fence are for the horticulture, floriculture and botany students at NCSU.
NCSU also has a large agriculture department and veterinary school which has pastures with horses and cows close by.
I took the shot below as I was walking out of the lath house into the Japanese Garden.
The shot below is of a portion of the garden devoted to landscape design student projects where there are postage lot size urban gardens which the student work displayed.
