Hey, all! I’m still working on my next herbal Bucket but I thought it would be fun to have a summer photo journal until I can finish the darn thing. It occurred to me this past weekend that I have seen quite a number of changes and transformations this summer. A lot of changes in nature happen slowly and are easy to miss unless you’re paying attention; others happen in the blink of an eye. I actually caught a few on camera this year and would like to share them with you.
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THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, WATER AND PLANTS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS.
WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU AND SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS BELOW. EACH NOTE IS A RECORD THAT WE CAN REFER TO IN THE FUTURE AS WE TRY TO UNDERSTAND THEIR PHENOLOGICAL PATTERNS THAT ARE QUIETLY UNWINDING AROUND US.
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One rather fun change happened early this summer when I made a friend of one of our multitudinous chipmunks. He went from a skittish little rodent . . .
to one who thought this human might be ok . . .
well, yes, she seems to be on the level . . .
Hey, you know, this isn’t so bad after all!
And now we’re good friends. He’ll come running if he sees me with the peanut bowl and has actually jumped on my leg if I don’t feed him quickly enough.
Of course, with the pond, we see the transformation of tadpoles into frogs or toads every year but this year, I saw something much rarer — a dragonfly freshly emerged from its nymph stage. I wish I could have seen it emerging but I’m pretty sure that happened overnight.
Another insect transformation I was thrilled to capture was only possible because I decided to grow dill this year and luckily never got around to using it for anything! Dill, and other umbellifer plants like Queen Anne’s lace and fennel, is a host for certain caterpillars. When I first spotted this one, it was much smaller and greatly resembled a bird’s droppings, till you saw it move. It changed rapidly, growing up through its instars (or stages of development) in about a week. Of course, it never occurred to me to get pictures of each stage — I’m awfully cute but sometimes not so bright. ;)
I did however get a few shots near the end when it was at its prettiest.
Can you tell what it is?
I was doubly fortunate to find the chrysalis, still on the dill plant!
We watched it for two weeks and one morning we came out to find this!
Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes
How about you folks? Any good transformations in your area?
"SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS" IS POSTED EVERY SATURDAY AT 3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE. IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY.
