Sweet Mink

I was lucky enough to spot this furtive little mink (Neogale vison) by the water's edge. I decided to let my kayak float nearer, so I could just sit and wait. My patience was rewarded, as I was able to see it reappear 2 more times, from under the stump, wet and bedraggled looking. Still, despite my frozen stance, it wouldn't stay still, and I didn't want to alarm it by getting too close - these fuzzy photos will have to do.

This stance makes him look as if he's pretending to be a fierce lion

Look at how beautifully camouflaged this fierce little creature is.

This sighting made me so happy!

Rain Would be Welcome

Our lake has been low after a man-handled (artificial, and botched) lowering in anticipation of a rain event that did not materialize and there hasn't been any significant rain since then (July 29, from photos and comments, but probably started 2 weeks prior). We're 3 inches below our average monthly rainfall, and Maine is classified as having a 'flash drought' (rapid onset, intensifying quickly over a short time frame), so there's been no natural refilling.

Couple the lack of rain with a leaky dam and we are now at least 2 feet below normal, with no sign of it being reversed or refilled - until now that it is, over a month later. Some workers have been spotted investigating the obstructions (log jams) that have prevented the gates from closing all this time (an entire month) ... and a slight rise in water level has since been detected! But it's still not enough for a real immersive swim ...

Our moss-mister created a lovely rainbow to dress this situation up - we don't usually see dry ground on each side of the cove; it's usually water up to the tree bases. 

In the meanwhile, nature finds a way to harness whatever precious moisture it can, for as long as it can. 

Downy Barbules

I picked up this beautifully soft and downy feather in MA last week - it's most likely from an owl, since they have downy barbules on the sections of feathers closest to the body.

The barbules help reduce the sound of turbulent air rushing through its wings as it hunts, and also traps a lot more air for heat regulation.

World of Owls was a most helpful resource for this post.

Sanguine Beauty

Boldly beautiful -

Bloody red lobelia

Sanguinely invites.

Merganser Merriment

How exciting it has been to have a group of 8 common mergansers visit us regularly this year. We've heard and seen them making merriment in our cove, splashing and chasing and preening. Their behavior has such a distinctive sound that we know it's them without even looking up!

We know when they've been here since they leave their signature on our breakwater log - streaks of white along the length where they huddle together. The mallards sit differently on the log, such that their poop doesn't dribble onto the log, is my guess. Mallards leave it clean, leaving no trace of their presence. I wonder if it might be because of the difference in the way they sit and hold their bodies ...? Or, maybe it's just that we can see the guano because the water is low and no longer washes and crashes into the log (to clean it)?

Much to mull over ...

Speckled Mints

This delicate little flower with lavender speckles on white petals is one of the native mountain mints in North America. I'm surprised not to have seen any insects on it ... this one could be the broad-leaved or basil mountain-mint, but I'm not 100% sure which!

There are still a lot more flowers to come ... those spots must specifically attract something! A butterfly species perhaps?

Abuzz with Insects

What a lovely and satisfying sight it is to see so many insects buzzing around my native flowers - wasps, bumblebees, and caterpillars are having a grand time.

The best and most-oft visited magnets by far are blue lobelias, boneset and joe-pye-weed. Get some! You won't regret it.

Not so Big a Puzzle

A very simple, everyday occurrence when you live on a dirt road, and your new electric car doesn't have a rear wiper (go figure!) is this kind of pattern of dirt, grit and pollen on the rear windshield as it drops and settles from the overhang, depending on how much moisture there is around.

Different days, different conditions, different patterns - some days are worse than others (I wonder if some of it is ash from wildfires?)

Another Mystery

 Is this snow? Cobwebs? An abstract painting ... do you have any other ideas?

Falsehoods

This pretty little annual was showing off on one of my floating garden stumps. It's one of the more common false foxgloves, Agalinis purpurea and enjoys wet, boggy environments

This little beauty is partially parasitic, using the roots of other plants to gain nutrients.

Meet A Leech

Whilst examining aquatic plant air spaces and distinguishing tiny yellow flowering bladderworts from each other, I detected a movement in my plant tray. It came from this little brown speck ...

which turned into this as it moved along - the head stretches forward and uses the same looping motion as an inchworm to pull itself forward, attaching and detaching front and back suckers alternately to move forward.

In the initial round ball resting position, it's difficult to recognize the organism as a leech.

Aerenchyma

What is aerenchyma, you might ask? It's something that aquatic plants have within their tissues to enable them to stand upright in water currents, without needing their own sturdy structure - they make use of air spaces that keep them buoyant and also help with gas exchange within the plant.

I cut through the cross section of a thick stem of variable milfoil and took a photo to show the aerenchyma (air-filled cavities) within

Look at all the gaps/air spaces within the stem above. It makes the cross section look like a wagon wheel or an orange slice, but with air spaces. What a fantastic adaptation. Here are two more, free floating in water:

Northern Crescent Butterfly

This pretty butterfly is most likely the Northern crescent, Phyciodes cocyta, though it's difficult to tell apart from the Pearl Crescent, Phyciodes tharos, so they were originally regarded as one species.

It very pleasingly kept still for me to get close and capture the lovely antennal markings, the orange tips of which make it a male.

Fairy Mushroom

I like how presentable this mushroom looks next to this oak leaf. I'm not 100% sure of its ID, but Google lens suggests it might be Amanita vaginata, grisette mushroom, with a wide distribution in North America. The grooves on the cap's margins and little bump in the center stand out.

It's Called Rain

On Aug 14, we had a thunderous rainstorm, and it was so very welcome. We haven't seen precipitation from the sky since July 20, and the temperatures have been alarmingly high. The ground is so dry, parched and hard-packed that I think more rain ran off than soaked into the ground. A pity, but that's what happens when things get out of whack, and drought conditions set in. Even my native foamflowers have been looking stressed.

Some raindrop streaks and gushings were noticed as I stood outside to watch

A Lavender Bladderwort

Yet again, after thinking I'd seen and identified all there was to see in our aquatic Arrowhead ecosystem, I discovered something new - a very delicate little flowering bladderwort that requires a combination of specialized conditions, low water (it's described as semi aquatic) and very hot days, to flower. The planets aligned this past week for me to see this Utricularia resupinata (Lavender, or resupinate bladderwort in common parlance) for the first time!

I almost paddled right past them, initially thinking I was seeing a slightly lavender-tinged pipewort, of which there were many stranded away from the water's edge.

 But I decided not to be lazy, retraced my paddling 'steps' and beached to make sure - am I glad I did!

This little gem is so fragile - and I can't help seeing a Daffy Duck profile!

The lower part of the plant, embedded in the sediments, looks like this - it's very difficult to detect the bladders, even this close up.

Unfortunately the plant is threatened or endangered in many of the States to which it is native.

A New Find

I'm so excited to showcase a new aquatic algae for me - Tristan Taber of LSM suggests it might be a Palmodictyon algae. It looks quite spectacular up close - I used the 2x zoom on my cell phone, and draped the algae over an inverted ramekin in water before raising it up to highlight its filamentous form.

The algae felt a little slimy and gel-like to the touch, and not at all like the feel of wet cotton candy that metaphyton has.

It's free floating, and looks pretty nondescript lying in my frisbee before I  stretched it out. 

Royal Visit

 A visit from the monarchy today!

So very happy to see Danaus plexippus visit MY yard again this year

Veiny Wings

I've seen a lot of these net winged beetles in my yard lately - the one I picked to photograph has something weird going on with it. Were its legs caught in a web and tangled over its back? It should have 6 legs and 2 long antennae that look like they're armored with brass plates.

They have a raise network of what look like lines or veins on their wings - this is the reticulated net winged beetle, Calopteron reticulatum.

They feed on debris from other insects and plants in leaf litter

Puzzle Solved

The pattern is the criss-cross texture of my skin outlined with blood (a great way to show skin texture). I hope you're not grossed out - I find this fascinating!

I came out of the lake after pulling up milfoil for an hour and a half, only to find that my hand was bleeding. There was absolutely no pain, but it bled constantly for more than 30 minutes, so ... it must have been a leech bite. They anaesthetize the area when they begin feeding so it doesn't hurt at all. Pretty amazing creatures.

Even a tight Band Aid couldn't stop it - the animals inject an anticoagulant into the site so that blood will flow freely, uninterrupted.

And all's well that ends well - no lingering side-effects or problems with the bite site 3 days later.

Puzzling Pattern

 Any idea what this strange pattern could be?

A caterpillar up close, perhaps?

Answer will be posted tomorrow ...

Pretty and Fuzzy

This very bright caterpillar caught my eye whilst looking at little flowering bladderworts by the water's edge. It is way more showy than its adult form, the smeared dagger moth (Acronicta oblinita), a very nondescript, drab creature found throughout eastern North America.

Don't touch! Those spikes can irritate one's skin when released.

Through a Drop

I cropped this photo really tightly to emphasize the reflective quality of the spheres of water droplets

This is how it started off

Naiad Overload

This is what happens after spending hours and hours hunting for invasive European naiads (Najas minor) in the shallows on the lake ... on the drive back home, all the trees by the roadside start looking like enormous naiads to my exhausted mind! I thought I was losing my marbles, imagining I was driving along a pathway overhung with tree-like naiads, which in real life are currently about 6 inches tall. Oh my! "When trees become naiads" should be the title of my memoir, written from an asylum.

I need help! Maybe a break from naiad hunting is on the cards!

It's amazing how focused and tunnel-visioned one becomes when on the lookout for foreign marauders.

Simple Loveliness

I find this leaf to be lovely in its simplicity -  a milkweed leaf has another pressed up against it, so the upper and lower surfaces can be seen together, matching up perfectly.

I suspect there is some kind of mildew or fungus on the underside of this leaf, but it adds to the beauty and overall texture.

Crystalwort

This unusual piece of greenery is a floating or aquatic liverwort, also known as a crystalwort (Riccia fluitans). It holds its shape, though the feel of it is like a gel. There is both an aquatic and terrestrial form. It is considered a primitive or ancestral plant, similar to mosses in that it is nonvascular.

It is widely distributed throughout North America, and provides habitat for fry and insect larvae, so they're integral to an ecosystem. It's able to survive through northeast winters, and grows from fragments that branch a lot, ending in a little fork or notch.

 

A neat little find!

Divine Proportion

 A violet leaf about to unfurl

Beautiful Witch-hazel

It's striking to see witch-hazel seed capsules against their dramatic green leaves - they look so furry and inviting to touch, almost like velour.

I'm more used to noticing the unusual little flowers in fall, the spiky-twirly remnants of which you can see in this next pic: