Just a few shots from weekend walks outdoors. And there’s also a video down below. But, first, the pretty things.
The sun silhouetted the trees and I further polarized the lens with a pair of cheap sunglasses.
The photos of which are never as cool, somehow, as what you’re seeing through the glasses themselves, but still fun nonetheless.
I thought this was a bit of toadflax, or hairy skullcap (that’s actually a wildflower name, yes) but now I think it could be any number of other things. I’m going with downy lobelia (Lobelia puberula).
And that is why when I did the last wildflower post I made the joke about failing hilariously at plant identification.
I’m not even going to try, here. Let’s just admire the contrasting colors.
I’m guessing this is some genus of Persicaria, or smartweed. There are 30-some species in that group. One of them has to be this color, right?
I feel comfortable with this one, it’s white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima):
I was rather surprised to find honeysuckle blooming this late in the year. I was pleased. It should bloom more. And, if not, this should be a sign of the new spring. It is almost springtime, right?
Look at this Yellow wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), so full of life and promise:
Your standard issue bunch of goldenrod.
On our Sunday walk I heard this doe before I saw her. I don’t think that happens very often. She stood and stared for a long time, and let me get within about 15 feet before she calmly walked off.
I did not see the deer that was with her, which had stayed very still, until they both walked away.
We had a big video chat this evening with a Pulitzer Prize winner. Elizabeth Kolbert joined us via Zoom as part of the fall 2021 Themester, “Resilience.” Her Prize-winning book — The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, covers mass extinctions She has a new book, Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, which was released a bit earlier this year.
The interview went well, after it got started. I’ve queued it to the beginning.
It’s always fun working on someone else’s projects.
