It seems toads really like the plant cell packs that Mary uses to start her garden veggies:
The garden isn’t quite as snug, but the camouflage works much better:
It’s been a dry year and we haven’t seen many toads or slugs around the house.
Tag: Wildlife
Other creatures in our world
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Hudson River Eagle Sightings
A pocket camera can’t do justice to the Bald Eagles, just before dusk and halfway across the Hudson River from our river cruise yacht:
Bald Eagles at dusk – Hudson River near Hudson NY We got a closer look at the pair of eagles who once graced the original Grand Central Station and are now standing guard at St Basil Academy in Garrison.
This one glanced away from the entrance, perhaps to keep an eye on us:
Eagle at St Basils Academy – entrance Another watches over an interior road:
Eagle at St Basils Academy – cliff They’re two tons of cast iron apiece and, should any of you want a restoration project, I’m sure the good folks at St Basil’s could work something out.
We saw those during the Cycling the Hudson Valley tour: riding during the day, camping and touristing in the evening.
Several years ago we encountered a Penn Station eagle at the Washington Zoo:
Karen on Penn Station eagle Fly away, young Valkyrie, fly away …
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Dutchess Rail Trail: Bee Crossing
It had to happen:
DCRT – Bee Crossing Given that the Sony HDR-AS30V has a 170° FOV (probably diagonally corner-to-corner), the honeybee must be an inch or two from the lens. Subsequent frames show it circling around in front of the fairing and continuing about its business.
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Milkweed Tussock Moth
Although we no longer see Monarch butterflies, our milkweed patch attracts Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars:
Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar This one apparently died on the patio step, half the house away from the milkweed patch, and the rear spines (on the right) have begun falling out. During the next week, I teleported two more from that step to the patch, under the assumption they’d be happier on a tasty leaf than on a slate slab.
They were all early instars, very short and quite fuzzy. Later instars will be much longer, with more distinct tussocks.
I wonder if you could shear them and use the “fur” for decoration? It wouldn’t spin into thread like wool, but someone, somewhere, has surely performed art with Tussock Caterpillar spines…
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Clymene Moth
The first Clymene Moth we ever saw:
Clymene Moth It’s a poor picture, but the moth was up and away after that; as always, the poor picture you get is better than the great picture you might have gotten.
A few days later, we spotted two of them on a brick wall, so there must be a bunch more out there.
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Turtle Tragedy: Raymond Avenue
Verily, ’tis the season for turtles on the move. This one clunked over the curb on Raymond Avenue at Vassar Lake, couldn’t find an escape route, and got smashed:
Smashed turtle – Raymond Ave at Vassar Lake – 2014-07-06 Turtle armor works pretty well against their usual predators, but can’t handle automobile tire impacts.
That’s a tight crop from the helmet camera, with terrible compression artifacts smearing the spalled concrete sidewalk.
For whatever reason, NYSDOT can’t do concrete sidewalks; the entire length of Raymond Avenue has lousy concrete. The fact that Vassar College B&G uses the sidewalks as their private golf-cart highway may have something to do with it, but that’s not the primary problem, because the concrete on DOT’s showcase Rt 55 between Burnett Blvd and Titusville Rd looks the same way.
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Turtle Teleportation: Love Road
We spotted another turtle while on a grocery ride:
Turtle on Love Rd – as spotted – 2014-07-02 Although this is certainly meddling in the turtle’s affairs, it seemed reasonable on a torrid day with plenty of hot asphalt to cross:
Turtle on Love Rd – pickup – 2014-07-02 I made the (possibly unwarranted) assumption that the turtle wanted to cross the road; I’ve been wrong before.
In any event, this must be what teleportation feels like:
Turtle on Love Rd – delivery – 2014-07-02 There’s not really much on that side of the road, other than an inactive oil spill site left over from when Love Oil ran a tank farm. That’s why it’s called Love Rd, of course.
Perhaps someone else will help the turtle cross the road in the other direction…
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 