Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Flora & Fauna

A random assortment of recent photos, mostly flowers. These water lilies almost look like they have a light inside them.

water lily

The real lilies were blooming as well, although they're almost over now.

lilies

lily

The koi in the pond also provide some color to go with the reflections.

koi & reflections

I love the showy hibiscus flowers. They are quite large bushes that Innovation Place must overwinter somewhere indoors, maybe in one of the greenhouses.

Hibiscus flowers

I was sitting having lunch by the pond when this crab spider crossed the table towards me. I was a bit surprised to see it since I usually see them waiting in ambush on flowers.

crab spider

It came over to the edge of the table nearest to me, paused momentarily, and then jumped off the edge of the table. I thought it was headed for the ground, but it only fell a few inches and then dangled on a thread of silk which it climbed back up to the table. It repeated this multiple times and I was puzzled what it was up to. Eventually I realized it was trying to get to the arm of the chair I was sitting in. After half a dozen tries it made it. I offered it the corner of my book and it climbed on. I transferred it to the ground by the flowers and it disappeared.

crab spider

I also had a Harvestman drop in, wander down my leg and onto the chair I was using as a foot rest.

Harvestman

I see the fishing spiders regularly but they haven't been in good positions to photograph.

Walking home I was pleased to run into a rabbit. I haven't seen any around Innovation Place for a while. Such big ears and eyes!

rabbit

rabbit running away

This flower is just down the back alley from us. I was taking photos of it when the owner of the house came out to see what I was doing. When she saw I was taking photographs she said "It's just a thistle, you know." But as you know, I'm fine with thistles, in this case I think it's a blue globe thistle.

Blue Globe Thistle

Nearby, on the edge of the park I found these yellow coneflowers growing "wild". After taking some photos I noticed this insect. It's coloring is good camouflage on these flowers. It also looks somewhat like a bee, which is maybe to scare away predators. I'm not sure what it is.

insect on Yellow coneflower

See all 30 photos as a slideshow or overview

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