Fall Colors

The trees are starting to change color around the pond, and the days are getting shorter so the sun is lower in the sky when I get to work. All of which makes for photographic material.









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Photos of the Day

Walking across the railway bridge on the way to work, I noticed a large bird on a bare tree branch. At first I thought it might be a hawk since I've seen several around this area. But then the head looked white so I thought it might be a bald eagle. I pulled out my camera and took a few photos. I knew they wouldn't be great since I was too far away, but I figured I might be able to zoom in enough to identify it. It was still there when I got to the end of the bridge so I headed towards it to get a better view. Unfortunately, as soon as I got anywhere near it flew away.

Looking at the photos on the computer, I was surprised to see it was an osprey, and not only that, but it had caught a good sized fish. As expected it's not a great photo, but it served its purpose.



Once I had my camera out I couldn't resist a few raindrop covered flowers.

Photo of the Day

The water lilies are still hanging on in the pond, although they are a little slower to open up in these shorter, cooler days.

Flowering Succulents

I barely had to step out the door to get these photos. The last couple of years we've bought collections of succulents from Solar Gardens at the Farmers Market. Despite not having much of a green thumb they seem to do quite well and I really enjoy the diversity of them. This year's collection has been living on the steps of the house where I see them whenever I go in and out. Although most flowers are ending, these ones are still flowering.







I took last year's collection to work for the winter, but sadly it didn't do very well, despite being in a sunny spot. Only a few of the succulents survived, although those ones have been thriving.

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The Way to Work

It might still be August, but when it's only +2c when I get up, you know autumn is coming! But cool mornings mean the garter snakes seek the sunshine to warm themselves. Unless they're actually on the path I usually hear them before I see them. They make a distinctive rustling in the undergrowth. Then the trick is to spot them since they blend in well. This one paused just long enough for me to grab a quick photo.



When I got to work I went to check on the progress of the lotus flower bud I'd seen the day before. I was surprised to see it was already fully open.

Watercolors

It was too nice a day to stay inside all afternoon so I ran over to Innovation Place, planning to eat my lunch by the pond and then do a little work before running home. A wedding party had taken over the pond area :-( so I headed over to the fountain instead, where I found a large multi-generational group having family photos taken, complete with screaming children. Thankfully they finished their photos and left before too long! Of course, I had to take a few photos myself, although not of people!

I don't spend much time around the fountain so I hadn't realized they had lotus flowers this year. I'm always impressed by these huge complex flowers.



Even the flower buds are impressively grapefruit sized.



And I always enjoy the water lilies.



Even without the color they have an interesting design.



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Fishing Spiders, Again

I usually check for fishing spiders on my way home from work. Normally they are close to the water and quite hard to spot. I expect to have to search for them. But this time there was a large one out on the pavement instead of down by the water. I backed away slowly so as not to scare it away and got out my camera. I started by taking some shots from a distance, with the telephoto, in case it took off when I got close.



Unfortunately it was sitting right in the shadow of the reeds. But that was probably deliberate on its part to make it less obvious. I've never seen them out in the open like this before. I wonder what brought it out?

I then switched to macro and slowly approached. I took a bunch of photos without scaring it away.



I even got away with moving my shadow across it to get a better background.



In fact it ignored me so totally, and didn't move at all, that I started to think it must be dead. But when I poked it with my finger it finally ran away!

This was a large adult with a body about 2 cm long. There were also numerous small juveniles less than a centimeter. (I counted 10 in a small area.) I wonder how long it takes them to grow? The babies that I saw last time were very tiny, less than a millimeter.



I also wonder what the biggest factor is in their mortality. They go from hundreds of babies, to tens of juveniles, to one or two adults. Is their population controlled most by availability of food? Or by predation? Or something else? I wonder what eats them? It seems like the koi would eat anything, but they seem too slow. A dragonfly might be fast enough to catch them.

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Bug of the Day

I was just about to leave the house to walk to a dentist appointment when I realized I didn't have a camera with me, and you never know when you might see something worth photographing. I happened to spot this caterpillar in the park.



It's hard to tell which end is the front, which is, of course, the intent. I assume that means it's more likely to survive having its tail bitten than its head, otherwise there'd be no point to the deception. The long hairs also make it a less appetizing mouthful. Some caterpillars have hairs that can be quite irritating if you touch them. (And in rare cases cause allergic reactions.)

I think this is Lophocampa maculata or Spotted Tussock Moth. It's supposed to feed on poplar or willow leaves but it comes down from the trees to find a place to pupate, which might be why this one was in the grass.

Montana Critters

I didn't see a lot of wildlife on this trip but there's always small stuff. There were a few shorebirds around the lake like this sandpiper.



The Kildeer were noisy but hard to spot against the pebbled beach, which is surprising since they're not particularly camouflaged.



I spotted more insects than anything else. My entomologist father would have been proud of me :-) These grasshoppers (one of his specialties) were also hard to spot, since their coloring matched the dirt and brown grass well. The trick was to track them when they flew and try to catch where they landed. Even when you did spot them, they were quite skittish and hard to get close enough to photograph.



On the other hand, this spider's orange color stood out against the plant it was on. And it wasn't bothered by me getting close to take its picture.



These bees were loaded with bright orange pollen, which matched the pollen on these Mullein flowers.



And there were bumblebees around as well:



On our walk in the Missouri Headwaters State Park there were a ton of grasshoppers. As you walked along the path you were surrounded by grasshoppers jumping around. It reminded me of popcorn popping! There were a few different kinds



And also a lively chipmunk.



On our hike in the Lewis and Clark National Forest there were quite a few butterflies around but they were distinctly uncooperative. I only managed a few photos.



This fly was a little easier to capture. I think it's a Tachinid fly. Apparently they can be important pollinators higher in the mountains where bees are scarce.



It was fairly early in the morning when we walked through Gibson Park in Great Falls and there were bees "sleeping" on the flowers, waiting to warm up enough to fly.



And yet more grasshoppers:



Lots of ducks on the pond in the park:



And a few swans. This one seems to be studying its reflection.



The ubiquitous gophers (ground squirrels) made us feel at home:



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Montana Flowers & Plants

I enjoyed photographing the prairie plants around Canyon Ferry Lake. At first glance all you could see was brown grass with the occasional sagebrush and juniper. But looking closer, the sagebrush was flowering:



and wildflowers like these blazing stars were hidden in the grass:





I'm not sure what these next plants are, they were about four feet high with "furry" leaves and grew closer to water, not on the dry prairie.



You had to watch where you put your feet since there was a lot of cactus in some places. Mostly prickly pear like these



It was past flowering, but there were some fruits left.



These next cacti weren't as common and were often half buried making them harder to spot. I'm guessing some kind of Escobaria or pincushion cactus, maybe spiny star.



Lately I've been trying to find some blue gamma grass to photograph. These were the only ones I spotted.



The heads curl up attractively after the seeds are gone:



After camping we spent the night at the historic Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks to get cleaned up. The next day we went for a short hike at the nearby Missouri Headwaters State park.



Anyone know what these next flowers are?





We also went for a hike (actually more of a bushwhack) in the Lewis and Clark National forest where the Indian Paintbrush and other wildflowers were blooming.





On our way home we spent a night in in Great Falls and went for a walk in Gibson Park where there were lots of flowers.



even some blue globe thistles:



For more of these photos, see all 32 as a slideshow or overview