Post by Daniel 🐅🏔 - ourselves.space

ourselves.space

74d

A really fun one from Ohio in May, a Blanding's Turtle. Love its little smile.

An extremely endangered species due to habitat loss and not reaching sexual maturity until 14-20 years of age. But if they do reach maturity, they incredibly show no physical signs of aging and are capable of reproducing through eight+ decades of life.

#reptiles #turtles

A large, dark turtle rests on a log floating in a pond. It has a large squarish head, and its neck and chin are bright yellow. It appears to have a faint smile

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73d

Green Heron at Magee Marsh in May

Don't usually get to see these skulky friends from below!

#birds #birding

A Green Heron is (unusually) perched in a large branch of a tree, surrounded by fresh bright green growth and leaves. The heron is greenish-blue-gray on its back, with reddish cheeks and throat, a dark cap, and a bright yellow-orange eye. It's long, sharp bill extends outward to the right its bright orange legs extend in a strong angle away from its body to hold it in place

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60d

I am very much not done posting my best photos of 2024 so

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60d

A male Palm Warbler sneaking a peak from the new growth

#birds #birding

A small bird skulks among the new growth on a shrubby tree. It is a warbler, with a sharp, small black bill. Its breast is vibrant yellow flecked in black, with stripes of the same yellow on its face and a rusty cap. Hints of the same rusty color can be seen on its wings

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56d

Male Chestnut-sided Warbler at Magee Marsh in May

#birds #birding #warblers

A small, vibrant bird looks at the camera while perched on a small twig. The bird has a bright yellow cap, black streaks going down between its eyes and mouth, black and yellow on its back, a clean white breast, and thick chestnut stripes along its sides

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55d

Male Prothonotary Warbler singing his heart out just a few feet off the boardwalk at Magee Marsh

#birds #birding

A small, vibrantly yellow bird sings loudly from its bird on a dead snag of a tree. Its pointed bill is open wide during its song, its deep yellow breast puffing out. It has grayish wings and white under its tail

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54d

Chipping Sparrow at Oak Openings Preserve in Ohio

#birds #birding

A small bird stands on short, pink legs in short, rough grass that extends out into a field behind it. It is mostly light gray on its underside, with light streaking on its break and whitish throat patches. Its wings are patterned with brown, black and cream. It has a black stripe of feathers running through its eye to the back of its head, a white stripe above that, and is topped by a rusty crown, spiking slightly at attention away from its small, pointed black beak

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54d

Lupine lit up by the bright afternoon sun in Ohio

#NativePlants #photography

Dozens of tall lupine plants fill the frame; the plants have long, tall stalks full of many small purple flowers. The purple of the flowers offsets sharply with the bright green of the star-shaped leaves

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54d

Tree Swallow on a rare break from zipping around everywhere

#birds #birding

A small, sleek bird rests on a thin, horizontal branch. It has a clean white throat and belly, and the metallic blue-green on its cap can just barely be seen. Its dark, slender wings are at rest at its sides

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53d

I was the weirdo at Magee Marsh in early May taking pictures of things that WEREN'T birds and really annoying every person that asked me what I was looking at

I really love a good look at a Damselfly. This is an Eastern Forktail, Ischnura verticalis

#insects #odonata #photography

A tiny damselfly resting on a bright green, deeply veined leaf. The damselfly is long and thing, with its wings folded back along its abdomen. Its body is mostly black with neon green stripes, and its long black abdomen is tipped in sky blue

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52d

A little bitty tree frog on a buttonbush leaf one morning

#frogs #herps #photography #iphonePhotography

A small green tree frog that still has the remnants of a tail clings to a bright green, fresh leaf, lit up by the morning sun

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52d

Speaking of frogs… do you see?

#frogs #herps #photography #iphonePhotography

A full frame shot of the leaves and branches of a cypress tree. Following one of the branches away from the camera, there is a small green tree frog resting

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52d

More herps?

A painted turtle enjoying the sunshine early last year

#turtles #herps #photography

A turtle rests on a log floating in a pond. The turtles head is mostly dark green, streaked by many light yellow-green stripes. One of the stripes expands near the turtle’s “ear” to make a red patch

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52d

A carpenter ant herding aphids on a willow leaf

The more-than-human world is really cool, y'all. Look closely!

#ants #insects #aphids #photography

A large black ant rests at the base of a slender leaf at the end of a willow branch. On the leaf are green aphids of different sizes, presumably being "ranched" and tended to by the ant for their honeydew production when necessary

Edited 52d ago

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51d

Yellow-billed Cuckoo skulking in the batture along the Mississippi River

#birds #birding #photography

A sleek, slender bird skulks in the branches of a willow tree in deep woods. It has a clean white throat and belly, with a grayish brown topside. The underside of its very long tail is black with circles of white. It has a sharp, curved yellow bill

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51d

The batture is a unique ecosystem in this area. Thick woods of water-loving tree species line the river side of the levee in areas where the ground is exposed during lower flow times. Huge cottonwoods, sycamores and willows, tied together with vines of all sorts.

On this day in late April it was teeming with birds. Orioles were singing from every direction, and there would be a flash and suddenly something like the cuckoo above would appear just a few feet away.

Magical

#nature #photography

Dense bright green forest fills the frame. Tall trees stretch from top to bottom, their bare trunks covered in lush vines of all sorts. The forest floor is a tangle of thriving bushes and shrubs

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49d

A nice close shot of the beeblossom. It was really hard to get these in focus, glad I got at least one to show off how beautifully delicate they are

#NativePlants #photography

Two delicate white flowers are growing on the thin stalk of a beeblossom plant, with several more buds sticking out further along the stem. The flowers have five papery white petals, and around ten very long white stamens extending out, each with a large reddish anther full of yellow pollen

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49d

Some of the many mushroom friends from back in Louisiana

#fungi #mushrooms #photography

Three white mushrooms with broad caps and slim, long stems are growing out of the mossy bark at the base of a pine tree. Oak and pine saplings grow nearby

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49d

Another mushroom friend, and its little insect friends under its cap

#fungi #mushrooms #photography

A gray amanita mushroom grows on the forest floor, seen from just below. It has a shiny silver gray cap with large white warts on it, and a thick white stipe

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48d

A Banded Pennant hanging out in the lawn near the pond

#insects #odonata #photography

A dragonfly rests on a blade of grass in a lawn. Its body is dark blue all over, and its wings are translucent except for large black patches on each: a very large patch close to the body, smaller patches along the length of the wing, and a patch at each tip

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47d

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on the buttonbush last summer 🥰

#insects #butterflies #photography

A very large pale yellow butterfly with black stripes nectars from the white, spiky globular inflorescence of a buttonbush. It is surrounded by the large, waxy bright green leaves of the bush

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