March 21, 2020

2020

March 21, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday – the warmest day so far for this spring but too windy to cook on the grill:

Switching from smoothie to oatmeal for breakfast…but not ordinary oatmeal. I added beet root powder (made the color deep red) and mashed banana while it cooked…and then had chopped walnuts in the bowl. No added sugar!

Starting a Coursera course: In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting from MoMA. It’s divided into eight ‘weeks.’ I’ve finished the first two. I have enjoyed the ‘in the studio’ videos the most.

Becoming proficient applying makeup with a foundation brush. I’ve been practicing for a little more than a week and now can do it as fast as I used to apply makeup with my fingers…and it looks better. The brush has been through one cleaning (the advice it to clean it weekly with soap and water); even though it didn’t look like it retained makeup – the water was definitely makeup colored!

Cutting a sycamore stem to observe the buds opening. I have it in a vase in the kitchen window. I’ll post some photographs once I build up a sequence.

Observing a chickadee at the bird feeder…but it was only there for a few seconds and not on the side for the camera to catch. I hope the birds re-discover the feeder soon (and that the hawk stays away).

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19

March 21, 2020

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 21, 2020

March 21, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Can Destroying Senescent Cells Treat Age-Related Disease? | The Scientist Magazine® - Lots of trials going on…this may be a way to extended years of healthy life (not elongate life).

This 'Blood-Red' Snow Is Taking Over Parts of Antarctica | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – I remember seeing snow that was the color of watermelon in Colorado…it’s algae Chlamydomonas nivalis, which is the most common type of snow algae around the world. It hasn’t been as common in Antarctica until this year.

Spotted Zebras, Yellow Cardinals, and Three-Antlered Deer: What Causes these Animal Oddities? • The National Wildlife Federation Blog – Some uncommon forms of animals we all recognize.

What Makes a Venus Flytrap Snap | The Scientist Magazine® - It’s complicated…and nuanced so that the plant only invests in digestion efforts when there is food!

Just a Tiny Fraction of America’s Plastic Can Actually Be Recycled, Report Finds - Yale E360 – We can’t send it to China any more…so it’s all on us to clean up our own mess. Unless and until we can get recycling working well…it’s important for all of us to reduce our use of plastics as much as possible. It’s hard to do.

States with highest rates of melanoma due to ultraviolet radiation identified: Several landlocked states among those with highest rates -- ScienceDaily – It’s not all about being out in the sun either. The prevalence was higher in younger females due to tanning bed usage by teen girls in the late 1990s contributing.

Interactive Infographic: How Salt Transforms Coastal Forests | The Scientist Magazine® - We noticed this process as we’ve visited Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge over the years. There are some areas that used to be marsh with some trees that are now open water.

Top 25 birds of the week: March 2020 - Wild Bird Revolution – No birding festivals in our future near term….but still enjoying pictures taken by others.

Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think - BBC Future – A good compilation of studies about energy consumption for various aspects of our online activities….maybe we can skew toward the lower energy use ones more frequently. Some of the energy, we pay for in terms of our electricity use….others are embedded in products or services we use where the energy usage is not something we see directly.

Coronavirus: How hand sanitizers protect against infections – Compound Interest – Some timely chemistry.

March 20, 2020

Brookside Gardens South Conservatory in February

March 20, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Update: This blog post is about a visit to Brookside Gardens early in March. Like all Montgomery County Parks facilities the conservatories are closed today as part of the strategy to slow the spread of COVID-19. Check the garden web site for more information.

Continuing about my walk around Brookside Gardens into the South Conservatory…

This is where the butterfly exhibit will be housed by the later part of April. For now, it is full of blooms. The snapdragons are dominant. The day I went was sunny and I enjoyed trying to get positioned so that the throats of the flowers were fired by the sun – making them look more like dragons.

The sun coming through the Amaryllis blooms make the edges pop.

But my favorite Amaryllis shot was one in the shade.

All kinds of flowers take on a different look depending on whether the light is behind or above or in front of the flower.

I took a last look back at the conservatory and used the zoom to get two more flowers…

Then went outdoors to find out how far along the spring bulbs in the garden were.

March 19, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/18/2020

March 19, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Going to the grocery store turned out to be a rather overwhelming experience. The store opened an hour later than posted on their website (the decision evidently made last night after I checked) and there were more people that had accumulated by the time they opened. After sitting in my car for about 30 minutes and just before the doors opened, I walked over to the far edge of the parking garage to photograph the sunrise. It was the last calm moment of today’s shopping.

The carts were all lined up outdoors and we entered the store single file….spaced out. More than half the people looked 60+ (like me). Everyone was wiping down carts, using hand sanitizer and trying to keep 6 feet apart. My plan is to shop weekly to maintain the 2 weeks of food and supplies in the house.

We were running low on disinfectant for our counter tops because I had not been finding it recently; they didn’t have what I wanted today either, but I did buy something else. I didn’t find disinfectant wipes either.
No toilet paper. I’m down to about a 1.5 weeks supply in the house…so I need to find some soon.
I did find buy some boxed flax milk that can be stored in the pantry rather than the refrigerator because keeping 4 cartons of milk in the refrig at all times (which is what is I drink in 2 weeks), takes up too much room.
The meat counters were bare as was the canned chicken shelf so we are dipping into our two-week supply if we don’t find any at the store we will try tomorrow morning.
They had cat food but not the kind we were running low on. I didn’t buy any. That could become an issue next week. Hopefully the cat will eat some foods that he typically does not like as well (we pamper him…he’s 19 years old).
I couldn’t find any dried beans. I cooked what I had in the pantry recently…wanted to restock.
Medication we would typically use for a cold or the flu….just in case we somehow get sick…was sold out. My husband had bought a small supply before but it’s not enough if we both got sick and needed it for a week or more. We need to find some tomorrow.
My husband’s protein shakes were not available in the flavor he likes. I’m not sure what I am going to do about that.
I found everything I wanted in the produce section (radishes, celery, kale, bananas) – fortunately.

After this experience – I might change to curbside pickup or delivery for next week.

Here are the unique activities for yesterday that helped me recover from the overwhelming start to the day:

Ordering protein powder (NutraBio® 100% Whey Protein Isolate) based on my daughter’s recommendation – just in case we are challenged to get enough protein at some point. It also has the advantage of being a pantry item rather requiring refrigeration. I’ve enjoyed the beet powder I bought before all this ‘stay at home as much as possible’ started for the same reasons: great nutrition in a small space and long shelf life. They’re both smoothie ingredients! I’m wondering if the combination of the Dutch Chocolate protein powder, banana and the beet powder will be like a ‘red velvet’ smoothie!
Watching the 5th video in the ‘Life in the Universe Pandemic Series’ from Charles Cockell – Will I ever meet aliens?
Noticing that my neighbor’s forsythia is blooming…and that the spicebush in the forest is blooming too. It’s not as showy…but it’s a native. There is a butterfly that needs spicebush for its caterpillars too: the spicebush swallowtail. I’ll put on my hiking boots and tuck my pants into socks (to avoid deer ticks and Lyme disease) to troop back into the woods to get some pictures of their flowers someday soon.
Responding to an email query about tips re cell phone nature photography….and was pleased to provide some links to two blog posts (one and two) with tips illustrated by examples that I did a little over a year ago. It’s nice to have some two-way interaction beyond my immediate family!
Ordering some bugs from https://www.thebutterflycompany.com/ for a photographic project. My husband is the one that suggested it. We are anticipating needing to supplement the projects we’ve already started for ourselves while we are ‘staying at home as much as possible.’ We ordered: cecropia moth, Luna moth, eastern comma butterfly, question mark butterfly, zebra swallowtail, and eastern Hercules beetle.
Watching the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safari – Sihil the Ocelot.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17

March 19, 2020

Brookside Gardens North Conservatory in February

March 19, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

On cold days, the Brookside Gardens Conservatories are a warm place out of the wind. I went last week to take some pictures. The North conservatory is the one closest to the gift shop…and first one I walked around. I liked the plant flowering near the door and experimented with holding the camera upward to capture the inside of the of the flowers.

I always note the cycad and white bird-of-paradise (both are planted near the center of the building to that they have room to grow tall) …. And anything with color.

This time I didn’t spend time looking at the cactus corner, but I did notice the azaleas in bloom…a seasonal addition to the conservatory.

I noticed some water droplets on a big leave close to the surface of the water feature in the southeast corner and then

Realized there was a web and a spider just a little above the leaf! Maybe the spider is keeping nuisance insects controlled in the conservatory. Hope there are not spiders in the south conservatory where the butterflies exhibit will be by late April.

March 18, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/17/2020

March 18, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Picking earrings to wear that I haven’t worn in a long time. Yesterday I wore some from Orlando FL and today they are from Watkins Glen NY. Earrings are my favorite item to purchase when I travel…small keepsakes that I can wear! Both are over 10 years old, but I still remember where I got them.
Maintaining the compost pile and walking around the yard. I’m trying to get out of the house at least once a day….enjoy that it is springtime here!

Watching the second installment of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safari (about Rico the Porcupine). They have established a website where all the videos will be available after they air live. I am watching the recorded version, so I don’t have to pay attention to the time to be online at 3 PM EDT!
Calling family far away, I had planned to be in Texas this past week…but I was already ‘staying at home as much as possible’ a few days before I was going to get on the airplane. Talking on the telephone is the next best thing for keeping in touch until it is not as risky to be out and about in larger groups of people.
Making a Zentangle® butterfly. I was straightening up my office and found a few extra butterfly tiles left from last summer’s experience with summer campers. I couldn’t resist using the tile…thinking that this would be a good activity for anyone needing a quiet calm time. If you want to learn a new pattern, checkout out https://tanglepatterns.com/ . Later in the afternoon. it was warm enough that I saw a real butterfly - a cabbage white.

Watching the 4th video in the ‘Life in the Universe Pandemic Series’ from Charles Cockell - Why didn’t dinosaurs build a space program? His pet gecko, Europa, is part of the lecture too!

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16

The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

March 17, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/16/2020

March 17, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

2020 03 IMG_8476 (2).jpg — Discovered some to go peanut butter in my pantry that are ‘best if used by’ April 2020 which prompted a snack of peanut butter and celery….and taking everything out of the pantry to see if there was more items that needed to be used promptly. There was some cocoa that should have been used by 2014 and some coconut flour by 2017…into the trash they went. The before and after shot of the pantry is below….it was a good ‘cleanup and out’ project for the day.

Continued “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series” videos from Dr. Charles Cockell – Is there life on Mars? And Will Samples from Mars cause a Pandemic?

Cooked pinto beans. I soaked them for a full 24 hours (part on the counter…then in the refrig) then cooked them in the morning and ate a small portion with some leftover stir fry chicken for lunch. Yum!

Learned about Anna Atkins’ Photographs of British Algae Cyanotype Impressions in a Europeana Blog post (one of my news feeds) and then searched to find an online copy. I was frustrated that the Internet Archive only had one print! It turns out that The New York Public Library Digital Collections has a digitized copy of the volumes once owned by Sir John Herschel. I enjoyed the first volume and added the others to my reading list for subsequent days.

Watched the first Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Home Safari…daily at 3PM EDT…for children but interesting for adults as well…the first video is about their young hippo Fiona. From their Facebook Page.

Went to dentist to get permanent crowns. I was worried about the temporary ones that I had for over 3 weeks coming loose/off at a bad time….having a painful dental problem when the office might be closed. So - I had a very short breach of social distance…but I decided it was worth the (slight) risk.

Overall, this is my 8th day of adhering to the low density, 6 feet rule (except for the dentist which was low density but could not always achieve the 6 feet separation)…stay at home as much as possible…hand washing with soap/not touching face. The last time I was at a place with more than 25 people in a room was 19 days ago. I’m beginning to realize that some of what I am doing now (like the more frequent hand washing with soap) might be on the way to becoming habits.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15

March 16, 2020

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/15/2020

March 16, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I normally do a daily blog post…but during this time, I might do an extra post from time to time. Since I am ‘staying at home as much as possible’ to reduce our COVID-19 exposure (and potentially slow the spread of the virus), I have more time at home.

Normally this time of year I travel, get training for upcoming volunteer activities, and take day trips---as spring is unfurling. This year was no exception, but it all came to a screeching halt last week. So – what am I doing with this extra time at home? Fortunately, I have a house that I enjoy and there is a lot to do. If you are at home and getting a little low on ‘things to do’ maybe these extra posts will give you some ideas.

There are the usual things that I always try to work into my day (but don’t always succeed when I have a lot of other things going on):

Zentangle (more than one)
Breathing App (this is an smartphone app that provides tones for breathing – in and out – in a rhythm that people meditating achieve….I find it very relaxing for 15 minutes…better than a substantial nap and makes me even more focused on whatever I do afterward)
Yoga (I’ve already built up my routine in the past week!)
Browse through 3-4 books on Internet Archive and other online sources. (I like variety. Today I am still working my way through 1) The Vermont Life magazines – I am up to Autumn 2011; 2) Starting The English Home magazines; 3) Working backwards through the Quarterly Journal of the Audubon Society of Missouri – I am back to 2013 now…getting to know to birds found in the state where my daughter is living; and 4) Keeping in reserve the Internet Archive collection by or about Alphonse Mucha.)
12,000 steps (this one is a little harder being at home all the time although I am taking walks around the neighborhood or working in the yard on days that the weather is good)
Pictures of birds at the feeder or birdbath – right now the feeder is empty because we are discouraging a hawk from frequenting our back yard and it’s been raining so the birds don’t need the birdbath as often

But what I am doing more than the usual today…what are some ‘different’ things that I did today to keep boredom at bay?

Cleaned the foyer and kitchen floors. I don’t do this often enough.
Dusted the top of all the door frames. It might have been over a year since I did it. They were dusty!
Photographed the plum tree (once the rain was over). There were blossoms at different stages of development and the day was cloudy enough to avoid the harsh shadows of sunny days.
Read a chapter in a physical book (I usually read online these days but have a stack of books I’ve been meaning to read for several years)
Started soaking some pinto beans (the bag has been in the pantry for over a year, their ‘best if used by’ date was December 2020...I’m going to cook them to use in chili…we have plenty of time to do slow food!)
Watched Are Viruses Alive? Video by an astrobiology professor from University of Edinburgh (recorded at home for his “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series”). I enjoyed his Coursera course several years ago.

What I am trying not to do?

Eat more than usual
Spend too much time looking at COVID-19 news and analysis

March 15, 2020

Mycology Class Remnants

March 15, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Way back in the 1970s when I was working on my undergraduate degree in Biology, I took a mycology (study of fungi) class. It was one of the most memorable upper level courses in my undergraduate work…but it’s been a long time. The textbook, lab book and spiral notebooks are long gone. When I was cleaning out the basement (continuing projects during the ‘stay at home as much as possible’ strategy to avoid COVID-19), I found remnants of the course: some black and white negatives in protective sleeves – unlabeled. As soon as I looked at them, I knew they were microphotographs of the microscope slides I made during the mycology lab even though I don’t remember which species they are (some are penicillium species).

The negatives were somewhat deteriorated – maybe they were never crisply focused. I scanned them with my Epson V600 Photo Scanner then clipped the best portions of some of the frames and colored them blue in Microsoft Powerpoint. They have an abstract art look.

I remember that in the lab we inoculated growth medium (agar and other types), let the fungus grow onto the glass…then stained the fungus (methylene blue, I think) to make the filaments and fruiting structures and spores appear blue under the microscope. I would love to take a mycology lab course again….and take lots of pictures!

March 13, 2020

From the basement: pictures from house hunting in 1983

March 13, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I’ve found boxes of old pictures I hadn’t looked at since we moved into our current house about 25 years ago in the basement during my increased time at home. It’s hard not to go off on a tangent and think about that history while I am scanning pictures (and/or the negatives). This post was prompted by pictures from when my husband and I moved from Texas to the east coast for new jobs in 1983. At the time there were house listings, but they were accessible only to realtors and they didn’t include any pictures. We had a week of house hunting paid for by our new employers and we were in the process of buying a house at the end of that week! We took pictures of the top contenders with a Polaroid as well as my husband’s Canon: the Polaroids to help us decide (not rely totally on our memory of each house while we were debating) and the others to develop after we got back to Texas so that we could make detailed plans on how we would arrange our furniture in the house when we moved in late June/early July.

The pictures of houses we didn’t buy are thrown away…and the ones I’m using in this post are the film photos (I was surprised that the Polaroids were still in good shape as well) of the house we bought. The house was about 30 years old and had some light remodeling. It’s the only house I’ve owned that had a gas stove…and no fireplace. It was my first house with a basement. The yard was the high point of the place: large oak and beech tress…mature boxwood and azaleas…raised beds on two sides of the back yard. The backyard had more moss than grass. It was like a green carpet. It was quite a change from the smaller trees and overall drier conditions in the part of Texas I was moving from.

1983 05 img429 (0).jpg — My favorite aspect of the kitchen was the pantry!

OK – now I’m telling myself to get off this tangent and back to cleaning out the basement….

March 10, 2020

Full Moon

March 10, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Sunday night was clear – and I took pictures of the full moon before I went to bed and when I got up. I used the ‘night scene’ setting on my Canon Powershot SX60 HS bridge camera which takes multiple shots and melds them in the camera. The picture I took in the evening was focused on the moon. There is an unfocused branch in the across the lower right of the picture.

The picture from the morning is focused on the tree branches – clear enough to know that it’s a tulip poplar! I like it better than the evening picture.

Both pictures were taken though second floor windows of our house. We have so many big trees that it’s impossible to photograph the moon close the horizon where it can be yellow orange. Still – I liked what I got…pleased that my hands could hold the camera steady enough for the ‘night scene’ setting to work.

March 09, 2020

Brookside in the Cold

March 09, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Last week I was at Brookside Gardens for their annual all-volunteer training. I got there a few minutes early to see the witch hazel in bloom. It was a very cold and blustery morning, so I only went to one location where I knew there were trees. One seemed a little past full bloom….another still had a lot of the streamers on its flowers!

But – there were other things in bloom too in the same area! There was winter jasmine,

Paper-bush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) which I hadn’t noticed before, and

Camellias.

2020 02 IMG_8199 (10).jpg — The camellias prompted me to walk over to the Children’s Garden. It was empty of children (early and cold) but it was evident that it would be a fun place for children to visit in warmer times.

And then I made a brisk walk around to the front of the visitor center to get warm and enjoy the training session.

March 07, 2020

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 7, 2020

March 07, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Chasing Little Frost Trees in a Prairie Wetland | The Prairie Ecologist – We haven’t have many days for me to look for frost trees here in Maryland this year. This is always a matter of taking advantage of a frosty sunny day when it’s fun to look for interesting frost formations on exposed surfaces – grass – windshields, etc.

Stoneflies and mayflies, canaries of our streams – It’s great to see an article about the adult forms of the insects we collect as macroinvertebrates (larval form) when we do water quality monitoring either quarterly or with high school students on a field trip to a river.

Earthquakes in and around Yellowstone: How Often Do They Occur? – There are lots of them! About 5 that are strong enough to be felt have happened each year over the past decade.

Top strategies for successful weight loss maintenance-- ScienceDaily - Choosing healthy food, tracking what you eat and using positive self-talk….seems like common sense, but it is not ‘easy’ and so we struggle on. It comes down to making changes for the long term rather than just for a little while. New habits are always tough but, once truly habitual, become just the way be live our lives.

Eero Järnefelt, painter of Finnish nature | Europeana Blog – Images of the natural world in the late 1800s. Koli National Park in eastern Finland was visited by the painter frequently.

Sustainable Farming Comes to America's Heartland | CleanTechnica – Iowa farmers…leading with their actions…responding to climate and environmental changes to farm better.

Can we heat buildings without burning fossil fuels? - BBC Future – Capturing heat from nearby places…using it for heating. It’s geothermal in the cities!

Bloom in McMurdo Sound – Green swirls in the water off Antarctica (some of the green color might be on the ice as well.

Camera Trap Chronicles: Cool Critters of New Hampshire – Maybe sometime we’ll put our camera, currently pointed at the birdfeeder, in another location….see what comes into our backyard. I know we have deer but there could be other things as well. Our camera already picked up what looked like a racoon on our deck.

Top 25 birds of the week: groups of birds – Beautiful birds…a good ‘last addition’ to the gleanings list this week.

March 06, 2020

Winter Yard

March 06, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

We haven’t had very much winter weather this year. Last week I walked around my yard looking for early signs of spring and I found some. The bulbs are coming up. Daffodils and maybe an old hyacinth bulb have come up in the leaf mulch I left in the front flower beds.

There are some irises too. I’m not sure when they came up; they all have leaf damage so they may have emerged very early during a warm spell. They haven’t bloomed the last few years, but the leaves are tough enough that the deer usually don’t bother them.

The little holly that came up in the bush by the garage is growing enough that I’ll trim back the deciduous bush that has always been a challenge to keep trimmed. I’ll let the holly take over!

Under the deck where the moss died back in last summer’s drought, we have ferns that seem to be enjoying this warm winter in their protected location. I’ll spread some compost around them.

The red maple buds are swelling. The tree has had less success in making seeds these past few years with a cold snap coming as the blooms are full and vulnerable. Hope that doesn’t happen this year.

I took a picture from another vantage point of our bird feeder and the camera. The deck is 1 story off the ground where I am standing. My office window is visible in the right of the picture.

Overall, the yard looks pretty good. It hasn’t rained hard enough to make any muddy spots without grass. So far it looks like my decision to mow the leaves into the yard is working very well. There are some sticks around the base of the oak and sycamore that I need to pick up…and the front flower beds need to be cleaned out. Maybe I’ll start those chores on our next warm day.

March 05, 2020

Robinson Nature Center - Inside

March 05, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Last week, I was at Robinson Nature Center for my usual Sunday afternoon volunteering for the saltwater Touch Tank. It was a relatively busy day; there seemed to be more people in the room that usual when I started (I had one of the older children help me set up) and families seemed to just keep stopping by to see and touch the sea critters. The animals were tolerant enough of my handling and the children’s gentle (one finger) touches to still show off when they were on their own: the milk conch eating algae from the sand and the chocolate chip sea star holding firmly to the glass side.

In the only lull of the afternoon, I took a few pictures of the new extension to the wall painting in the Discovery Room. My favorite is the sycamore trees in winter.

The tulip poplar seed pods are in the scene too.

And then there are critters!

There are some people sketched into the scene…maybe the painting will be further along next time I am at Robinson.

March 04, 2020

Flower Photography Experiments

March 04, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

My husband and I set up a vase of flowers with lights and cameras on our kitchen island for some photography experiments. It was a good winter-time activity for us.

My first experiment was with my Canon SX 730 HS in macro (flower symbol) mode. I tried handheld at first…but the tripod made for the better pictures. The shallow depth of field is always a challenge.

Next I put a petal on a clip in front of the light source and used my 15x macro clip-on macro lens with my Samsung phone. Both of the pictures below were taken with the light shining through the petal.

A day or so later I realized that it would be handy to have a light source that I could easily take into the field for macro shots of things like macroinvertebrates. The solution I came up with was my iPad.

I simply turn the screen to its brightest…bring up something that is a white screen…and put the specimen on top of the iPad. Then I can use my phone’s camera with a clip-on macro lens or

Rest the phone on a jeweler’s loupe (the one I have is 22x magnification).

For macroinvertebrates that are in some drops of water, I could protect the iPad by covering it with a clear plastic bag. Depth of field is still a big issue; the specimens that will look the best are ones that are flatter and not too opaque.

March 03, 2020

Cooper’s Hawk

March 03, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I caught a flutter in my periphery vision – a bird flying away from house toward the forest. The morning has been very quiet at our feeder; I hadn’t been hearing or seeing any birds while I browsed through an eBook on my PC. Maybe this bird was the reason. It was in the Tulip Poplar tree at the edge of the forest – close enough for my camera’s zoom. I managed several pictures before it took off.

I could tell right away it was a hawk and based on its small size – either a Copper’s or Sharp-shinned. It didn’t appear to have a snack…so maybe the little birds had stayed out of harm’s way.

The head looked flatted on top (squarish) and the coloring on the top of the head was more like a cap. It’s hard to see the tail in any of my pictures but it’s probably rounded. All those details make the ID – a Cooper’s Hawk.

I saw one of these birds about a month ago too…flying across our yard and into the sycamore tree. If I see them too frequently, I’ll take the bird feeder down for a week or so…and hope the predator forgets the location.

March 02, 2020

Robinson Nature Center - Outside

March 02, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Last week, I was at Robinson Nature Center on two sunny days. On the first day I was volunteering to photograph a public program (a class for adults teaching or volunteering young children). I took a few pictures of the building through the dried plants in the center of the circular drive

And some witch-hazel that was blooming near the water feature to the right of the walk into the nature center. The bright color of the witch-hazel stands out this time of year.

I had gone to the training offered by Robinson to photograph for them….the types of photographs they need for grants, brochures, posters. It is a different kind of photography than I normally attempt – a lot of people in action…capturing the essence of a program. As part of the sign-up process for a public program, the participants sign a waiver for the center to photograph them during the program (and that was my assignment). It’s a new photographic challenge for me and I hope Robinson can use some of the results.

There was a short hike during the program and I took a few seconds to photograph some sights along the short trail rather than people. Skunk cabbage was coming up and blooming near the stream that flows into the Middle Patuxent nearby and

Snowdrops were already blooming.

I couldn’t resist a picture of a tall snag (where piliated woodpeckers nested last year) – its the tall trunk with no branches a little to the right of center. Can you pick out the sycamores too?

The next day I was back for another volunteer gig – opening the saltwater Touch Tank for an hour. I got to Robinson early enough to do a little ‘cell phone’ photography.

I took a picture of the witch-hazel again. It’s interesting to compare this photo – which was taken with the camera close to the subject – and the images taken the previous day with the zoom on my point-and-shoot camera. Note the difference in the backgrounds of the two images.

I was surprised at how many seeds were still on some of the plants that are milkweed relatives.

Both days were warmer days for February in Maryland…and wonderfully sunny.

February 28, 2020

Through my Office Window – February 2020

February 28, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

I wasn’t at home for the first part of the month, so the opportunities to see birds through the window were more time limited than usual.

The Downy Woodpecker seemed to be coming to the feeder more frequently. It was always a female. Usually I see them in the trees more than at the feeder, so I wondered if the insects were not as available (maybe because of the cold).

The House Finches seemed more numerous at the feeder than last month. The males were ‘courting’ – providing a seed to their favorite female. They would occasionally accept another bird at the feeder – like a Carolina Chickadee. They were the birds most impacted by the visit of the bluebirds that we saw on the birdfeeder camera; it was only a short time but I’m sure they were relieved when the bluebirds did not stick around.

Both the male and female Red-bellied Woodpeckers are active at the feeder periodically – not every day. They had to contort themselves to get the seed they wanted or if the seed was low. The Carolina Wren learned to get a snack from the opposite side of the feeder when the woodpecker was there.

These little birds were frequent visitors to the feeder – often the first ones there in the morning.

There was a Northern Mockingbird that sat on the deck bench on a wet morning. I don’t see them frequently around our yard and wondered if it was injured.

The White-Breasted Nuthatch was around – coming like a bullet to the feeder, getting a snack and leaving again…never sticking around for long.

The Northern Cardinals were around periodically but not as frequently as in January. I wonder if they are not building their nest in the usual place near our house…they’re coming from further afield.

I always am aware when the Blue Jays come (for water) since they are so noisy. I still enjoy seeing them.

The Dark-eye Juncos are still around. They are here in about the same numbers as previous years…our little flock.

And the Mourning Doves were around to clean up any spilled seed from the other birds that were digging through the seed in the feeder to find just the one they want…throwing the seeds they didn’t want onto the deck.

February 26, 2020

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2020

February 26, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

So many things to celebrate in February…I’ve picked my top 10 that are in roughly chronological order during the month.

I started out the month in Carrollton, Texas.

2020 02 IMG_7856 (10).jpg — **Red Yucca.** The seed pods always look interesting to me. I like their curves and points. The warm brown and burnt black colors.

Fried catfish and okra. Sometimes a high-fat splurge is OK….delicious.

A sunny and warm day. In February, the days are often gray and cold….so when the weather bucks the trend…it’s time to get outdoors to celebrate.

The Laredo Birding Festival was not that long…but there was something to celebrate every day.

2020 02 IMG_7905 (3).jpg — **Roadrunner.** What a way to start a birding trip…seeing an iconic bird of the area at a rest stop before we even got to Laredo!

2020 02 IMG_4880 (2).jpg — **Great Horned Owls**. We saw these owls on two days! What a thrill.

Sunrise on the Rio Grande. Celebrating the start of another day….the beauty of a river that draws life to a dry area.

2020 02 IMG_3928 (5).jpg — **American White Pelicans ballet.** I had never witnessed pelicans feeding together in a coordinated way. They were synchronized and graceful…the joy of watching the natural world in action.

Audubon’s Oriole. Celebrating a colorful bird that just appeared while we were relaxing on a veranda after lunch.

And then we were home again.

A Day at home. I always celebrate being at home after I’ve been away. The view from my office window…fixing my own favorite foods…relaxing.

NISE Training. Robinson Nature Center provided a class on some kits they’ve purchased from the National Informal STEM Education Network. I enjoyed the gravity well (Exploring Universe Orbiting Objects) activity and hope there are opportunities to share it with visitors to the nature center. I also passed the information (here) along to my daughter since it had potential for physics related outreach activities her university does. So multiple reasons to celebrate this training!