A small butterfly that I think I have identified correctly, seen on 15 July 2013, when six of us spent a few hours botanizing the land belonging to Sarah Leete, NW of Cochrane. We list all flora and fauna that we find, when we botanize any area, and then provide the landowner with a very comprehensive list of our finds, along with any photos that may have been taken. We are happy to do this for any landowner who would like to know what's growing or living on their land.
Tags: butterfly Pearl Crescent topside #GreatNature
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A rather quick shot of a cluster of delicate Harebells, seen on 15 July 2013, when six of us drove NW of Calgary for a day of botanizing on the land belonging to Sarah Leete - her home is a rather fine wood cabin, originally the Morrison House. I almost didn't go on this trip, as we were having torrential rain, which made the hour and a half drive very unpleasant. Sarah kindly offered us coffee when we arrived, and eventually the rain stopped and we were able to go in search of all flora and fauna on her land. Loved the fact that there was no uphill walking on this outing : )
Tags: wildflower Harebell #GreatNature
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We saw this little Wood Frog yesterday, when six of us drove NW of Calgary for a day of botanizing the land belonging to Sarah Leete - her home is a rather fine wood cabin, originally the Morrison House.
"Similar to other northern frogs that hibernate close to the surface in soil and/or leaf litter, wood frogs can tolerate the freezing of their blood and other tissues. Urea is accumulated in tissues in preparation for overwintering, and liver glycogen is converted in large quantities to glucose in response to internal ice formation. Both urea and glucose act as "cryoprotectants" to limit the amount of ice that forms and to reduce osmotic shrinkage of cells. Frogs can survive many freeze/thaw events during winter if no more than about 65% of the total body water freezes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_frog
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Tags: Wood Frog amphibian #GreatNature
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We saw this small mushroom on 15 July 2013, when six of us drove NW of Calgary for a day of botanizing the land belonging to Sarah Leete - her home is a rather fine wood cabin, originally the Morrison House. We only saw about four fungi in those few hours, about as unphotogenic (if there is such a word) as one could imagine. I happened to notice this small one with a slimy cap just as I was about to step over a small log across our path. It was completely broken off at the base of the stalk, so we were able to hold it to take a few macro shots of it. After all the rain we've had so for many weeks, including the Flood of the Century in Calgary and Alberta, I would have thought that we would be seeing more fungi around at the moment. Maybe it's still too early, as August is the peak of the season here. Unfortunately, the endless rain has meant that grasses everywhere have grown so tall, I don't know how you'd ever see fungi growing on the forest or woodland floor, anyway.
Can anyone tell if this a member of the genus Cortinarius?
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I just couldn't get this image right, mainly, I suspect, because some of the white flowers were blown-out. Gave up in the end : ) This was another find when several of us botanized Sarah Leete's land, NW of Cochrane, on 15 July 2013. Crab Spiders can change their colour to adapt to the colour of the flowers they are on, so I'm surprised this tiny one was bright yellow, making it much easier to see.
"Crab spider is a common name applied loosely to many species of spiders, but most nearly consistently to members of the family Thomisidae. Among the Thomisidae it refers most often to the familiar species of "flower crab spiders", though not all members of the family are limited to ambush hunting in flowers.
Thomisidae do not build webs to trap prey, though all of them produce silk for drop lines and sundry reproductive purposes; some are wandering hunters and the most widely known are ambush predators. Some species sit on or beside flowers or fruit, where they grab visiting insects. Individuals of some species, such as Misumena vatia (which I believe is shown n my photo), are able to change color over a period of some days, to match the flower on which they are sitting. Some species frequent promising positions among leaves or bark, where they await prey, and some of them will sit in the open, where they are startlingly good mimics of bird droppings. However, note that these members of the family Thomisidae are not to be confused with the spiders that generally are called bird dropping spiders, not all of which are close relatives of crab spiders.... The spiders of Thomisidae are not known to be harmful to humans." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_spider
Tags: Common Yarrow Crab Spider macro close-up #GreatNature
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