Someone’s been awful busy

Suddenly our little backyard pond is full of baby fish. In fact, I think we have more babies than grown-up fish-making fishies. It’s quite a surprise when your pond population seemingly doubles overnight. Makes you wonder how you could have missed the fish being so busy! Some years are like this; the fish are very fertile and make lots of little gold and black speckled babies, other years there are none or at least none survive long enough to be visible to us. I wonder why that is?

My husband and I have been amusing ourselves the last few days by trying to get an accurate count of just how many babies there are, but it’s next to impossible. They dart and hide very efficiently. We’re guessing whether they’re goldfish babies, koi babies, or mutts of some sort. The fish aren’t telling; neither is the fairy who keeps watch over their antics.

Name me

The good idea file is empty today, my camera battery needs recharging and I have all these photos of wildflowers from the Pine Barrens that I don’t feel like writing about. So instead we’ll have a little ID quiz with some hints for those of you that don’t frequent NJ’s bogs.

Many of the photos I took at Webb’s Mill Bog last week look sort of *impressionistic* like this one; I didn’t mean for it to be that way and instead think I may have had one too many cups of coffee that afternoon. I like the look anyway and I knew what these plants were so didn’t need a tack sharp photo to help with ID. You don’t really need it either, as the photo shows the relevant parts, but you do need to know that this is another carnivorous plant that grows in wet, sandy bogs.

Happy guessing!

A man and his sons


Can you see the happiness in this man’s face and his sense of good fortune for having such handsome sons? This is among my favorite photos of him; from a time before I was born and a time that I imagine to have been among his most contented.

As fate would have it, he lost his eldest son Neil, the freckle-faced redhead on the left and another son, Stephen, before I was even born. Two brothers I claim but never knew.

I wonder about whether he was a different father before the loss of two of his sons. I’d guess he was and think this photo must give a hint of the man he was before.

Not the only ones

Bunnies aren’t the only ones…
who enjoy fennel…
and dill…
and parsley!

I found four of these black swallowtail caterpillars yesterday munching away on the parsley in the herb planter that Mary included in this post. I’m reasonably sure that the caterpillars in the other photos (taken in previous summers) are black swallowtails also. Unlike monarch caterpillars which look the same throughout their growth, swallowtails change with each instar and there’s a lot of variation among individual caterpillars. This one I photographed looked like a bit of bird poop yesterday when I first spotted it.

So in addition to providing fresh herbs for our table and the bunnies’ twice daily salads, my little garden herb patch feeds the next generation of flutterbies!

Bog beauties

Bogs are unique places; the sphagnum mats (if you’re daring and foolish) allow you the chance to walk on water, you can watch plants eat animals, and you’re offered a view into the past. Bogs that I’ve visited in upstate NY have that primeval sort of feel because they’ve remained untouched and unspoiled since the last ice age. Webb’s Mill Bog in the middle of NJ doesn’t have that same sort of effect because it’s relatively small and next to a major highway, but I’m sure there are similar bogs elsewhere in the Pine Barrens where one can witness this topsy-turvy world without the rush of cars speeding by in the distance.

At the edge of the water, on the buoyant mats of sphagnum moss, tiny orchids gently nod in the soft breath of a late spring afternoon. These wanderers from a much more lush tropical home rub shoulders with sundews and purple-veined pitcher plants, half-filled with rainwater, digesting the days’ catch. The orchids also have their tricks to lure insect pollinators; a colorful lip or beard covered with fleshy hairs that serves as a landing platform for insects. Of the pink orchids that bloom in the Barrens, the Grass Pink Orchid is the one with its beard on the uppermost petal.

I don’t imagine these plants to be rare elsewhere in the country, but for me they’re a colorful reminder of times spent in less urban wildernesses.

Just about done

I’m almost finished with the 3 weeks of *classroom* training for my new job. It’s going well and I’m learning about a lot of social service programs that I never knew existed, even though I’ve worked at the agency for more than ten years. That’s one thing I’ve figured out about social workers; we’re expected to be a resource for our clients and a good social worker should know all of what is available to help people. There are simply too many programs for anyone to know very much about all of them. As a caseworker I worked in the Medicaid program and knew it very well, but didn’t know much about anything else. We spent all of about 10 minutes learning about Medicaid in training today, so you can imagine how little the others were able to pick up and *know* about that particular program. At least I’m an *expert* at one of them!

To begin with I’ll be placed in the homeless services/emergency assistance unit taking applications and finding placement for homeless individuals and families. Next week, our training time will be spent making site visits to some of places where the homeless are provided with temporary housing – shelters, motels, rooming houses, and transitional housing sites. I’m looking forward to the chance for some field time, although I imagine it will be eye opening.

Speaking of eye opening: I learned that my county spent more than 9 million dollars last year providing services and housing for the homeless. Can you imagine? Typically, families are put up in motels, at a cost of approx. $1800 monthly due to a lack of any more affordable alternative. Do you or I spend $1800 on housing each month? That $1800 isn’t buying a room at the Hilton either – those welfare motels in our shore towns are some of the most run-down places! I’m curious to hear how much you know about the homeless in your own communities; I think if I asked my neighbors the same question, most would say that they’re not aware of a homeless problem in our area. I mostly thought that the homeless were found in cities, not in an affluent area like the one I live in. Clearly I was wrong – what about you?

So anyway, that’s the update on how I’ve been occupying my workdays. I miss the routine of my old job and my friends, but life is good.

The pretty yellow flower is Hudsonia ericoides – Pine Barrens Heather. Great patches of this plant cover sandy places in the barrens, but this one was just about finished for the season.

Another sundew

I know that I had promised wildflower pics, but these other Pine Barrens oddities have me enamored. I’ll save the pretty bog orchids for another day.

I shared a pic of a Thread-leaved Sundew a few weeks ago; today I have this Spatulate-leaved Sundew. Isn’t it pretty for a bug-eating plant? Please click on the pic for an enlarged view! These plants are thought to lure insect prey by their attractive red coloring and the beads of sticky liquid secreted on the leaf tips.

Small wonders

“Maybe the idea of the world as flat isn’t a tribal memory or an archetypal memory, but something far older – a fox memory, a worm memory, a moss memory.

Memory of leaping or crawling or shrugging rootlet by rootlet forward, across the flatness of everything.

To perceive of the world as round needed something else – standing up! – that hadn’t yet happened.

What a wild family! Fox and giraffe and wart hog, of course. But these also: bodies like tiny strings, bodies like blades and blossoms! Cord grass, Christmas fern, soldier moss! And here comes grasshopper, all toes and knees and eyes, over the little mountains of dust.

When I see the black cricket in the woodpile, in autumn, I don’t frighten her. And when I see the moss grazing upon the rock, I touch her tenderly,

sweet cousin.” -Mary Oliver, Winter Hours

Not a moss, but a lichen, which I learned are composed of both fungi and algae growing together in a mutually beneficial relationship. The fungi provides the structure, as well as water and minerals. The algae, because of their chlorophyll, produce the food and the whole organism is happy.

😉

These are British Soldier Lichen, so named because their red fruiting bodies reminded some botanist of the Redcoats of the Revolutionary War. I wished I’d had my hand lens along to have a better look at these – they’re so tiny!

Watching the other naturalists during our walk the other day in the pinelands made me appreciate how different we nature-enthusiasts are from ordinary people who walk through the world without really seeing much. The *plant person* along spent most of her time trying to separate the various members of the heath family by their leaves alone. Would you know a blueberry, from a huckleberry, from a dangleberry without the flowers to give a clue? Would you taste a bit of teaberry leaf to confirm your ID by the spicy wintergreen flavor? We did! We oohed and aahed over the perched barred owl, even offered scope views to passersby – all of whom refused to even stop for a look. What’s up with that?

I wonder if it doesn’t simply come down to a lack of curiosity. Maybe I think of it that way because I seem to be curious about most anything. Also, I imagine that we place a value on these things that others do not. Why is it, do you think, that some people can sense wonder and others just wonder what all the fuss is about?

A few aerialists

I won’t pretend to know what I’m talking about here, so take anything I say with a grain of salt! I find dragonflies and damselflies to be a nice distraction when there’s not much else to look at and an integral part of any streamside, pondside, or bog experience. Identifying them is quite a challenge, but I pay the most attention to their differing behaviors and flight styles.
I found this Blue Corporal dragonfly at Webb’s Mill early in the spring; in fact I think they are one of the first you might find flying in the Pine Barrens. They seem very territorial and like to perch on the ground.
I wouldn’t even atempt to ID this bluet; they’re so tiny that even seeing them clearly is a challenge! Bluets are damselflies; they rest with their wings closed and have very thin bodies.
This is a beauty of a damselfly from yesterday at Webb’s Mill Bog – I’m calling it an Ebony Jewelwing because I don’t know any better. Unlike a bluet, this damselfly was hard to miss as it flew butterfly-like along the path ahead of me. While its’ body looks mostly blue in this pic, it also looked green when the sunlight hit it at a different angle. Really stunning! I also saw a similar-looking brownish damselfly, which I assume is the female.

A great book I’ve recommended in the past is the Stokes’ Beginner’s Guide to Dragonflies – it’s by no means extensive, but a beginner like me doesn’t need the added confusion of a complete guide.

I’ve also had the experience of dragonflies laying eggs in my backyard pond and often come across the nymphs when doing pond maintenance or cleaning out the skimmer. I wish I had pics to share with you because they are so interesting to look at. I’m not sure what exactly the nymphs find to eat out there, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they prey on goldfish fry.

Memorial walk

There are more than a million acres of Pine Barrens in NJ and I’m determined to wander through them all! Today’s odyssey was to the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest in Burlington County. I tagged along on a memorial walk sponsored by NJ Audubon for a birding buddy who passed away this past winter. He loved the Pine Barrens and was very knowledgeable about the typical flora and fauna of the area.

My main focus today was on botany, but we also saw a few really great birds. It was a treat to be out in the woods with people who know wildflowers. I learned plenty and took enough photos to make your eyes roll in boredom for the next few weeks. Every trip there reveals some new treasure.

We spent an hour or two exploring the white cedar swamp and had a nice long look at a Barred Owl perched way back in the swamp. That was a first! I’ve heard their call a number of times, but have never actually seen a Barred Owl. Sweet!

Another place we visited had Red-headed Woodpeckers – another treat! I’ve only seen them once before and was impressed with the gorgeous pattern of their wings in flight. I wish they were more common.

There’s been a lot of talk in the local newspapers about this year’s gypsy moth invasion. I’d read that the spraying program had been stepped up because they were so bad, but wondered what all the fuss was about. Well, I got a sense for it today and it’s really dreadful. Whole areas of the forest are just decimated and the caterpillars cover everything – if you’re quiet enough you can hear them eating – honest! The immediate area surrounding the state forest headquarters was as black and leafless as if a fire had gone through. I suppose the cuckoos will be happy with so much to eat, but it was sad to see.

So… I’m off to sort through my pics from today and hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. There’ll be more to come from the Barrens.