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Durham, NC 11/30/11
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| Male
Red-bellied Woodpecker |
Probably
the same woodpecker, later |
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Durham, NC 11/29/11
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| Male Eastern Bluebird |
Young
Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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Third Fork Trail, Durham, NC 11/28/11
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| Female
Fall Cankerworm Moth (Alsophila pometaria), a Geometridae family
member |
Asian
Multi-colored Ladybug Beetle and tiny spider |
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Jordan Lake (bridge at NC-751), Chatham County, NC
11/26/11
After a hard freeze and several inches of rain, the mudflats were gone
and a new large creek made it impossible to walk along the far (east)
end of the lake. A few gulls near the south side of the lake were
visible, and a Great Blue Heron appeared briefly on the east end of the
lake.
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| Jordan
Lake waterfront, showing partially submerged trees |
Jordan Lake, far end |
Pond, west side |
Pond, north side |
Pond, west side, close up |
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| Ichneumon wasp |
Willow |
Minnows with maple leaf in new
creek |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 11/26/11
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| Pond, with
a natural oily sheen caused by the breakdown of organic matter.
Its source could be anything from bacteria to insect exuviae
(molted exoskeletons). |
Tufted
Titmouse (I think!) in early nest-building stages |
Sweetgum |
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Durham, NC 11/22/11
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| Female Eastern Bluebird |
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Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC
11/22/11
It was the second warm day in a row. Cumulo-stratus clouds coming
from the Gulf of Mexico crossed the sky regularly. I spotted a
very noisy Red-headed Woodpecker high in the trees, among many other
birds.
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| Common Buckeye |
Rabid Wolf
Spider, relatively large and moving fast |
Spotted
Cucumber Beetle |
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Durham, NC 11/21/11
It was unseasonably warm, generally beautiful. But two days ago,
we got our first hard freeze and the tree leaves all turned brown.
In an important sense, our winter has begun. But some early spring
flowers came out and small insects and spiders appeared in uncut grass
near a creek.
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, in breeding plumage. Seen on the
Third Fork Creek Trail. |
Female
Downy Woodpecker |
Rabid Wolf Spider |
Tarnished Plant Bug |
Rove
beetle, about 2 mm long, was flying in the air when I caught it.
The elytra are raised in preparation for flight. |
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| Blackbirds in Sweetgum |
Ant |
Common Chickweed |
Clover |
Neighborhood scene |
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| Oak leaf |
Mock Strawberry |
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Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC 11/20/11
Our first outing after the big freeze! The ground was covered with
brown leaves and the broad-leaved trees had nothing but, also. A
few very frisky insects remained, although their prospects were dim.
The saddest case was that of a honeybee that searched in the leaves of
several locations at this gloomy location.
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| Question Mark,
well-camouflaged among thousands of dead leaves covering the
ground |
Honeybee looking for
something among the leaves. |
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Durham, NC 11/19/11
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| Giant Wolf Spider |
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Durham, NC 11/17/11
Today some blackbirds, probably Red-winged Blackbirds, flew through my
neighborhood swamp-turning-into-a-marsh.
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| Blackbirds flying |
More blackbirds flying |
Nothing
but blackbirds flying |
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| Northern Mockingbird |
Song Sparrow |
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Durham, NC 11/15/11
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| Clouded Sulphur |
Oak leaves |
Red and
yellow Red Maple and Sweet Gum leaves, brown White Oak leaves |
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Durham, NC 11/14/11
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| Field Cricket |
Tree Stink
Bug |
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Pitt County Arboretum, Greenville, NC 11/13/11
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| Ailanthus
Webworm Moth, one of four |
Spotted
Cucumber Beetle |
Flower fly
(Helophilus fasciatus) |
Firewheels |
Tachinid
fly (Phasia genus), obviously very tiny! |
North River Park, Greenville, Pitt County, NC 11/13/11
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| White Fishing Spider (Dolomedes
albineus) |
Sleepy Orange (winter form) |
Crane Fly
Orchid winter leaf |
Water
Tupelo and Bald Cypress |
Water Tupelos |
Washington, Beaufort County, NC 11/12/11
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| American
Coot, with distinctive foot showing |
Killdeer |
Killdeers flying |
Northern
Mockingbird |
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Plantainleaf Arrowhead, whole plant |
Buds,
flower and fruits of Plantain Arrowhead (Sagittaria platyphylla) |
Tree Swallow in flight |
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Third Fork Creek Trail, Durham, NC 11/10/11
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| Polydesmid millipede |
Young
jumping spider (Phidippus clarus?) |
False Black Widow |
Spider |
Scarab beetle |
Sandy Creek, Durham, NC 11/9/11
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| Checkered Skipper |
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Durham, NC 11/9/11
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| Small orb
weaver (Mangora placida) |
False
Black Widow (Steatoda grossa) |
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Durham, NC 11/8/11
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| Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) |
American Lady |
Winged ant |
Millipede |
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| American
House Spider with Pselliopus cinctus prey |
Leafhopper |
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Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham, NC 11/6/11
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| Field near the parking lot |
Wooded hill |
Worn
Common Buckeye on the ground |
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Durham, NC 11/6/11
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| Carolina Chickadee |
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American Tobacco Trail, Durham County, NC 11/5/11
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| Flower fly
(Spilomyia longicornis) |
Red Maple |
Maple leaf |
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Jordan Lake Gameland, Chatham County, NC 11/3/11
The shallowest waters of the lake contained countless fairly
well-camouflaged water boatmen, "true bugs" 1-2 mm long.
Hydrophorus genus long-legged flies skated nearby on the water surface,
blown by a fairly strong wind, occasionally clinging to vegetation.
Large fish frequently leaped out of the water as close as 20 feet away.
Farther inland, the Valley Redstems were starting to fade, though still
bright red.
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| Pond joined to the lake by a
stream |
Same pond |
Northern Flicker, one of
several on the ground that saw me before I saw them and flew
away. |
Valley Redstems |
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| Four Water Boatmen with a tiny
leaf |
A single Water Boatman,
showing its oarlike appendages |
Damselfly (maybe Rambur's
Forktail) with prey, which seems to be a spider attacking a
still smaller arthropod. |
Long-legged fly (Hydrophorus
genus), clinging to a leaf in a strong wind |
Mosquito pupa, seen in a deep
puddle at the base of a tree stump. Most of
its "tail" is coiled underneath. |
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| Mosquito
pupa, with interesting debris, maybe its larval exoskeleton |
A marshy
area near the far side of the lake. The green matter is
algae. |
Monarch (in parking lot) |
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Lake Crabtree County Park, Wake County, NC
11/2/11
The path around Lake Crabtree is about 7.5 miles long. The south
side of the lake is heavily wooded right up to the water, while the
other side has a large marshy inlet.
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which
appeared in the bushes just a few inches away and came up to
take a brief, curious look. |
European
Hornet, several flies and many small ants apparently seeking sap
from this pine tree. |
Sea Myrtle (Baccharis
halimfolia) |
Dog Fennel (Eupatorium
capillifolium) |
Persimmon tree |
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| Near the start |
From the
other side of the lake |
The boat
landing, seen from the other side |
Sea
Myrtles in the foreground |
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| A marsh
farther inland, with pines |
Another
part of that marsh, showing some broadleaf trees |
The one
park building, seen from across the lake |
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| Scene from
path next to bridge crossing back aross the lake |
Scene from
near that bridge |
Sort of an
optical illusion: the office building is actually at the far end
of the lake, about half a mile from the one park building. |
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