Stowe, Vermont
Jun. 14th, 2005 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanIt's often surprising to me that people who live out in the countryside aren't much more interested in nature than the city people I know. For me, it's just incredible, to go to a place like Vermont in the springtime, and be constantly serenaded by birdsong, surrounded by wild plants, and encountered by a variety of wandering animals. Perhaps if you live amongst it all, you become used to it.
In any case, at my sister-in-law's baby shower this weekend, my role of "wacky brother-in-law" was cemented. Granted, this was as much due to the effects of the combination of short supplies of vegetarian food and generous supplies of locally-produced beer as it was to the fact that I was more interested in crawling around after insects than meeting new family members. It was a very nice party, and my new relatives are a fun and tolerant bunch. Pictures of that event can be seen here, and at the post following that one.
Now, back to crawling around after insects and such. Most of the wildlife that encountered us (we were mostly stationary on a high forested ridge, and animals crossed through, over, or below us), didn't end up photographed. The many biting flies were quite brief in their visits, and the birds were more audible than visible. The best wildlife sighting--an exciting first for the three of us that happened to see it--is detailed below, but the pictures produced may as well be of Sasquatch. Some creatures held still in the sweltering heat for pictures and those are below, too.
Lupines were in bloom everywhere, and this one was in the company of a particularly lovely unidentified plant.
Also in the unidentified purple flower category were these:
(probably none of these are really wildlife, but cultivated plants--pretty, though)
Definitely wild, and in profusion was orange hawkweed!
Ferns were unfurling.
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cottonmanifesto, who by the way took almost all of these pictures, has a real eye for lichens.
The steps to my in-laws house are natural rock, full of crannies. Imagine our surprise when...
Sitting on a rock wall across from those steps, sweating, was the main form of recreation for me that weekend. But it had some of the best wildlife viewing.
These animals suffer from having no good common name. "Daddy-long-legs" is what we call them here, but in other places that name means at least two different creatures (crane flies and house spiders). "Harvestman" is the only alternative I know of, and it sounds stupid.
A nice example of invertebrate parenting behavior.
On the morning after the baby shower, we were up early, before the heat really came on. We were looking down this way, where some vegetation had been cleared to make a path for the satellite signal.
Suddenly, the head of a black bear appeared! "Bear!" I stage-whispered, and we saw it drop back down onto all fours and disappear into the tall grass. We tiptoed up and over to the neighbor's yard to get a different view. We found this:
a series of trampled pathways through the neighbor's wildflowers.
We went back down to the patio, and peered into the thick trees and shrubs hoping for another look. I heard branches cracking, and then crows going crazy, the way they do when a hawk is around.
We managed this picture--the bear is dead center in the frame, in the crotch of the tree.
The whitish/grayish opening in the background is the road. The step-daughter was awoken and summoned. As we watched, a mother bear and two cubs (that's a cub in the tree) stopped messing with the tree and ambled down the road. We couldn't get a picture through the trees, but we all saw all three bears.
It was a great feeling seeing wild bears. The exhilaration is hard to explain--it was like a new bird sighting, but with the knowledge that the bird could kill you if it wanted. I definitely would like to see more bears.
In any case, at my sister-in-law's baby shower this weekend, my role of "wacky brother-in-law" was cemented. Granted, this was as much due to the effects of the combination of short supplies of vegetarian food and generous supplies of locally-produced beer as it was to the fact that I was more interested in crawling around after insects than meeting new family members. It was a very nice party, and my new relatives are a fun and tolerant bunch. Pictures of that event can be seen here, and at the post following that one.
Now, back to crawling around after insects and such. Most of the wildlife that encountered us (we were mostly stationary on a high forested ridge, and animals crossed through, over, or below us), didn't end up photographed. The many biting flies were quite brief in their visits, and the birds were more audible than visible. The best wildlife sighting--an exciting first for the three of us that happened to see it--is detailed below, but the pictures produced may as well be of Sasquatch. Some creatures held still in the sweltering heat for pictures and those are below, too.
Lupines were in bloom everywhere, and this one was in the company of a particularly lovely unidentified plant.
Also in the unidentified purple flower category were these:
(probably none of these are really wildlife, but cultivated plants--pretty, though)
Definitely wild, and in profusion was orange hawkweed!
Ferns were unfurling.
cottonmanifesto, who by the way took almost all of these pictures, has a real eye for lichens.The steps to my in-laws house are natural rock, full of crannies. Imagine our surprise when...
Sitting on a rock wall across from those steps, sweating, was the main form of recreation for me that weekend. But it had some of the best wildlife viewing.
These animals suffer from having no good common name. "Daddy-long-legs" is what we call them here, but in other places that name means at least two different creatures (crane flies and house spiders). "Harvestman" is the only alternative I know of, and it sounds stupid.
A nice example of invertebrate parenting behavior.
On the morning after the baby shower, we were up early, before the heat really came on. We were looking down this way, where some vegetation had been cleared to make a path for the satellite signal.
Suddenly, the head of a black bear appeared! "Bear!" I stage-whispered, and we saw it drop back down onto all fours and disappear into the tall grass. We tiptoed up and over to the neighbor's yard to get a different view. We found this:
a series of trampled pathways through the neighbor's wildflowers.
We went back down to the patio, and peered into the thick trees and shrubs hoping for another look. I heard branches cracking, and then crows going crazy, the way they do when a hawk is around.
We managed this picture--the bear is dead center in the frame, in the crotch of the tree.
The whitish/grayish opening in the background is the road. The step-daughter was awoken and summoned. As we watched, a mother bear and two cubs (that's a cub in the tree) stopped messing with the tree and ambled down the road. We couldn't get a picture through the trees, but we all saw all three bears.
It was a great feeling seeing wild bears. The exhilaration is hard to explain--it was like a new bird sighting, but with the knowledge that the bird could kill you if it wanted. I definitely would like to see more bears.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 07:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-15 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 04:27 pm (UTC)Better: Bear wearing a hat with a big feather in it.
--G
no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 07:49 pm (UTC)bears
Date: 2005-06-14 06:47 pm (UTC)"And often they wear hats."
Re: bears
Date: 2005-06-14 08:40 pm (UTC)Was this joke originally written as an echo of the 'Great Muppet Caper' bit where Fozzie and Kermit are twins, and a little girl sees Kermit on a bench and tells her dad, 'Look, a bear', and her dad (Frank Oz in a cameo)explains 'No, no, dear, that's a frog. Bears wear hats.'?
Re: bears
Date: 2005-06-14 09:00 pm (UTC)Re: bears
Date: 2005-06-15 10:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-14 06:49 pm (UTC)I don't know why.