Little things alive at Dane Park

[urbpan]

It had been a while since we visited Dane Park, and we discovered lots of tiny life forms. It was delightful.


This wildflower appears to be a kind of bellwort, or Uvularia; I've never seen it before, which was very exciting.


I had no idea there were any blueberries at Dane, but I found quite a few. Here are some blueberry flowers not quite open.


And these are open and ready for business.


A fern unclenches.


This velvet mite is gigantic for a mite: bigger than the deer ticks we also found there. Velvet mites are harmless.


This jumping spider tried to convince me he wasn't harmless, but I knew better.


Harmless to us, but injurious to the ecosystem is this garlic mustard. All the understory you see here, right to the horizon, is the one species of invasive plant.


Alex found this small owl, decapitated and decomposing.


Bigger than a screech owl but much smaller than a barred owl, I couldn't identify it.

Comments

[rudbekia.livejournal.com]

Garlic mustard is all over the place. Hateful stuff, though I've read that it can be made into a tasty pesto.

[frith]

Yep, your ID matches my book: Sessile-leaved bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia), aka little merrybells, aka small bellwort aka straw-lilies aka wild oats.

[stephanietberry.livejournal.com]

I have creeping bellwort and large-flowered bellwort growing in my woodland garden! They are SO delightful.

Our Spring progression is very close to yours, which is curious, considering you're so much farther North.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

I saw my first ever live Velvet Mite on my Entomology trip to Perup National Park in January. About 6 of the little cuties running around the undergrowth- I spent about half an hour just watching them enthralled until my prof got fed up *g*

Love how photogenic Salticids are!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Salticids should be part of a program for treating arachnophobia. How could you not love that face?

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Chronic arachnophobes are not afraid of Salticids- the big eyes and fuzzy chops trip our innate "oooh, cute baby mammal!" reflex...

[nutmeg.livejournal.com]

I agree with this.. my husband is afraid of spiders and there was a salticid by his hand the other day and I said "Don't look now, a jumping spider" and he said.. he LIKED jumping spiders. I personally don't like the unpredictable movements that jumping spiders make.

[obie119.livejournal.com]

I think I knew them as straw-lilies - we saw a bunch in the Catskills the other week.