urbpan: (Default)
2012-04-08 02:21 pm

Quincy Animal Shelter



One of my good zookeeper friends left a year or so ago to become the director of the Quincy Animal Shelter. Yesterday I visited her, and the animals there.
Read more... )
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2012-02-01 07:41 pm

Fowl Meadow? No, it's pretty nice!



On Sunday I finally got off my sedentary suburban backside and took Charlie to a new hiking place. We ended up at Fowl Meadow, part of the Blue Hills Reservation.

nature pictures )
urbpan: (Default)
2010-09-25 07:31 pm

Urban Nature Pictures 9/22



Alexis amid the sunflowers and phragmites. I took a very similar picture almost exactly one year ago.


This polypore was growing on the dirt nearby. Hidden in the soil is the wood of a long-dead tree. If the tree was a broadleaf, this mushroom is Ganoderma lucidum; if it was a conifer, the mushroom is G. tsugae.
urbpan: (Default)
2010-06-03 08:15 pm

Urban Nature Pictures 6/2


A replica gypsy moth caterpillar hangs from a branch in the Riverway. Only 10 days left to enjoy the show!

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2010-04-14 05:58 am

Alexis and Maggie, Muddy River at Dusk, Cherry Blossoms



Across the river
A white pink ghost smiles hello
Does Maggie know spring?
two more, you write the poems )
urbpan: (Default)
2010-04-06 05:40 am

Phragmites australis

One of the problems with the invasive giant reed Phragmites australis is that the huge dried stalks can present a fire hazard, especially if the grass is growing near a building.

These aren't my pictures, but they capture the potential problem very well.
urbpan: (Default)
2010-02-08 08:45 pm
Entry tags:

Urban Nature Pictures 2/8



A young woman photographing something in the park.
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2009-09-19 09:30 am

Two more from yesterday


Alexis hates flash photography, but it was impossible to capture this hen without it.


Posing with the giant wild sunflowers..
urbpan: (Default)
2009-06-30 08:40 pm

Muddy River 06/30/09, 5:30 p.m.





I saw this one pick a Russula, and run over to the tree to eat it.
urbpan: (dandelion)
2007-08-27 04:40 pm

Georgia O'Keefe flower



This almost nsfw flower belongs to a native North American climbing legume called Apios americana. Both the seeds and tubers were eaten by Native Americans. I was astonished to discover it while doing my 365 urban species project, partly because it was blooming so late in the year (October) and partly because I assumed (since it was an urban plant growing in a waste area) that it was an alien or even invasive. This group was growing on the Phragmites on the Boston side of the Riverway near Landmark Center.

On this day in 365 Urban Species: Black nightshade.
urbpan: (machete)
2007-01-30 07:10 am

Postprandial walk in the Fenway



After having lunch together, [livejournal.com profile] rockbalancer and I walked around in the Fens.

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urbpan: (oak man)
2006-02-21 05:01 pm

Urban Species by streetlight

This was an experiment, to see if I could get decent pictures with my camera at night, by streetlight. These were taken in the Fenway, in the Victory Garden.

Phragmites and Weeping Willow )