Day 334: Pin Cherry and Guest

 Backyard Nature, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Nov 302014
 

I find leaves endlessly captivating this time of year along Piney Woods Church Road.  And endlessly available, too.  So their images keep turning up here on this blog. It hasn’t rained in quite a few days, so water droplets are out of the question.  And insects and other invertebrates have largely gone into hiding these past several weeks.  I was surprised to find a lone orb spider a couple of centimeters across on its web this afternoon, but it scurried away before I could capture a good photograph.  Still, as a bit of diversion from all the leaves, I add it to my post as well, converted to black and white with a dark blue filter.

 

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Day 332: Lingering Light

 Golden Hour, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Nov 282014
 

After many hours of online work, I set out down Piney Woods Church Road in search of something new to photograph. I repeated to myself again and again that I would not photograph any more leaves.  I have photographed dozens of them, and it was time for something different.  In the late-afternoon light, I photographed threads of spiderweb on hoary mountainmint and strands of horse hair on a barbed wire fence. But at the end of the day, it is these two images of illuminated autumn leaves that I find most compelling, as they catch a bit of the lingering light of a late autumn evening.

 

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Day 330: Mysterious Cocoon

 Backyard Nature, Insects, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  1 Response »
Nov 262014
 

I paused on my walk down Piney Woods Church Road late this afternoon to notice a silken cocoon that was attached to the side of a greenbrier stem.  I photographed it in the waning light, trusting that identification would be relatively easy back home.  After thumbing through various field guides and looking at many photographs online, I finally found a tentative match:  the six-spot Burnet moth, Zygaena filipendulae.  Alas, this moth is found in Britain and continental Europe, not in North America.  Its closest Georgia relative is the Grapeleaf Skeletonizer (Harrisina americana), a common crop pest and certainly a possibility.  However, this caterpillar evidently spins a cocoon among the fallen leaves at the base of its host plants, rather than along a stem.  I could not locate any photographs of its cocoon, so I still think it is a possibility.  I suppose I will have to wait until spring and see what emerges.

 

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Day 329: Opening to the Sky

 Backyard Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Nov 252014
 

Today’s photographs from a late afternoon Piney Woods Church Road visit include two images of sky:  first, as seen through a hole in a greenbrier leaf, and second, as reflected in a drainage ditch alongside the road.  The tree in the reflection is a pecan, already leafless as winter draws nearer.

 

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Day 327: Water Oak

 Backyard Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Nov 232014
 

Between rainshowers today, I dashed out t take a few pictures of water droplet suspended from branches.  Most did not turn out as hoped, but I enjoy this one quite a bit, with a colorful blurred leaf outline in the background.  I took this photograph around noon; since then, skies have remained overcast with dark gray, accompanied by much-needed rain.

I also include a second photograph — yet another muscadine leaf, covered with water droplets.  It doesn’t quite go with the oak — though it does, at least, grow with the oak.  Yet it doesn’t quite seem to merit its own post, at the same time.

 

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Day 326: A White Flower for Mid-November

 Backyard Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  1 Response »
Nov 222014
 

While half the country now lies under a blanket of white snow, along Piney Woods Church Road, a small white flower with a yellow center in the Asteraceae family has come into bloom.  I have not idea what it is, but it adds a note of hope to winter’s approach, gracing the roadside with its delicate form.

 

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Deer Head

 Natural History  No Responses »
Nov 212014
 

Along the side of Piney Woods Church Road earlier today, near the intersection with Hutcheson Ferry, I came upon this deer head.  Enough antler was left to identify the species, and several teeth remained, as well.   Not much skin, and a notable absence of a body.  I might speculate as to how it arrived there to greet a passing traveler, but I honestly do not know.

 

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