I woke up to a cool, foggy morning after yesterday’s thunderstorms and hail.
Tagged: cold, fog, foggy morning, hills, power lines, summer, sunlight, sunrise, valley
Travels with Musti
Dogs, nature, photography, and the meaning of life, with apologies to J.S.
Posts from the “Summer” Category
No story — late summer is its own justification.
Tagged: Blue Hills Reservation, bumblebee, Fowl Meadow, Goldenrod
Try as I might, I haven’t yet been able to teach Cass that her frisbee is made of a material that’s more dense than water. I assume that I am not going about it in the right way. Because of this failed communication, Cass continues to believe that I should throw her out over bodies of water, so that she can swim out to retrieve it, and I continue to refuse. I explain that a frisbee at the bottom of the Charles River won’t do either of us any good, but she just thinks I’m being difficult.
Cass with her frisbee in the Charles
Tagged: border collie, buoyancy, Cass, Charles River, Dogs, frisbee
I have been neglectful of maintaining my yard this summer, and the jungle is encroaching. My neighbors haven’t staged an intervention yet, but I’m sure it’s coming. And while I feel somewhat guilty that I’m probably making it harder for my favorite neighbor to sell her house, it’s pretty entertaining to watch things grow. And when something really cool turns up like it did yesterday, my rationalization goes into overdrive, and my neglect feels momentarily justified. This is my latest excuse, found yesterday afternoon when I was getting out of the car:
Ants tending to aphids on burdock plant
These are aphids parasitizing a burdock plant, while simultaneously being tended by ants. I’d read about this phenomenon, but never seen it in person. Aphids are small insects that suck juices from plants, and for this they are mostly disliked by gardeners and farmers. But ants have a different view on the matter, finding opportunity where others see only a pest. When aphids feed on plant juices, they are primarily interested in extracting proteins, which tend to be in very dilute solution. As a result, they have to process a lot of sap, and they excrete sweet sap concentrate from their back ends; some ant species find this excretion delicious and nutritious, and go to great lengths to maintain access to it. In a symbiotic relationship, the ants protect the aphids from predators (like ladybug), and carry aphids to ideal plant targets to ensure that they eat well. In exchange, the aphids excrete (poop) sweet sticky liquid when ants stroke their abdomens.
Ants farming aphids on burdock plant, closer view
My friend Tom Palmer, an immensely knowledgeable naturalist, identified the farmers as “somewhat silky ants,” Formica subsericea. Ants in the genus Formica possess the ability to excrete formic acid, a very painful irritant, when they’re pissed off.* The aphids are from the genus Aphis, and the species may be fabae, the black bean aphid, though I am not certain, and if so, not sure if they are named for their host or their appearance.
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* I’ve learned that some ants of the Formica genus are known for spraying formic acid up to several feet, perhaps giving rise to the archaic term for ant “pissmire” and the modern American “piss-ant.”
Tagged: Ant, aphid, Aphis fabae, Arctium lappa, burdock, Formica, parasitism, symbiosis, urban agriculture
We took a tour of Ponkapoag Pond in the Blue Hills on Saturday evening, just as the sun was starting to set. Luc is a constant threat to launch himself (and us) out of the boat after a goose, duck, turtle, breath of wind, so he rides in the bow where I can better appeal for forbearance. Musti, such shenanigans largely behind him, is happy in the stern, where I’m less likely to drip water on his blanket.
Categories: Blue Hills, Summer
Tagged: Blue Hills Reservation, canoe, Dogs, Luc, Ponkapoag Pond, sunset
About six weeks ago, I found a group of newly-hatched cross orbweaver spiderlings on the side of my house. At least some of them have survived into adulthood and set up shop in the back of my truck.
Tagged: cross orbweaver, hunting, macro, pickup truck, prey, Spider, Toyota Tacoma, web
Luc has been a football enthusiast as long as I’ve known him, even though I can’t play to save my life. And though he hasn’t watched any of the games, he seems to appreciate the World Cup: more people are out kicking a ball around, with a concomitant increase in his opportunities to join in.
On a recent evening at Millennium Park in West Roxbury, MA, my friend Mike took it upon himself to try to teach Luc about the finer points of the corner kick. Luc, though, has the heart of a defenseman, and he can’t bring himself to send the ball away, even into the opposing goal…
Tagged: corner kick, football, Luc, Millennium Park, soccer