On this date 46

Like I said last week, lots to play with this week! In your face, Slow Period! Let’s see, now…

We start with 2010’s entry, a sampling of fall colors that didn’t get posted then:

backlit oak leaves during early autumn
I spend too much time trying to identify things like this right as I upload them for posts, instead of doing it, oh, anytime in the several years that I lived right next to it, so I’m definitively saying these are oak leaves, and confidently saying it’s a white oak, and tentatively saying it’s a swamp white oak, and that’s as far as I’m going. Do your own DNA test if you want to know if it’s the Roosevelt White Oaks or the Bouvier White Oaks.

On to 2012 [wait, no 2011? I didn’t have any photos from 11/11/11? No, apparently not.]

[Sorry, I wrote that the American way, which might have confused Europeans, so if you’re European, that would be 11/11/11.]

unidentified dark moth with fluffy forelegs
I don’t know what this moth is and I’m not checking. Okay, fine, it’s possibly genus Orgyia, whose name means, “moth that parties hard, hur hur hur,” [no that’s not true – it actually means, “the length of the outstretched arms,” which is the only way I offer this tentative identification.] I know this was shot near the front porch light one evening, and this version has been darkened slightly and had contrast increased, because that white background paint reflected most of the flash’s light back into the lens, a hazard of shooting macro on brighter objects and backgrounds; light hitting the lens directly will reduce contrast and saturation. Gotta love those Seinfeld sleeves at least.

Next stop, 2013:

very young green lynx spider Peucetia viridans with water adhering
We’d had three egg cases from green lynx spiders (Peucetia viridans) hatch out in the yard, so I had plenty of tiny spiderlings to work with, when I could get close enough to them. Judging from the other photos, the water here isn’t naturally occurring, but the result of applying a misting bottle, which I will do occasionally when the rain has been sparse because the arthropods generally appreciate it. The vertical part of the face that you see here is well under a single millimeter in height, just to give you a faint idea – breathing throws the camera out of focus too often, so I discard a lot of attempts when I go in this close.

2014? 2014:

unidentified Hymenoptera on unidentified flower
It’s a wasp, or bee – Hymenoptera, at least – on a flower. Or a flower mimic. It’s a picture – deal with it, I don’t want this to take all day to write.

And it’s one of two choices for this date, but the other will appear in a different post. Or has already. I haven’t written it yet, but this is being written a day ahead of time, so who knows?

Counting down (er, up) to 2015:

mating American bluet damselflies genus Enallagma making valentine shape
The best I’ll say is that these are American bluet damselflies (genus Enallagma) because there are too many species and I’d need to see the body segments better than I captured here. Shamelessly influenced by social media, they were posing while making a heart, awww. Though admittedly, most of the humans that do this aren’t actually engaged in The Task at the time. And even when they are, they won’t fly around that way, so credit/shame/whatever on the damselflies for this feat.

Finally, 2016:

sprouting mimosa genus Mimosa throwing distinct shadow on rock
This is likely a mimosa sapling (genus also Mimosa,) though there is at least one other species nearby that has nearly identical leaves, the partridge pear, but those don’t typically grow in these conditions, which is right alongside the Eno River. What I was after, though, is the shadow that put me in mind of fossil impressions, since ferns were so common in the very early stages of plant life on this planet. Looking at it now, I could have tackled it better I think, having the living leaves framed more against the grey rock – I have an upcoming podcast that talks about this (recorded but not edited yet.) So this is perhaps a ‘Before’ photo, kinda – I’m probably not going to go back to the river to reshoot this, especially since it was four years ago and the tree is likely different in appearance now; trees be like that. It’s the kind of adversity that you have to deal with as a nature photographer…