Pairs of pictures of Lost Pond
For whatever reason, my pictures of things at Lost Pond from this morning come in pairs. Here is a group of Indian pipe flowers.
One of the things I learned when I researched this plant is that no one is really sure what pollinates it. While I was crouched to take this picture, a medium sized hairy black and yellow bee made a very quick visit. A clue perhaps, but inconclusive.
The month long rain spell we've had has been rough on the crops, but very good for slime molds. This is a myxomycete called wolf's milk.
The camera I'm using shows some textural detail I haven't seen before.
Here's another slime mold, "red raspberry slime," or Tubifera.
It was the largest mass of this organism I've ever seen.
This guy was about 3/4 of an inch long. Not huge for a spider, but pretty big among New England specimens. Fairly certain this is a purse web spider, genus Sphodros.
He wouldn't hold still for any really good pictures, but hopefully you can see his big fangs.
My friend Alex, who doesn't pretend to be a naturalist, is developing a good eye for finding creatures. She found the raspberry slime, and noticed this big female American toad hopping away.
Isn't she gorgeous!