Magic Wings

Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides)

So after a 2 hour drive with an irritating detour (Google directions) I arrived at Magic Wings in South Deerfield MA. I've been to three other butterfly conservatories, and this one beats them all hands down. It's a huge set of greenhouses full of tropical plants and several thousand butterflies. It also had several intriguing signs, the most obvious of which was 'Don't chase the birds'. Other than butterflies there were several caged reptiles and lots of loose button quail. There were also some free flying Gouldian Finches.

Malachite (Siprotea stelenes)

Button Quail eating a Malachite. They seemed to enjoy ripping up any dead butterflies. They were also tiny, easily able to sit in a hand, though I didn't try that.

Gouldian Finch Blue Morpho (Morpho peleides), on my Mom's arm. Cairn's Birdwing (male) (Ornithoptera priamus) Brown Tip Page (Siproeta epaphus) Question Mark (Polygonia interragationis) These were everywhere but I don't see them on the guide. Not sure. Scarlet Swallowtail (male) (Papilio rumanzovia) hindwing Much too closeup, whatever it is. Overall I had a lot of fun, and it's a great winter activity since it is quite warm in there. After 2 hours though the heat kind of gets to you.

Daily Photo - Sunrise Yesterday

At some point I'm going to remember that it's dark around sunrise and I really should drag the tripod out to help.

Sunday Adventure - Magic Wings

I'm even going to label a bit, I bought a butterfly guide because I was so impressed with the place.

Glasswing (Greta oto)

Pac-Man Frog

Doris (heliconius doris)

Ismenius (Heliconius ismenius)

These are just a taste. The rest with a description will go up tomorrow.

Daily Photo - Wispy Clouds

Tomorrow there should be butterflies...

Daily Photo - Gecko Tongue

Crested Gecko!

Daily Photo - Thanksgiving

Turkey.

New Book

It's a little book with color images of all the different frogs and such you might find in vernal pools in Massachusetts. It also has numerous photos of different frog eggs and how to id them. Link to site where you can buy it: Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Publications

Daily Photo - Muffins (& Cookies)

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour 1 Cup Corn Meal 1 Egg 1 1/4 cup Milk 1/4 cup oil 1/4 cup maple Syrup 1/2 teaspoon Salt (or less) 1/2 tablespoon baking Soda Blend Wet Blend Dry Blend together 12 standard muffins 25 min at 350 F for Muffins To change this to banana muffins, replace corn meal with more flour, and add 3 mashed bananas Cookie Dough (Recipe adapted from cookie recipe in old Sesame Street book) Ingredients: 1 ½ sticks of butter (3/4 cup) 1 cup Maple Syrup 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 ½ cups flour 1 teaspoon Baking Powder 1teaspoon Salt Mix butter and Maple Syrup together. Add eggs and vanilla to mixture blend some more Add flour, baking powder, and salt, mix some more, with hands if needed. For best cookies later make sure to blend completely, ie no little chunks of butter left out. When you cook them the chunks of butter just disappear and you get cookies with holes in them... Put in fridge for at least 1 hr to chill. Cooking: Preheat oven to: 325 Cook for 8-10 minutes, (until bottoms brown) Let cool, store in fridge for longest life. I'll be making the actual cookies tonight.

Daily Photo - Tiger Beetle

Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) This is from back in July. These guys are often on forest trails, but from far away just look like iridescent specs. I managed to get close to one. They're very flighty, as soon as you move they normally take off. They also have a painful bite from what I've read.

Finished Cricket Cage

They seem to be enjoying it, at least until they get fed to the critters.

Daily Photo - Cricket Cage

According to a calculator I spend at potentially $343 a year on crickets. I only need large crickets and i need at least 30 of them at a time. I've tried a few times to breed them and I just get lazy about it. I've tried separate containers after the eggs hatch, the same containers and a bunch of other combinations. A few weeks ago I came up with the above. If I put a divider in a large tank, fill that side with dirt, provide a ramp and add large crickets for a number of weeks until the population is self-sustaining I should end up with a lot of crickets. As long as they have foods crickets don't cannibalize, so separating out the sizes was just for convenience. Tonight I can put the dirt in and add the crickets, as the silicone will be done curing. I'll also be able to take a better explanation image.

Another Lupine Frost pic

I tried a little more at composing with this one. Sadly, the frost wasn't as nice.

Daily Photo - Sunrise 2

This is what you will get for a sunrise if you're too lazy to get up early enough to actually be anywhere interesting at sunrise, and go back to bed while resetting the clock to sunrise.

Daily Photo - Frosted Rosette

A hens-and-chicks rosette, nicely frosted.

Licorice Updated Picture

I figured out the manual flash settings a little. Abby is very not-thrilled by the new houseguest.

Daily Photo - Frost on Lemon Balm

Every year I rip most of this stuff up and every year it just keeps coming back.

Frosty Morning

I got up at dawn again today, and spotted frost covered shrubs so forced myself outside. These are with a tripod at f/14. The shutter speed was camera determined unless I thought it was wrong.

Lupine with Frost Maple Leaf Lupine with Frost

I got a book out of the library last week that had an understandable section on how and why frost forms. Science 101: Weather Synopsis was dampness coupled with clear skies on a cold night.

Daily Photo - Sunrise

Yesterday.

Irritating Snakes

So a few weeks ago I got this snake. A few days later he shed. He ate. Then his eyes looked like this. I obsessively check for eye caps on sheds, so I was certain he had shed them. He kept soaking in his bowl, and I moved him into a bare iso type cage. I called a vet and the only reason he didn't go was lack of appointments until at least the 24th. I freaked out for a while certain he had some eye infection. So, tonight I checked him over again, and the irritating snake had shed completely again.

Daily Photo - Living Room

This is as close to adult looking as any room I live in gets. There are a few strange reflections in there from the fish tank.

Daily Photo - Old Bryce Canyon

From 2005.

The Dogs are Foiled, Finally...

The last cat box door is done. The cutout doesn't look a lot like a cat, but I needed enough space for tubby to get in there.

Oh The Places I Want to Go!

So, I've been taking travel books out of the library for a few weeks now and drooling over destinations. I took out the National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the US. I was distracted for a short time by the US Virgin Islands; but yesterday flipped through the whole book. I got sucked in by the Colorado Plateau section. The Colorado Plateau includes Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Canyon and Arches National Parks. After some more browsing I suddenly noticed Las Vegas nice and close to Zion. The last time I flew out to visit that area I flew into Salt Lake City UT, which is at least 5 hours from anywhere I wanted to go. Once I noticed Las Vegas the rest may be history. I'm going to try to plan on flying out. Some time in early June of hopefully next year and spending 2 weeks wandering between 5 or 6 national parks and forests. I'm not sure I'll camp at all of them, or if I might spring for a hotel at one, but I am going as a gift to myself. It is much cheaper to camp, even if I register online which has a $10 fee per day. I haven't decided yet about driving in a loop or eating the extra expense and driving from Las Vegas to Grand Junction CO and flying back from there, which would eliminate needing to drive back to Vegas. I also don't know if I'll be going alone or not. That sort of depends on whether any of my relatives want to join me, and maybe split the astronomical rental car fee. Following are pics from my last trip out west. I was stunned, but I didn't actually take that many pictures, with my very crappy Canon A70. Apparently it was before my take as many pictures as the critter will let you take.

These were taken with a Canon A70, and really they can get a bit bigger but most are quite fuzzy at full size. Grand Canyon South Rim, AZ. Damselfly at Zion, UT. Zion , UT. Bryce Canyon, UT.

Daily Photo - Clouds

Slightly adjusted to make the clouds white rather than tan.

Daily Photo - Grasshopper

Stretched out.

Moose Hill Gardens

It turns out all the plants got plowed under supposedly due to mis-communications and they'll be getting new plants. I wish them luck replacing them.