Latest posts tagged with #GoOutsideForMe on Bluesky
This woodpecker has been visiting the apple-crabs- It flies in with a great cackling noise, settles on the tree to peck at apples for a while, then flies off to season its meal with its regular fare-insects.
links to follow
#birds #nature #Alberta #Canada #CountryLiving #autumn π±πΏπ· #GoOutsideForMe
Monarch feeding on Butterfly Weed in my garden.
I'll need to check to see if there are any eggs or larva. Their caterpillars feed on the leaves.
@vlrny
#GoOutsideForMe
#InsectSaturday #InsektenSamstag #Lepidoptera #Nature #Butterfly #BiodiversityGardening #Gardening #HabitatGardening
A copper bright butterfly with intricate markings in umber-black and fuzzy green to copper body perches/hovers in a mass of tiny pink starry flowers which vary from near white through purply pink to near violet of faded flowers.The flowers float against a blurred green background of their own foliage. To the lower right we see part of a light coloured granitey rock with white, pale pink and dark flecks. The contrast is so strong between the strongly coloured, sharply marked butterfly and the pastel flowers that it nearly seems to occupy a different reality. The image is sharpest in the centre and gradually blurs toward the edges.
Seems like the world needs more of this today and in the days to come. Let's remember love and beauty and compassion.. Fritillary #Butterfly on Gypsophila repens in the #garden #SolaceInNature #BloomScrolling #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe #Alberta #Canada #inverts #pollinators #photography πΏπ±π·
Probably our largest + flashiest #Butterfly Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Papilio canadensis they visit all sorts of flowers from native Honeysuckles to Dandelions but *love* Lilacs YouTube +Spectra links to follow
#insects #June #Alberta #Canada #nature #garden #BloomScrolling #GoOutsideForMe πΏπ±π·
Close view of a narrow rain darkened branch, finely nubbly scaly, which angles across the view from lower right to upper left of centre. Just below centre, two twigs branch off, one to each side. They each bear a handful or more of tiny flowers as well as tiny ball to egg shaped buds, pale with fine red brown scales. Several new leaves are beginning to emerge from the tips as well, at this stage they are also brown/scaly, no green showing yet. Flowers are light golden green with slightly textured and faintly red lined edges to the petals(?).Female flowers like these show a single pistil in the centre.
An erect branch with two almost horizontal side branches just below centre, nearly forming a cross. The branches are catching the sun from the back, the red brown scaly surfaces looking darker in shade and near white where the sun hits in parts of the side branches. Each twig bears a cluster of tiny buds similar in colour and texture to the bark and just a couple of open tiny flowers.The background is blurred, mostly grey with spots lighter, darker and green. Another similar branch rises out of focus behind the first one. Flowers are light golden green with fully recurved petals(?) and a puff of upright tiny pale stamens with balls of pollen on narrow stems.
Late #WildflowerWednesday lol I'd said these were the 1st non-tree wildflowers of the year but found another contender yesterday (still have to come) super tiny flowers of Shepherdia canadensis Buffaloberry #BloomScrolling #NativePlants #nature #spring #Alberta #Canada #GoOutsideForMe πΏπ·
Looking up through/at the tops of a handful of aspens and several spruce trees. The aspen trunks are near white with some to many dark to black branch scar markings.There are some dead branches holding on, and live branches are mostly high up. the trunks are partly in their own or other trees' shade, and partly catching the afternoon sun coming from the left. The spruce trees are showing medium/dark green, with parts darker in shade. The tips of the aspen twigs bear numerous fuzzy catkins, mostly not fully extended, but catching the sun in their silvery hairs giving the tree tops a delicately fuzzy/hazy look. The sky behind the trees is a clear blue.
A tangle of palest green twigs and branches with dark markings against a blue sky. From twig tips hang clusters of aspen catkins. Emerging from shiny brown bud cases, they start as silver brushes, extending to silver/pewter dangling caterpillars with red buds showing through the hairs, then extending further and paling as the reddish tiny buds open to show miniscule golden flowers casting their pollen to wind. Those hanging in front in this view are fully extended and wind blown slightly sideways.
A cluster of catkins against a pale and grey blurred background of twigs and trunks hangs from a knobby pale dark marked twig. Emerging from shiny brown bud cases, they start as silver brushes, extending to silver/pewter dangling caterpillars with red buds showing through the hairs, then extending further and paling as the reddish tiny buds open to show miniscule golden flowers casting their pollen to wind. These are half to not quite fully extended.
Sunshine lights several clusters of dangling catkins cross the screen at an angle from upper left to lower right, above a knobby pale dark marked thin branch, with a tangle of of other pale blurred branches and trunks in the background, blue sky showing through. Emerging from shiny brown bud cases, they start as silver brushes, extending to silver/pewter dangling caterpillars with red buds showing throught the hairs, then extending further and paling as the reddish tiny buds open to show miniscule golden flowers casting their pollen to wind.
#FirstFlowers this year: Aspens Populus tremuloides starting to fully open their catkins (willows just behind, a few open). They are tiny, but there're millions! Officially wind pollinated, but they do draw insects.
#BloomScrolling #WildflowerHour #Alberta #Canada #BorealForest π·πΏ #GoOutsideForMe
Black and white photo of poplar trees with catkins just emerging,(a couple of young spruce trees are growing up through the poplars) against a background of wispy, fluffy, turbulent overcast from light to mediumn-dark grey lively looking clouds. We are looking across a gravel road (not seen, below the view) at the corner of a pasture, so the trees which follow the fenceline come from left and right to a sort of triangular point in the centre. This means the centre trees, which are nearer, appear higher and the as they become more distant to each side they drop away. The view is blurred around the edges. The photo in the next post, close view, is not these same trees which are exposed and branches are high up, rather in a sheltered spot on the road allowance beside the acreage with low branches.
So, I *took* the photos on #MonochromeMonday lol..I hadn't checked on #aspen #catkins for a couple of weeks- just emerging last time I looked; I knew the cool/snowy weather we had would keep them in suspended animation-
#nature #trees #spring #BorealForest#Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe
Friday was mild- at least 10C/50F warmer in sunny sheltered spots like this, so Pearly came out for some rolling/kneading in the warm dry grass. She lounged there while I was out doing other things #caturday #cats #spring #Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe
youtube.com/shorts/ZhG_l...
Overcast day, subtle light. Fuzzy silver white catkins beginning to emerge paintbrush-like from their sticky red brown bud casings. Several catkins cluster at the tip of a twig that rises from lower left, pointed to the right. In the background, light coloured aspen trunks form a muted blurred vertical abstract pattern with the shadowed areas between.
I took #photos on #MacroMonday but just getting some posted today! How about #TextureTuesday ? or #TwiggyTuesday #TranquilTuesday
These are Aspen Populus tremuloides catkins just beginning to emerge.
#nature #Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest #spring #winter #sprinter
Open grassy wetland ends at the very bottom edge of the photo, giving way to low reddish willows with mixed woods of poplar and dark spruce farther back to the left, farther still in centre, bare poplars nearer coming into frame from the right. Above the woods, grey and white fluffy clouds fill the lower half of the sky, lit on their rims by the sun which is higher up with a small breakaway cloud half obscuring it.The rest of the sky is bright blue with wisps of cloud and some small rainbow lens flares. Slight blur added around the edges of the image for a dreamier mood.
Another: #BlueSkyMonday #GoOutsideForMe #SolaceInNature #DailyBeauty #Joy #solidarity #love #peace #nature #Sunshine #SpringEquinox
A smallish section of exposed tree root, a hand width across with some weathered grey dead wood, mostly covered in gold green moss, silvery grey lichens, and the roughly kidney shaped, toothed and sparsely haired bright evergreen leaves of a forest creeper, along with dry grey-brown poplar leaves , reddish spruce needles and at least one tiny spruce seedling. Along its centre and especially toward the left an indentation in the wood has filled with soil/debris/moss giving place for the plant to root and making a tiny raised moss garden.
Watched news this morning. Yikes. Now YouTube has recommended a woman in evening dress playing a huge harp on the beach for 90 minutes. Sure, I'll take it+ editing #nature photos! #SolaceInNature #love #solidarity #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest #Alberta #Canada #photography #SelfCare #positivity π·πΏ
Looking up at the top of a spruce tree; it's a bit skinny, lots of branches, we don't see too much of the trunk, but the branches are rather long and thin and floppy. The very bottom is natural dark green, but the top is all coated in frost. This would have been from freezing fog, and clearly it moved through rather high up as only some of the tips of trees were coated. Behind the sky is blue.
A single small dry plant with a few dry leaves and a tuft of dry seed heads on top, crowned with little mounds of fresh snow. The background is nearly smooth snow, much of it in blue shadow, a bit of sun to lower right and scattered crystals all over catching the light so they look like tiny shiny orbs floating over the snow.
A couple of #morning views, one from yesterday with #frost kissed wild native spruce tree + today with fresh #snow on dry Penstemon in #RockGarden #CountryLiving #Alberta #Canada #winter #spring #sprinter #March #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest #garden #photography #weather #SolaceInNature π±πΏπ·
π¦ A Tiger Swallowtail has recently emerged at a time when there are few preferred #wildflowers for it to feed on. Luckily, a #NativePlants gardener planted Carolina Jessamine years ago and it already has cascades of yellow flowers.
π» So the gardener gets to [β¦]
[Original post on mindly.social]
Looking out from the edge of a mixed wood between furrowed grey shadowed trunks of Balsam Poplar and green sunlit branches of White Spruce. Beyond is a bit of snowy ground, washed out by the sun, matching the colourless sky seen through another mixed wood area farther back. Middle ground is a wetland area of dense bushy willows a few to handful of metres high, grey/red/brown with the sun picking out highlights.
Close view of the middle of the previous photo- we see part of the trunk of one of the Balsam Poplars to right, and from behind it just a bit of a spruce branch then a tangle of one gnarled poplar branch reaching toward the centre with a couple of bare thin branches coming in from the left. Some twigs are dark shadowed, some bright in sunlight. Behind is a blurred backdrop of dense willow growth- innumerable fine twigs and stems grey with hints of red-brown, looking lighter in the sun.
A bit of a stretch for #ThickTrunktuesday ? How about #TwiggyTuesday ! Mild February day in the #Alberta #BorealForest details in alt #Canada #nature #trees #landscape #photography #GoOutsideForMe #SolaceInNature
Close view of an area of snowy wetland with clumps and stems of dried grass sticking through smooth windlblown snow with blue shadows in dips. In the centre of the image, a small clump of several cropped grass stems around 30cm /12 inches long, held very close together and bent over where they emerge from the snow, is being blown around/back and forth in a semi-circle. It has scribed a semi-circle of half a dozen lines of various depths and widths on the snow.
A dry thistle stem is bent over, entering the image from upper right. A handful of fine dark branches hold scattered crinkly dry prickly leaves, and the tips hold a handful of seedheads, some empty some still with the fluffy parachuted seeds still in place.Leaves and stems are dusted with fine frost and snow, and the bigger seed heads mostly covered. Background is nearly unmarred white.
The top of a large spruce tree, coated in frost so it is pewter coloured with darker shadows, seems to turn slightly toward the setting sun which has lent a faint hint of coral to the frost. The background is a featureless blue-grey dusky sky with just a slight suggestion of sunset to lower left.
A sunny blue sky day (only a two tiny bits of cloud just behind the trees), looking from the moving car across a wide open snow covered field. Wind and sun have covered the surface with low ridges and ripples between smooth patches, with an uneven shine where the sun has previously partly melted bits. A long narrow bit of rough ground with dried grass sticking through curves gently from mid left across the centre and loops back to a strip of dark mixed woods that goes from left to centre, with more trees forming a near horizon farther back.
π§΅10 last of the bonus photos for vids and blog above
#Alberta #Canada #GoOutsideForMe #nature #landscape #weather #snow #WinterSun
A bit of a knobbly poplar branch end- a couple of hands long with a few twigs ending in clusters of crumpled dry red-brown leaves has fallen toward the ground and caught on a small poplar sucker stem. It is backlit by the afternoon sun, paling the thin leaf stems and near flaming the thin outer leaf edges. background is an area of blue-grey shadowed snowy ground with a few sun highlights and a muted grey brown green woodland backdrop
multiple fine branches of a small maple, slightly blurred into a snowy background on an overcast day. The branches carry many many double winged seeds; the wings are slightly translucent, tan to brown, and many of the seeds/clusters are lightly dusted with snow.
π§΅8 now some bonus photos taken around the same time as the videos- from mid January through the first week of February #winter #Alberta #Canada #GoOutsideForMe πΏπ±π·βοΈ
π§΅1 blog post with short videos, pics and blab from the last few weeks: #winter #weather + #CrossQuarterDay #MeteΕi #Imbolc #WaitingForSpring
#Alberta #Canada I'll post YouTube+ Spectra links + extra photos in this thread βοΈ π· #nature #GoOutsideForMe
cohanmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/02/wint...
Sun shines through a handful of skinny poplar suckers in upper right. We only see the bottom of the stems, but the sun casts their blue shadows at an angle toward lower left across the snow so we can see the whole shape of the tiny trees. The snow is mostly blue shadow from larger trees out of sight behind. The sun shines through weakly, enough to illuminate frost crystals on top of the snow covered ground, making them sparkle.
Last Weekend the #FrostSpirits rode the freezing fog overnight to cover everything in crystal gems. Come morning #WindMother scattered the gems over the ground
#winter #WinterWonderland #animist #pagan #Alberta #Canada #SolaceInNature #GoOutsideForMe #DailyBeauty #nature #weather #WitchSky
Same video as above (thumbnail shows me pulling an orange plastic sled loaded with wood, heading out of the woods back to the house) #Spectra #Peertube link for those who like non-corporate hosting; smaller video file at 720
#Winter #GoOutsideForMe #CountryLiving
spectra.video/w/r9Mu9Qmzhk...
Looking across a bit of snowy ground punctuated with suckers and saplings of willows, spruce, and dwarf birch and dry grass stems. A handful of metres in are some taller bushy willows- to several metres and more and birch and young tamarack/larch a bit taller than that. Farther back still on higher ground is a mixed wood of poplars and spruce. The large and mid-size trees seem generously coated with frost, the lower willows etc variably coated with frost and snow, some quite white, other bits dark/reddish. The sky is blue and lighter toward the left where the sun is- out of sight but shining through the smallish trees, lighting up the white frost.
Random shot from Feb 07 about -15C/5F before we had a slight warm up, then some colder weather.. #frost #trees #wetland #BorealForest #Alberta #Canada #SolaceInNature #GoOutsideForMe #landscape #winter #weather
Part of a small grey twig (possibly barkless and dry, but we can't see much of it) extends from a branch near eye level; it goes almost straight across the middle of the image, angling just slightly down to the right. The day is overcast and a bit foggy, and fog the previous night has frozen so most of this twig is covered in tiny clusters of frost. At this resolution they mostly just look like little lumpy blobs, but if you look closely you can see they might be similar in form to coral clumps. The background is variable grey blur, with one bit of light through the trees (which we can't see) behind making a lighter circle just behind part of the twig.
Three tufts of hair like lichen grow from a thin dark frost speckled branch angling from lower left to upper right. The largest clump (a couple of inches/handful of cm across) is just left of centre then a small clump a little higher, and a third not quite as large as the first just below and left of the upper right corner. Their pale greyish green is nearly completely hidden by a dense coating of tiny balls of frost. In the background we can just make out another branch-blurred- with more lichen on it. Farther back is a blurred mixed wood, mostly spruce, their green mostly reduced to a variety of greys with some light patches between trunks transformed to circles of light by the camera lens.
#MonochromeMonday We've had #cloud #fog #snow #frost transforming the outdoors to shades of white, silver, pewter, grey. These were all shot in full colour. -9C/16F on Jan 31 warm compared to today -25C/-13F at 2pm #landscape #nature #LichenSubscribe #Alberta #SolaceInNature #GoOutsideForMe π·βοΈ
Looking at a small area of bark on a balsam poplar tree. the bark is near white to medium grey, deeply and irregularly fissured vertically, with narrow dark shadows plus a couple of curving narrow shadows from branches somewhere above. There are tiny specks of grey lichen htere and there, barely discernible and a few specks of orange lichen.
2 next #ThickTrunkTuesday is Populus balsamifera Balsam #Poplar Look closely at the poplar bark and you get a bonus #LichenSubscribe - some tiny bits of grey #lichen blend in to the trunk, and a few dabs of orange #nature #January #Alberta #GoOutsideForMe πΏπ·βοΈ
:ooking through falling snow and blurs on the lens from melting snow. We see the end of an old trailer (mobile home) white with blue roof/edge and looking a bit 'dirty' from growth of lichens, with a small chocolate brown shed in front and a mass of dry hops vines climbing an old antenna. To each side are large dark spruce, lightened and blurred by the snow as well as several other bare shrubs and trees, some faintly red-brown from some clinging dry leaves.
Overcast and snowing afternoon, not too far from sunset, so not too bright. Looking across a snowy open area speckled with bits of dry grass and woody stems with some patches of denser growth of willows and taller dry grass -in these spots we see the red of the willows and gold of the grass. Farther back is a mixed wood with low willows and birches blurring into the snow and shadow, taller mature mixed woods farther back. The wooded areas look nearly like solid masses in the snowy blur, and sky and ground are monochromatic from near white to pale blue-grey, the distant woods also black and white from the white specks of snowflakes to varying greys of the snow coated and snow blurred trees.
grumpy old guy (me) with vintage looking glasses, black meata frame on top, silvery below with slightly darkended lenses, looking intensely at the camera (it's hard to hold a DSLR and take a selfie, I have to focus!). It's a colour photo, you can tell by my palish pinky-orange skin but my hoodie and what you can see of the fuzzy faux fleece hat with ear flaps under the hood are shades of grey to black, literally dusted on top with snow- even though i'd been brushing it off regularly. The background is snow covered woodland, also looking nearly black and white.
#NewYearsEve (afternoon) beautiful day, snowy as you can see (something like 5-8cm during the day and overnight- a few inches) temps around -8 to -10C/ 14-18F in the afternoon.
#Alberta #GetOutside #SolaceInNature #GoOutsideForMe
#landscape #photography #SniegaMate #SnowMother #animism #PaganSky
Looking through a a narrow ungrazed zone with at least knee high dry reddish gold grass and loosely spaced smallish poplar trunks (we see just the middle of the trees, almost silhouetted against the lighter landscape behind). Beyond is wire and post fence with a closed gate. Beyond that, an open snowy wetland pasture, some low willows to the right and a line of low willows farther in- they are reddish dark, though blurred and faded by frost, fog and distance. Farther away still is mixed woodland, faded even more, not quite blending into the sky that appears nearly white . A filter has intensified colours a bit and added a hint of violet. A white vignette is applied around the edges.
#ArtAdventCalendar Day 14 looking across the neighbours' 2 days ago- #frost bit of sun, some lingering #fog Days get shorter as #WinterSolstice approaches and #Saule Sun will begin her return #Alberta #landscape #PaganSky #photography π·βοΈπΏ #GoOutsideForMe
A smallish aspen poplar with a somewhat knobby trunk and only 2 branches in our view (mid-trunk)- which are a bit twisty- is in the shade of some larger tree, so looks mostly dark. To the left, behind it are some more mostly shaded branches of other trees and the right, a few metres away, we see the tops of a number of poplars, coated in frost and catching the sun so their tips glow white gold against the blue sky.
The top part of a fairly large old spruce tree with very dense uniform branches forming a quite tight cone/pyramid shape. The needles are coated in frost making it glow white where the sun hits, through silvery/pewter tones where it is shaded a bit, and darker farther down where it is in the shade of another tree. In front we see a few thin scattered upreaching branches with a few dried leaves of a Sorbus/Rowan. Behind is deep blue sky.
Several poplar branches reach sideways from the trunk out of sight to the right toward the sun out of view to the left. The branches have many fine twigs which are almost entirely white with frost, the undersides of the slightly larger branches uncoated giving a bit of dark definition to the masses of white. Behind, around and through the branches we see clear blue sky.
Extra shots from this morning- #fog overnight led to nice frost views today. These are from morning, but it stayed chilly + not too windy so the frost lasted all day even though it was sunny at times #winter #Alberta #CountryLiving #Canada #rime #frost #SolaceInNature #GoOutsideForMe βοΈπ·πΏ
Looking across a blue-violet sunset and cloud shadowed lightly snow covered pasture- 20-30 cm with bits of grass/weeds showing through here and there. Near centre there is a lower area with more dry grass clumps showing, this is the upper part of a 'dugout' an area excavated to hold water for cattle in summer. Behind that to the left is a fence made of upright boards, long faded grey (wind break for cattle) and to the right more open area. The dark mass of low willows is visible farther back with occasional areas/lines of taller bare poplars. Far away on the horizon, the mountains are just visible. The sun is setting near centre, right on the mountains at this moment, golden orange with a few rays glancing off the mountain tops and spreading far into the scene. Beside and above the sun are areas of thin cloud tinted golden to orange, then a a band of violet grey with lighter highlights angled lower to the left. Above that a strip of clear sky, muted blue, then a wide mass of finely fluffy cloud from coral tinted pale grey to medium dark blue-grey with small clear patches. A slight filter has been applied which increases contrast a bit and gives a violet tone. White vignetting is also applied in the corners.
#ArtAdvent Day 9 (still Monday to me, though technically I'm over the line..lol) Another #sunset view across the neighbours. Still zoomed and cropped a little, this gives a better impression of how distant the mountains are. #CountryLiving #Alberta #winter #GoOutsideForMe π·βοΈπ
Pretty #snow falling from a few days ago- already dated: way more today! Video shows views on the acreage + across the neighbours', snow falling- trees, fields etc.
#SnowMother #animist #Latvian #Alberta #Canada #winter #GoOutsideForMe #SolaceInNature
youtube.com/shorts/rlabB...
Short video from yesterday afternoon while out harvesting firewood. #nature #weather #GoOutsideForMe #fog #ravens #WitchSky πΏπ«οΈπ² π½οΈπ·
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A single aspen leaf, the shape is somewhere between arrowhead and pyramid shaped. The leaf isbright gold at the base and orange red toward the tip, with dark spots here and there and dark/brown especially around the edges. It is resting on a spruce branch with a number of fine twigs clothed with small stiff spikey looking green needles. The image is blurred along top and bottom borders.
Although it is arguably #winter here for the last few weeks, there is still #autumn #colour to be found if you are looking!
Here's an #aspen leaf I picked up from the ground and placed on a spruce branch to photograph! #trees #foliage #nature #Alberta πΏπ· #GoOutsideForMe
Two medium large poplar trunks, medium to dark grey deeply furrowed bark, just touching at the base then angling slightly away from one another. We see just the first 5 or 6 feet/couple of metres. They have dark green moss at the base and scattered bits of flat blue-grey lichen on the trunk (also tiny orange lichens, though barely visible in this view, see next. There are several small fungus bodies protruding from the trunk on the right several inches/ 6-10cm across. Each one has a light and/or tan coloured bottom which protudes a bit farther than the light grey upper part which tapers in a bit to the top.
One of the fungus bodies viewed from the side, on the dark grey deeply furrowed bark, which is dotted with orange and grey lichens. The shape in profile is nearly triangular with the top narrow and bottom wider. The top part is light grey, then a narrow dark border and the bottom is roughly the colour of white bread crust- the texture/shape looks slightly inflated like bread, also.
A couple of tree #fungus views from my time in the bush cutting firewood this week. These are on Balsam Poplar Populus balsamifera in mixed woods #BorealForest #FungiFriends #Alberta #nature #GoOutsideForMe πΏ
