It is about a 115-day process from egg stage until it reaches adulthood. Native to the tropical rainforests of Central America, South America, and Mexico, the Blue Morpho is one of over 80 species of the genus Morpho. It is one of the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from 5 to 8 inches. The iridescent blue color is a result of the microscopic scales on the backside of their wings that reflect light. The contrasting dull brown exterior and the brilliant blue interior serves as a protective measure---as the Blue Morpho flies, it confuses potential predators. (Trust me, it works. I had a hard time following them!)

As a caterpillar, it chews leaves of various trees; as an adult, it can no longer chew. It drinks its food instead, preferring the juice of rotting fruit, fluids of decomposing animals, fungi, wet mud, and tree sap. Blue Morphos are severely threatened by deforestation of tropical forests and habitat destruction, and humans are a direct threat because of their desire to collect them.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

He got scared of me as I was watching him, and jumped into the wall and fell into the ground behind my table. I wanted to put him inside an empty core of paper towels, but he got scared again and jumped away. I stopped paying attention to him, and couldn't find him a minute later, anyway.

After a while, I saw him slowly climbing vertically up my blue curtain. It was nice, because it felt like he was my roommate, and he didn't bother me. Now? He's standing upside-down on the pole that's holding the curtains (inserts more appropriate word here). I'm going to keep him for a while longer and then let him to his freedom, if such opportunity will arise.

It's nice to live near the forest, in a quiet village, yet reasonable near the Prague.

The best part was we all decided to stay and work until the move was finished today so we could have the rest of the weekend off.  I'm really beat but I couldn't help myself...I came home, grabbed a quick catnap and then ran outside with the camera in hand for the first time in FOUR DAYS. 

This ant kind of summed up how I've felt these past couple of weeks - that anything is attainable if you just keep at it.  He made it to the top of this four-foot tall sunflower plant and I got 30 people moved into a new office building high on the hilltop.

I'm sure he'd agree with me that the view is much better from the top.

A Japanese monk got some insect karma as his temple burnt down after being attacked by hornets he was trying to destroy.

The monk was using a flaming torch to burn the nest but panicked when the hornets attacked him.

Dropping the torch, he burnt his temple to the ground, police said.

The Buddhist monk had put lighted rags on a stick into the nest in the temple, but dropped it and ran when the hornets flew out and attacked him, police official Yuichi Ozaka said.

He said the monk, Atsushi Sato, 41, suffered burns on his ears, face and left hand, but he was not stung.

The temple in Ojiya City, northern Japan, was burned to the ground, along with the nest, Ozaka said.

Police said Sato's burns were not life-threatening.

===

Aint buddhist and especially monks NOT supposed to "杀生" ? Orhbee goot.

sigo mirando hacia el sol, buscando imagenes bellas, que transmitan atmósferas apacibles, tengo la ventana poblada de flores, ñoñas que ademas me regalan un perfume que adelanta sinestésicamente la primavera... son lindísimas y en la foto anterior no se veia el violeta, de todas formas, lo interesante no es la flor, o la toma o lo que sea, es la abejita, la ves? es transparente! nunca, nunca, nunca me di cuenta, no lo vi en un documental (prefiero leer libros), ni, seamos honestos, sin tener ningun tipo de fobia a estos insectitos laburantes, me acerque tanto a observar, sabemos que no esta bueno que piquen, sin embargo por casualidad salió asi, tan clara, translúcida... digo, sera miel eso??? jajaja... si, este es mi recreo me permito cualquier estupidez! mas allá de todo, es interesante, me gusto y se los comparto, disfruten!

Butterfly is an insect.

An insect is an animal.

But I don’t like any insect but I only like butterfly.

Butterfly has 6 legs; butterfly has 2 wings and 2 antennas.

A baby butterfly is a caterpillar.

Then it changes to a pupa.

And then it changes to be a butterfly.

Butterfly eats fruit.

I like butterfly and I like fruits too.

He's cleaning his legs after gorging on a Sunflower.

The monster bug managed to get into the house despite all the great white north vapor barriers and insulation. However the inside of the house must have been like a desert for him and he died. I broke off the first part of three of his legs while trying to straighten him out so he could stand on his own legs for the camera.

Not only am I tired, presumably from all the traveling and time zones, but I suspect also that the change in operating mode has also had an impact.

I sat down to shoot some closeups and noticed the first three bugs. Then another. And another. And then an entire convention of them! There were at least a hundred of them (yes, I did a preliminary count out of curiosity). Look at the teeny, tiny baby in the third photo. Check out this link for more information about milkweed bugs.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

'Honorine Jobert' is a vigorous, mounding, compact Japanese anemone hybrid best grown in zones 4-8. It was discovered in Verdun, France in 1858. This herbaceous perennial from the Ranunculaceae family reaches 3-4 feet high and spreads 1.5 to 2 feet. The beautiful 2" snow white flowers bloom from August through September and the plant likes full sun to part shade. Low maintenance and easily grown in average, well-drained soil, 'Honorine Jobert' does best in part shade to protect it from wind. Once established, the suckering shoots will spread, so plant it where it has room to grow. Divide in early spring or autumn or take root cuttings in the spring.

Summer for thee, grant I may be

Summer for thee, grant I may be
When Summer days are flown!
Thy music still, when Whipporwill
And Oriole---are done!

For thee to bloom, I'll skip the tomb
And row my blossoms o'er!
Pray gather me---
Aenome---
Thy flower---forevermore!

---Emily Dickinson

Photos © Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

This Black Phoebe was flycatching along one of the ponds in Ashland's North Mountain Park.  A chirpy call, an upright posture and short forays after flying insects--the whole flycatcher take on life.  The Black Phoebe ius not nearly as abundant and widespread here as it is in the San Francisco region.  But they are a breeding species and will stay the winter.  Some migrating flycatchers were about: several Western Wood-Pewee  and a couple Pacific-slope Flycatchers along another pond north of North Mountain Boulevard.

But predominant theme of the day continued to be black and white:

Here's lookin' at you, kid.  Look 'em in the eye.  The clown's mask of the woodpecker family.  But an altogether serious woodpecker, a communal living, hard-working, acorn harvesting kind of worker.  Yes,there's a flash of the red cockade to go with all the black and white marking.  But not on this littler black and white package:

I believe this is a western white butterfly, Pontia occidentalis.  Feeds on the nectar of alfalfa, clovers, alpine wildflowers.

The most prevalent migrant on Saturdaym, August 30: Western Tanager.  But bIll Hering and I spotted several Black-Headed Gorsbeak and a couple of Waxwing flocks as well.  It was atreat to see a pair of Bleted Kingfisher along Bear Creek at North Mountain Park.

A couple months ago, I moved back into my mother's house, where I have found these extremely strange little bugs.

I have tried looking on the internet to figure out what they are, but I am having no luck..

I only see them at night time. They have a very weird shell thing, that a little worm thing with little legs comes out of and pulls the shell along. there is a hole at each end, and he can come out of either side.

I put a dime in there for scale, but this one is smaller than most of the other ones I have seen, they like my carpet, and also seem to come out more when it is wet outside.

Anybody got any ideas as to what this guy is?

A lovely butterfly at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak, MI.

So be sure to go here:

flickr

its a flicker search with word burl.... so nice images :)

well thats it for now.

oh oh. some more links:

"art"

wood burls by David Beaulieu

and some famous tree, which is probably not related to burls, but still very nice.

and if you have too much time on your hands be sure to visit my tree models here and here.

It's a female Greater Woodwasp or Horntailwasp (Urocerus gigas), which makes its home in and around coniferous woodland such as our sitka spruce windbreaks. What appears to be a long stinger is actually an ovipositor for for boring into dead and dying trees so she can lay her eggs. 

The Greater Woodwasp is said to be common in the UK, but this is only the second one we've seen in five years. They're completely harmless, but do look very formidable and can give people a fright when they emerge from sawn timber in new houses. I think they're quite attractive insects, but the Other Half remains to be convinced.

The backlighting makes her orange stripes just glow in these photos.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

The backlighting makes her orange stripes just glow in these photos.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Miss Ladybug, the ladybug

Originally uploaded by jessica anne matthies

Since the spring, I've shared my bedroom with a rusty red ladybug. I'd swear it was the same one that bunked with me in the fall (they could be twins—the red body, the black spots...), but that seems unlikely. Either way, this one enjoys resting on my warm lamp, occasionally taking flight and reminding me she's there. Given that ladybugs symbolize luck, I leave her alone and feel grateful that she's chosen to grace me with her lucky presence. I can't imagine my place is nutrient-rich, so it's a wonder she's alive. Ladybugs feast on other tiny pests, so here's hoping my room has a family of aphids or some tasty dust mites.

When I left for work today, she was still perched on the lamp, so I was a little surprised to look down at my blouse on my morning walk and discover that yet another ladybug was clinging to my sleeve. Apparently, I'm a magnet for the lucky bug.

Now if I could just get lucky...

1:5:10:242 EcoTip: Pheromones are used by insects to attract a mate. Many are currently available for attracting insects into traps where they die. Aerial spraying of pheromones is also being used as a method for insect control. The idea is to confuse insects so they can't find a mate. While traps with pheromones seems like a good idea, exposing people by aerial spraying of entire communities has become quite controversial.

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 Additional Information:

A number of pheromone attractants and traps are available from ARBICO-organics.

Would you like to receive an email alert for each new 1:5:10:365 EcoTip? Sign up for a Google Alert.

It is about a 115-day process from egg stage until it reaches adulthood. Native to the tropical rainforests of Central America, South America, and Mexico, the Blue Morpho is one of over 80 species of the genus Morpho. It is one of the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from 5 to 8 inches. The iridescent blue color is a result of the microscopic scales on the backside of their wings that reflect light. The contrasting dull brown exterior and the brilliant blue interior serves as a protective measure---as the Blue Morpho flies, it confuses potential predators. (Trust me, it works. I had a hard time following them!)

As a caterpillar, it chews leaves of various trees; as an adult, it can no longer chew. It drinks its food instead, preferring the juice of rotting fruit, fluids of decomposing animals, fungi, wet mud, and tree sap. Blue Morphos are severely threatened by deforestation of tropical forests and habitat destruction, and humans are a direct threat because of their desire to collect them.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Not receiving any call from the service center, I decided to walk-in and pick up my laptop.
To my surprise, they hadn't tried any remedy / work-around for the heating issue. Upon asking the reason I was shown a similar model running windowsXP (some customer's) which was generating almost the same heat.

The difference was that it was running for a long amount of time (probably being tested for some other defect) and my laptop would reach that temperature within few minutes (without any apps running).
This seems no make no difference to the tech guys there.

I requested them to open the laptop, check for thermal paste and clean the dust on the fan if possible. They should have done that already (what if the customer isn't aware of these things!); I am glad they didn't turn down my request.

By this time my laptop keypad had turned into some sort of gray color, thanks to the dust at the service center.
I had given my side-carry bag(the one that came with the laptop); absolutely new and never used earlier (I always use my insect backpack), guess what, I couldn't recognise the bag at first look. It looked as if it was dragged on the floor.

Nevertheless, I am happy that my laptop is back. :)