March 2010 Photos

Field and Swamp: Animals and Their Habitats

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March 2010 Photos

Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC 3/30/10


Sporangia of a slime mold (Hemitrichia genus?). Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC, 3/30/10. My ID.	Horsetail	Winged Elm fruit	Field Pansy (Viola bicolor)	Green Six-spotted Tiger Beetle


Common Vetch	Common Wood-Sorrel	Common Blue Violets	Forget-me-nots (Myosotis genus)

Durham, NC 3/29/10


Moss #1	Moss #2	Moss #3

Durham, NC 3/28/10


Carpet Bugle or Ground Pine (Ajuga reptans), atypically tall: they're usually mowed down!	Female Red Maple flowers, some with forming fruit	Carolina Jessamyn flower	Sugar Maple flowers

Eno River State Park, Old Cole Mill Road access, 3/27/10


Other side of Crane Fly Orchid leaf	Cutleaf Toothwort	Early Saxifrage	Ground Ivy


Rue Anemone

Uwharrie Trail, Troy, NC 3/25/10


Hepatica nobilis flowers and leaves. Photo taken by Karl D. Gottschalk

North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro, NC 3/24/10

All photos taken by Karl D. Gottschalk


Bloodroots	Ostrich	Jeep in zoo store

Durham, NC 3/24/10


Winged elm flowers, just starting to develop fruit	Another winged elm, with maturing fruit	Red Maple female flowers, with some producing fruit	Mazus japonicus, very small (probably because it was in mowed grass). ID thanks to Janie Harmon Owens.	Weeping Willow flower and leaves


Confederate Violet	Common Blue Violet	Also a Common Blue Violet, perhaps in a different (brighter) light, hence the initially puzzling common name.


Water striders, the bottom one with prey, apparently a leafhopper	Same water striders, with possibly different prey

Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC 3/22/10


American Toads mating	Periwinkle	Mysterious tracks on the creek bed	Horsetails

Occoneechee Mountain Natural Area, Orange County, NC 3/21/10


The beginnings of a tree, apparently a Chestnut Oak that has discarded its nutshell.	Hair-cap Moss (Polytrichum commune), showing sporophytes that have shed their calyptrae "caps," releasing spores, with their operculum capsules remaining. Shown with small mushroom, with a cap ~2 mm across.	Hair-cap Moss in an earlier stage, with developing calyptrae (after fertilization)	Tachinid fly


Chestnut Oak tree starting out

Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC 3/20/10


Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) flowers	Miner bee, digging a hole in the ground for its nest. Its head is mostly hidden.	Toothwort	Bloodroot flower


Trout Lilies, a few of hundreds currently blooming	Trout Lily flower

Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC 3/19/10


Green Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, actually with 10 spots	Plum flowers. This ID is disputed.	Wolf spider	Common Blue Violet


Mating Boxelder Bugs, two of dozens, maybe hundreds, where the trail first came besides Sandy Creek.	Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)

Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC 3/18/10


Mourning Cloak	Boxelder Bug	Field Pansy	Spring Beauties	Bluets

Duke Gardens, Durham, NC 3/16/10


Japanese Apricot Tree (yes, these flowers were growing out of a large branch!

Durham, NC 3/15/10


Red Maple (male flowers)	Purple Dead-nettle	Speedwell	Rockcress?	Red Maple tree

Carolina Beach State Park, New Hanover County, NC 3/9/10


Winged ant being attacked by a tiny wasp?

Fort Fisher Recreational Area, New Hanover County, NC 3/9/10


Dung beetle (Copris fricator)	Hop Clover (Trifolium genus). This is a composite of maybe twenty typical pea family flowers.	A group of hop clover plants. These plants were ubiquitous in grass.	Maybe a Common Vetch


Rock Slater (Ligia genus), a kind of crustacean. This one had wandered just off the sand.	Common Dandelion. You can see the reproductive parts of the many individual flowers.	Henbit

Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC 3/9/10


Ground Beetle (Gnaphosa genus). The presence of wings is a mystery, maybe the remains of prey.	Purple Dead-nettle

Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham, NC 3/6/10


Little Periwinkle (Vinca minor), in the process of unfolding	Spring Beauty	Trout Lily (leaf only)


Buckeye leaf buds	Shield-backed katydid nymph

Durham, NC 3/6/10


Henbit	Ground spider (Gnaphosa genus)	Red Maple (Acer rubrum) male flowers, fallen out of a tree

Durham, NC 3/1/10


Rockcress, probably Arabis genus	Common Chickweed