Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Daily Pics #169.
Good morning everyone! Well, this is easily our warmest morning so far, with a temp of 23C (73F), however the humidity makes it feel even warmer. So nice. Today it should get to 90F (32C), which would make this our warmest day if it happens. My kind of weather. However, tomorrow we return to reality once again with much cooler temps. Really they are normal temps ranging from 68 to 73F (20-23C). Bird activity was a bit different this morning. Only 2 gulls showed up and none were my main gulls, and only 2 crows showed up and they were late. But the blue jays were here on time, the grackles showed up a bit later. I’m still trying to get a good pic of that purple headed grackle. I have some nice ones of the blue headed variety, but I need to add that purple one to my collection.
He comes around a lot and is getting tamer, but something always happens when I finally get focused on him. It isn’t easy focusing my camera ever since I accidentally smacked it on a rock. So it is making it a bit more challenging taking pics at times. And birds don’t hang around longer than necessary, so I have to work fast to get their picture. And fast is not part of the equation right now. Sigh. Next cup of coffee. That phoebe is singing out of reach again. The song sparrow has joined him. The robin has been singing since before I got up this morning and so has the red-eyed vireo and a solitary vireo. The chestnut-sided warbler is with them this morning singing his happy song. The hermit thrush is singing his beautiful flute like song as well. I love to listen to the different thrush songs. Now for some pics…
This first one in the above pic is a beautiful daylily, a smaller variety and the first to bloom usually. My landlord has a lot of these around. They produce a lot of flowers but they have a short blooming period, unlike the larger daylilies.
Then in the above pic is another garden flower of some kind, I don’t know what however. They are a bit overwhelmed by the jungle of grass and raspberry bushes out back here this year. But they are quite large and beautiful, just can’t see them too easily. And the very top featured image is a geranium flower opening. Don’t forget our coffee post a little later and another chapter in our mystery story is also coming up. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Little Things.
Hi everyone and welcome to something a little different! Each week we will look at something from nature that can be a little fun, or perhaps a little weird, or maybe a little painful. I hope you will enjoy this summer series. Before I forget, today is normally our coffee series day, but it just didn’t work out for today so it will be here tomorrow instead as will our continuing mystery story. Now back to little things. Today we look at some little creatures that most people would agree are pests and it would be nice not to have them. Mosquitoes.
Here in Ontario we have 67 confirmed varieties of mosquitoes including one called a “galleynipper” that is 20 times the size of a normal mosquito and apparently they have a huge bite that is quite painful. We don’t have them this far north however, which is kind of nice. For many varieties there whole life cycle from egg to adult can take less than 10 days. Even though we consider these creatures pests, they do play an important role in nature. Many things eat a lot of mosquitoes every day, including bats and many different birds. I encounter quite a few mosquitoes along the path to the river, although oddly, their numbers are getting less even though there is a lot of water around. I’m not complaining about that however.
As you can see in the pic above, some days the mosquitoes are quite plentiful. There is only 4 on my hand in this picture, one at the top can’t be seen too well. But some days the number has topped 12 on my hand, but my record for both hands and arms sits at 42, all biting at the same time. Plus there was more on my face and neck which I couldn’t really see so did not include in the count.
Only the female bites, males cannot. The female needs the blood for her eggs. But both sexes feed mostly on nectar from flowers or other sugar sources. Here in Canada there are two diseases that can be acquired from mosquitoes, the West Nile virus as well as encephalitis. And of course for most people there is that nasty little lump that can become annoyingly itchy. Mosquitoes don’t bother me in that way, no lump or itchiness or anything else. But they still can be a bit annoying, especially when trying to sleep and all you hear is that buzzzzzzzzzing sound!
Well, that’s it for this one, please come back next time when we will look at something perhaps a little weird. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2020 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 