Nature Diary
Notes from the field, essays, and observations.
Tulips
For a few days in the spring, I have a beautiful color combination in my garden: red tulips and azalea:
It’s hard to resist. I have the wait for soft early evening light to get the right look.
Celandine
A homely buttercup that forms carpets of blooms. This one was coming up in a bed of wild onion, with other buttercups in the background:
Drop on a petal
A rain drop on a petal of a flowering magnolia x soulangiana:
Not as close as the last post – around 2x magnification.
Inside a dandelion
A high magnification view of the stamens of a dandelion:
I love the way magnification transforms ordinary things – a dandelion turns into a strange forest. And you can count the pollen grains.
Crocuses
It’s still too early for spring wildflowers like bloodroot – but the crocuses are up:
Willow anther
Back to rosegold willow catkins – here’s a high magnification image of a single anther that’s just about to burst with yellow pollen. In the background are anthers already yellow:
This is a crop of frame taken at around 5x with the MP-E65 lens. This is what the red things in the previous image look like as they begin to turn gold…
Spring cascade
From the Cascade Trail ravine in the Mt Tamalpais area, Marin County, California:
I’ve been in this spot before, but the amount of flow is always different, and there is always something different about the light.This visit was in the afternoon. The ravine was in shadow – very calm. I wish you could hear the sound of the water…
Rosegold willow blossoming
Here’s what the catkin looks like as it begins to flower:
The anthers are briefly red, when they open and expose pollen they torn yellow (gold). Of the left side you can see a hint of color, some other anthers about to burst out of the fur.
Rosegold willow
A group of pussy willow catkins from a Rosegold willow:
It looks serene and still, but it was a windy day, and the branch jumped this way and that, exhausting my patience.
From a garden
A closeup of a little flower in my mother’s garden in California, blooming in early February. Winter is a green season in Marin County, by summer the hills are brown. I’m always amazed at all the flowers blooming in winter months there.
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