Saturday, December 28, 2019

Assateague Island

Sunset

Sunset


Sunrise


Bayside


Cool little oak tree on Dunes Trail

Bayside


Kingfisher



I did some solo camping on Assateague Island yesterday, in what is becoming an annual winter trip. Never again will I go there in the summer and battle the crowds and ticks. Starting to sound like an old curmudgeon, but its true. It was so much more peaceful. I had the entire first loop to myself, and there were only a couple of other campers in the second loop. Temperatures were mild, reaching the 50's during the day. Night time was cold and damp. This was the first time I didn't see any wild ponies on the island either, there were MIA, foraging somewhere hidden.

After sleeping pretty good the night before, I spent the next day hiking a couple of the trails on the island. I saw more birds this year than last...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Fall Color







Fall leaves are peaking around Maryland's Piedmont region right now. Shadows are longer, temperatures are dipping and the first frost has arrived. Thankfully, rain has returned on occasion, and hopefully will continue to fall from time to time.

I still haven't been hiking much lately but want to make it a goal to get at least thirty minutes in before work each day, now that standard time has arrived. Once the leaves fall, I'd like to try and get more pictures of the local raptors, and measure the heights of a few trees at a nearby park. Time just marches on, and it unsettles me at times, especially now that I'm trying to stay put in one place. The need to hike more feels more necessary than ever right now, as it is so easy to just vegetate...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Variegation in Plants






























Now that summer is over, I want to share some pictures of some of the variegated plants I found this year. It's been a slow, but exciting discovery process, realizing the potential of what exists out there. At first, I thought finding a variegated plant in the wild was as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. I wasn't sure what plants were even capable of variegation. Casually observing the plant world the last few years, I was lucky to find one or two examples a year. This year, my eyes were opened and the lid blew off the top as I'm starting to believe that if it's green, there's a good chance it variegates somewhere. Usually I can find at least one example of variegation on a hike if I'm looking hard enough. Now the journey begins to find as many examples of variegation in as many different types of plants and trees that I can find. Unfortunately, the prime time window of discovery is probably about three months long, when the forest is mostly green. Once the plant world starts changing colors, finding variegation becomes much harder.

As you can see in the photos, variegation expresses itself in different ways, some more beautiful than others. The split white/green leaf is one of my favorite. Here's looking forward to next spring when the hunt continues...