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Black Trumpets
The black trumpet, Craterellus fallax, an amazing mushroom. Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, provides the backdrop. The mushroom numbers and diversity up here right now are astonishing! Hiawatha...
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Fall colors along glacial lake
As always, click the photo to enlargeMaples in various hues and the ghostly trunks of white birch punctuate a background of white pine. Fall color is starting to come on strong in the north country....
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Sunrise over our greatest Great Lake
Sunrise over Lake Superior and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Munising, Michigan, this morning.
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Fall foliage along the Dead River
Colorful fall foliage along the Dead River, just west of Marquette, this morning. Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Today was the first full day of our Upper Peninsula photo tour, and we shot a diversity of...
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Old birch log with maple leaf
Red maple leaf, on old white birch log. Hiawatha National Forest, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, today.
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Harrier, snipe, and sparrow
Time to throw the birds back in Ohio Birds and Biodiversity! I needed some solo bird therapy this morning, having had precious little time to observe and photograph the feathered crowd this fall. So it...
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Fishes of Ohio talk, next Tuesday evening, 10/22
If you like natural history, and especially fish, you'll like this talk. Dan Rice is always an interesting, humorous, and informative speaker, and he's the principal author of the recently released A...
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Nature: Golden fly a beauty, not some biting pest
An Atylotus bicolor fly, dubbed a "golden velveteen fly" after a recent sighting by explorers at Mentor Marsh near Cleveland/Jim McCormacColumbus DispatchOctober 20, 2019NATUREJim McCormacSay the word...
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Fall colors
Nice to finally see some vibrant fall foliage in Central Ohio. Tree reflections in Lake Ramona, Clear Creek Metro Park, Fairfield County, Ohio, this morning.Hydrological abstraction: Sycamore trunks...
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A sparrow safari to Dutch Fork Wetlands, Dawes Arboretum
A wonderful mixed-emergent marsh restoration, known as the Dutch Fork Wetlands. It's part of Dawes Arboretum, a sprawling 2,000-acre palette of wildly diverse flora. Part of the arboretum is formal...
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Autumnal tree tunnel
As always, click the image to enlargeAutumnal tree tunnel, reflected in the mirrored waters of Clear Creek. Hocking County, Ohio, October 23, 2019.
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Meet the jewel mudbug
Meet the jewel mudbug, Lacunicambarus dalyae, the most recently described North American crayfish species. Astacologist Mael Glon allowed me to visit his offices at OSU yesterday to see one of these...
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Balanced Rock
This is "Balanced Rock", an interesting sandstone structure in Hocking State Forest. Softer rock comprising the lower portion of the pillar has eroded more rapidly than the cap at the top, creating...
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Eastern Hemlock roots
The tentacular roots of an eastern hemlock tree, Tsuga canadensis, clutch a sandstone boulder at Old Man's Cave. Hemlocks do well on thin soil over rocky substrates, and over long time spans...
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Nature: 'Logan Oak' stands tall after five centuries
The enormous "Logan Oak" in Old Logan Cemetery in southern Ohio/Jim McCormacColumbus DispatchNovember 3, 2019NATUREJim McCormacOn Sept. 28, I finally corrected an enormous arboreal oversight by...
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Two rare (for Ohio) birds
As always, click the photos to enlargeA gorgeous first-year (I believe) female vermilion flycatcher hawks insects from a branch low over a marsh. While common nesters in parts of the southwest U.S. -...
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A plethora of pipits
A perfect storm of snow, followed by some rain and sleet, followed by a major temperature plunge, left much of Ohio enshrouded in an icy wonderland. Yesterday brought our first really cold weather, and...
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Nature: Rare sightings still bring a thrill for veteran birder
A vermilion flycatcher spotted in Wayne County/Jim McCormacColumbus DispatchNovember 17, 2019NATUREJim McCormacThe allure of birds drew me in as a tot. By the age of 6, I was glued to the windows of...
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Red-shouldered hawk in LOW light
Corning Lake in the Holden Arboretum, on a chilly, foggy morning.I visited the amazing Holden Arboretum yesterday for a meeting, and of course threw some photography gear in the car. The 3,600+ acres...
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Glaucous Gull, a sure harbinger of winter
A mammoth glaucous gull yelps its commanding presence to the masses. It's headed into a fray of hundreds of ring-billed gulls and some herring gulls following our boat. Only the great black-backed gull...
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