Nature Notes: Moving into summer

It's beginning to feel like summer with the heat and humidity moving in.

I don't mind so much as long as it continues cooling off at night.

The bees are very busy and focused fully on the butterfly weed.

I've been photographing the bees more than the birds in recent days.

They ignore me while feeding and I can get very close.

I find the squirrels very amusing.

I know some people think squirrels are pests but I like them.

They are so inquisitive and agile.

The gardenias are beginning to flower and spread their fragrance widely.

The American Robins are hunting for insects and worms.

I see them year round but they are mostly in the trees during winter here. In spring and summer they hunt on the ground.

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Today's Flowers: Blooms in downtown Raleigh, NC

The hydrangeas around the Capitol in downtown Raleigh, NC are blooming well.

Last weekend there were some extra blooms downtown as part of artsplosure.

 Local landscapers put out displays of flowers around the sculptures.

It must have been a lot of work for a weekend festival.

As a lover of flowers it was a bonus to see all the blooms.

Back at capitol square the permanent landscape is also looking beautiful with amaryllis blooming.

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Photohunters: Creative and Famous Places

 CREATIVE

 FAMOUS PLACES

In combining the two photohunters themes (creative and famous places) this week, I went to my photo archives for shots I took in Greenwich Village which is a famous and creative Manhattan neighborhood.

I've used many of these shots before but they seemed particularly good for both themes.

I was in Washington Square Park (a historic Greenwich Village Park) when I took these shots, and this park has hosted many creative artist performances through the years.

The park was being renovated so it was fairly empty when I was there.

The buildings below are part of the NYU campus and that is certainly a campus with a lot of creative artists. Martin Scorsese directed a number of short films while he was a student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He has also taught there (to drop one famous creative name).

Click here for Gattina's Famous Places and/or click here for Sandy's Creative photohunt.

Nature Notes: Green Square and my green yard and birds

This week before I do my regular nature notes on what's going on in my yard, I'm going to begin in downtown Raleigh, NC with our new Green Square.

The green rectangle above is in the courtyard outside the new Nature Research Center and I'm not sure of its purpose as there isn't a sign yet.

The green roof above is pretty self explanatory. To explain about Green Square it's a "two-block multi-use sustainable development project" in downtown Raleigh where the NC State environmental offices are being built. Green Square also includes the new Nature Research Center as well as the NC Museum of  Natural Science which has been there for a long time.

The Green Square Complex will enable the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences to promote stewardship by example to the general public, while providing experiential learning opportunities focused on the current scientific research and environmental issues affecting our daily lives.

The model below in the Nature Research Center shows how rainwater collection and design features for water run-off are part of the new buildings.

I noticed there were a lot of charging units for people with electric cars around Green Square.

 The rest of the post will be my regular nature diary style nature notes.

The bee above looked drowned on the butterfly plant and I never saw it move.

The female house finch blends into my deck floor.

Although I only caught two bees in the next shot, after I zoomed in, their were hundreds of them on the ampelopsis (porcelain vine).

It's a good thing I like Queen Anne's Lace because it springs up all over my yard.

My perennial grasses are starting to form their plumes.

The bee below was feasting on the butterfly weed.

   

My hydrangeas are very early blooming this year.

Below is what I call my parent hydrangea.

The next shot is of its offspring that I moved to another part of my yard, quite a few years ago, and it is rivaling the parent. 

Next another shot of the house finch which hang out on my deck. The house finch shots this week or all females. The colorful males were camera shy this week.

The male cardinal was shaking off water from his bath below.

The next shots are of the male rufous-sided towhee.

Their eyes are very intense.

The American Robins are enjoying the spring weather.

I think the mourning dove looks very stoical.

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Today's Flowers: Hydrangeas

Before long my hydrangea blossoms will be all blue.

They are getting more color every day.

I enjoy them the most at this stage because each blossom on the bush is different.

I think the one below looks like blueberries and cream.

I had trouble deciding which shots I liked the most so I'm using a bunch of different ones from my 2 hydrangea bushes.

I divided one bush a long time ago and transplanted its baby in another part of my yard.

They are parent and child but the child bush is almost as big as the parent one now.

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