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Beardy Guy Musings

Living and working in a tiny house the woods. I freelance as Beardy Guy Creative where I design and create websites, newsletters, annual reports and and all manner of graphics and documents. I experiment with ways to live a low impact life and write about the climate emergency, Apple and the iPad. Lately I've also been posting often about Israel's genocide against the Palestinians. Living on the traditional territory of: - O-ga-xpa Ma-zhoⁿ (O-ga-xpa) (Quapaw) - Očhéthi Šakówiŋ - Kaskaskia - Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo)

Critter

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    I opened photos to look for a photo and ended up at some older images.

    A tiny house in the woods in the evening. Several lanterns light the porch and a flower garden in front of the cabin. My cabin in the evening.

    A Beardy guy with glasses looking at a small deer as he reaches out with both hands, scratching the deer's cheeks and neck Giving Petunia a neck scratch.

    A sunset lights the clouds over a lake A sunset over the lake.

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    A perfect afternoon visiting the bees as they collected pollen from a flowering plum tree.

    A honeybee collecting pollen from a white flower. in the background a branch of blurred flowers is on the right side of the image and a bright blue sky behind the bee and flower.
    A honeybee is collecting pollen from white plum flowers.
    A honeybee is collecting pollen from white plum flowers. A bright blue sky is visible in the background.

    #nature #bees #spring #flowers

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    A variety of bees, flys and butterflies were busy pollinating the plum trees today - the western honey bees especially!

    A closeup of two honeybees, one is flying above white flowers, the other is resting on a flower as it collects pollen
    A honey bee gathering pollen from white flowers set against a blue sky
    A macro image of a furry honeybee collecting pollen from white flowers
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    Trying to sleep with two dogs and a cat. Last night was particularly fun. At 3:30 Cosmo (dog on left) decided to move closer. Annie in middle on her back. Cosmo's plan was to use Annie as a pillow. I was trying to take photos without waking.

    Two black dogs and a person trying to sleep

    Annie is now a pillow Two dogs nestled closely to a human trying to sleep

    Rosie on top of my arm. a brown cat sleeping on a human's arm

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    While out on a trail walk yesterday, I saw something small and white moving around in the leaves and met this cute, furry moth, Artace cribrarius, the dot-lined white.

    a furry white moth is perched on a brown leaf set against a blurred forest background. The image is taken from the side.

    a furry white moth set against a blurred background of brown leaves. The moth has faint, delicate black specs on its wings.

    a furry white moth is perched on a leaf. Is taken from the underside, showing its belly and its legs holding onto the stem of a leaf. The background is a blurred forest.

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    My three furry friends hanging out on the porch today.

    Two black dogs and a brown cat lay on beige colored carpeting on a porch. The dog closest to the photographer is looking at the camera
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    From my morning walk a couple days ago. Such sweet pups.

    A black haired dog on a walk in the woods in the fall. The dog is sitting and looking side-eye at the photographer. The foliage and morning sun give the photo a golden tint.
    Side-eye!
    A black haired dog on a walk in the woods in the fall. The dog is sitting and looking away from the camera. The foliage and morning sun give the photo a golden tint.
    Two black haired dogs on a walk in the woods in the fall. The foliage and morning sun give the photo a golden tint.
    Cosmo on the left, Annie on the right.
    A black haired dog on a walk in the woods in the fall. The foliage and morning sun give the photo a golden tint.
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    Copperheads are fairly common in my area and I see several each summer. They're beautiful snakes. Venomous, yes, but in my experience never aggressive. Just respect them and let them have their space, they make fine neighbors. And frankly, they're beautiful animals.

    The tail of a copper colored snake is visible while the rest of the snake is hidden under a silver metal trash can
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    Oh, this cute boy wants attention.

    An adorable black dog with beige jaws and prominent eyebrows his his nose rested on a keyboard attached to an iPad. The screen of the iPad is behind the dog's head. On the screen is a wallpaper of the Earth and several widgets.

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    Futzing around in my photos, these were taken a few years back.

    Panorpa helena, scorpion fly.

    A winged insect is perched on a leaf. It's long with clear wings with several black bands. Its body is primarily orange and it has an elongated snout, black eyes. It almost seems friendly.

    Unknown bee on Spiderwort

    A small bee gathering pollen from the bright yellow anthers of a vibrant purple Spiderwort flower.

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    A short video from the morning dog walk.

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    Button bush, Cephalanthus occidentalis is always popular with the butterflies and bees. They have a very nice spicy fragrance too.

    Pipevine Swallowtail

    A predominately black butterfly with orange spots along its wings is perched on a cream colored ball that is covered with delicate white stems, each topped with yellow.

    Milesia virginiensis, known generally as the yellowjacket hover fly. They look intimidating but are friendly.

    A large intimidating looking hoverfly is striped alternately in black and yellow giving it the appearance of a stinging yellow jacket. The fly is perched on a cream colored ball that is covered with delicate white stems, each topped with yellow.

    Eastern tiger swallowtail

    A predominately yellow butterfly black wing borders. The bottom wings also have orange spots within the black borders. It is perched on a cream colored ball that is covered with delicate white stems, each topped with yellow.
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    From my archive, a buffet of Purple Coneflowers being enjoyed by pipevine swallowtail, Battus philenor and monarch butterfly. Native wildflower gardens always bring the prettiest critters. 🥰

    A black butterfly with white and orange spots along the edge of its wings rests upon a purple coneflower gathering nectar. Other purple coneflowers surround it and woods are visible in the background

    A monarch butterfly with its predominately orange and black wings rests upon a purple coneflower gathering nectar. Other purple coneflowers surround it

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    Highlight of the morning dog walk: a Kentucky warbler landed in a branch just above me. Chat, chat, chat, chat. It went on quite awhile and I was able to watch as it hopped from branch to branch. Such a beautiful bird!

    Come fall and winter the Kentucky warbler will migrate back to the Yucatán Peninsula and the many islands of the Caribbean, flying non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico.

    Also notable, a yellow breasted chat calling in the distance. My current favorite bird to listen to. Such an interesting song! 

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    A few recent photos taken around the cabin and on the trail.

    Camonotus castaneus, chestnut carpenter ant

    A semi translucent orange ant, perched on a green bulb flower bud

    Arilus cristatus, Wheel Bug Nymph. This one was tiny and moving quickly hard to capture up close.

    a very tiny assassin bug with an orange abdomen, black legs, and black head

    Ramaria caulifloriformis, coral fungi

    a cream colored coral fungi, which resembles coral found in the ocean, some think it resembles cauliflower hence the name
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    My walk this morning was another slow bird walk. Started off 300 ft from the cabin with the beautiful and distinctive call of the yellow-billed cuckoo.

    From there many of the usual characters chimed in. A wood thrush and ovenbird at the beginning. Not long after a bird song I didn’t recognize, a yellow-breasted chat. Very pretty song. And not long after I caught sight of one and was able to watch for a couple minutes.

    Birds observed with binoculars: bald eagle, yellow breasted chat, white-eyed vireo, a thrush, likely a Wood thrush (my best guess, no sound ID to confirm) or maybe an ovenbird.

    Songs heard: Yellow-billed cuckoo, northern parula, chipping sparrow, yellow breasted chat, white-eyed vireo, wood thrush, ovenbird

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    After breakfast this morning I had about 90 minutes before the rain was scheduled to come in so I got out for a walk with the dogs.

    There was a lot of bird song so I took the binoculars and went slow. They were deep in the woods, so I didn't see many but they were all around me: blue-winged warbler, Wilson's warbler, white-eyed vireo, red-eyed vireo, summer tanager, ovenbird, Carolina chickadee.

    Birds that I did get to see were: indigo bunting, chipping sparrow and a gray catbird

    Got back just in time to take a quick ride down to the creek. A peaceful twenty minutes before the storm listening to the birds and the light rain dripping through the forest.

    A few hours later an unexpected visit from a friend who I've not seen in awhile (Hi Bill!). We spent some time catching up on the porch and listening to the bird song. He has an uncanny ability to identify birds by their song and it's always a delight to visit with him. While we chatted another welcome visitor stopped by, a bright red summer tanager landed on a branch not too far away.

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    A few photos taken around the cabin yesterday. It's so easy to miss the beautiful but tiny critters.

    Camonotus castaneus, chestnut carpenter ant

    An orange ant is on top of a green bulb of an unopened flower. The ant is facing the camera, aiming towards the left bottom corner

    Augochlora pura, a solitary sweat bee found in the Eastern US. A small green bee is collecting pollen from a small white and pink aster with a yellow center

    Halictus ligatus, a eusocial sweat bee A small black bee with yellow striped abdomen is collecting pollen from a white aster with a yellow center

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    I was out is the garden yesterday and heard a bird that I didn’t recognize. I opened up the Merlin ID app and got the name. Then I spent a few minutes listening. Heard it just now outside my window and smiled: Good morning White-eyed Vireo. I love learning about this amazing planet.

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    Spring birds!

    Chipping Sparrow
    A small bird perched in a branch. It's back and wings are a mix of brown, black and tan. It's chest is a grayish white and the top of it's head is a dark orange brown

    Hermit Thrush A bird is on the ground. It's mostly brownish tan on the head and wings. It's front chest is white with brownish tan spots

    Rose breasted Grosbeak A bird perched in a tree. The bird is somewhat front facing, to the left side. It's chest is white with a bright patch of red in the center up to the neck. It's head and back are mostly black.

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