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mistressofmuses) wrote2022-05-11 10:28 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-05-11 10:28 pm
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May 09: Hudson Gardens (Part 2: Animals)
Part two of my photos from Hudson Gardens on Monday: the animals! We did see lots of birds - ducks, geese, very loud redwinged-blackbirds, robins, finches, swallows, heard a bluejay... but none of my pictures of them turned out terribly interesting.
So we've got bees, turtles, fish, and a frog!
A very big bumblebee on the pansies in the kaleidoscope planter. They visited just about every flower it seemed like. (I wish there was a better measure of scale; they were enormous!)
And the definite star of the day, in my opinion:
A snapping turtle! This is the first snapping turtle I've ever seen in the wild! I had seen that the gardens listed this as a species it was possible to see on the grounds, but we never have. Also pretty darn big - the shell was maybe 14 inches or so from end to end, not counting the head or tail?
One of the first things when you enter the gardens is a fish pond. The waterlilies are just barely starting, but the fish were still out. Not the best picture of them, but up toward the upper right corner is a cute spotty fish that Alex fell in love with.
And I always love seeing happy bees. :)
A wasp, working on her nest. I am trying very hard to get over my resentment toward wasps. I was stung in the eye as a kid, and had a vendetta against waspkind afterwards... but I'm trying to remember that they too are good, helpful pollinators, and that it's silly to hate a particular species, when I really like insects as a whole. And it is neat to watch them work on their nests.
A turtle, sunning on a log in the wetlands area.
The community beehives!
This was definitely the most active of the hives! And I liked that I caught a bee in flight when I took the picture.
Alex was the champion frog-spotter of the day! This was the only frog we saw, and I was very glad he saw it!
Another picture of the snapping turtle. Look at that tail! They were in the Monet garden (reflective waterway that will have a ton of waterlilies later in the year.) Glad we got a chance to see them; once the lilies are full grown, I imagine it would be even harder to spot them!
And last but not least, a very big carp. Probably between one and a half and two feet.
It really was a nice day, and I was glad we went. (But boy is the sunburn miserable. It's starting to just barely blister across my chest and it HURTS.)
So we've got bees, turtles, fish, and a frog!
A very big bumblebee on the pansies in the kaleidoscope planter. They visited just about every flower it seemed like. (I wish there was a better measure of scale; they were enormous!)
And the definite star of the day, in my opinion:
A snapping turtle! This is the first snapping turtle I've ever seen in the wild! I had seen that the gardens listed this as a species it was possible to see on the grounds, but we never have. Also pretty darn big - the shell was maybe 14 inches or so from end to end, not counting the head or tail?
One of the first things when you enter the gardens is a fish pond. The waterlilies are just barely starting, but the fish were still out. Not the best picture of them, but up toward the upper right corner is a cute spotty fish that Alex fell in love with.
And I always love seeing happy bees. :)
A wasp, working on her nest. I am trying very hard to get over my resentment toward wasps. I was stung in the eye as a kid, and had a vendetta against waspkind afterwards... but I'm trying to remember that they too are good, helpful pollinators, and that it's silly to hate a particular species, when I really like insects as a whole. And it is neat to watch them work on their nests.
A turtle, sunning on a log in the wetlands area.
The community beehives!
This was definitely the most active of the hives! And I liked that I caught a bee in flight when I took the picture.
Alex was the champion frog-spotter of the day! This was the only frog we saw, and I was very glad he saw it!
Another picture of the snapping turtle. Look at that tail! They were in the Monet garden (reflective waterway that will have a ton of waterlilies later in the year.) Glad we got a chance to see them; once the lilies are full grown, I imagine it would be even harder to spot them!
And last but not least, a very big carp. Probably between one and a half and two feet.
It really was a nice day, and I was glad we went. (But boy is the sunburn miserable. It's starting to just barely blister across my chest and it HURTS.)