Favoritos de charlie

Help me! I’m not sure what to make of this single tree who I couldn’t get close to. Partly I’m puzzled because this pine grows on the edge of a swampy/fenny little island, and I was using my binoculars from shore. Needles definitely in fascicles and those appear to be in 2’s and twisted and they seem distinctively short, at 1 to at most 2 inches. All cones on the tree are in 2s and 3s a few feet back from the tips, so probably a few years old and pointing forward. There is a pasture history here on the mainland (old barbwire), there are only a handful of scattered invasive plants and the usual hayfield species, but no other pines except white pine found in region. The tree is still small, but the trunks and limbs don’t have the faintest but of red. Pinus banksiana seems pretty unlikely for Vermont, but there can’t seem to come up with anything else. This doesn’t seem to match P. sylvestris well...

This looks like a Jefferson Salamander to me, but I'm not familiar with the Jefferson/Blue-Spotted complex, so perhaps others that are can weigh in on this record. Note the relatively long toes on the rear legs, a characteristic I associate with Jefferson Salamander. Thanks.

shadscale spring parsley, Cymopterus basalticus, Nevada, Snake Range, Black Horse Canyon, Snake Valley drainage, elevation 2090 m (6865 ft).

This odd carrot family member is yet another endemic to the eastern Great Basin of west-central Utah and east-central Nevada.

Uploaded from my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/

Cones were very similar to Pinus washoensis, resembling miniature Jeffrey pine cones, but prickles were definitely outcurved, and foliage was yellowish green. Good Pinus jeffreyi is mixed in the same stand.

This appears to be a small, isolated relict stand of these yellow pines, and may be in the process of winking out, although no obvious mortality or disease was noted.

Is it a pale F. biflora or the rarer F. agrestis? randomtruth has a similar looking flower and a similar dilemma (mine seems pretty brown, though...). This was one of many flowers in a patch, most of which were pretty much done flowering or already gone to seed.

Seen in eastern Greenland, south of Ittoqqortoormiit on remote fjord (Romerfjord) within sight of Greenland Ice Cap. Would REALLY like to have iD of the purple striped flower in the photo. The red, I think, must be mountain sorrel.

Lapeirousia pyramidalis

The photo shows the one lone specimen left after the baboons had decimated a largish field of these delightful plants. In the pre-baboon years, I always knew when these plants were flowering because a wave of fragrance wafted down to the house.

The snake was resting across the trail. After we mutually recognized each other, and I had obtained some pictures, I made some loud noises that convinced the snake to start moving. It crawled under the visible root system of a nearby dying California Live Oak, and gave a vigorous rattle to warn me away.

This male mountain lion - a migrant from South Dakota - was infamously struck 41-miles east of Greenwich, CT. This was the first verifiable documentation of a cougar in Connecticut since the 1890s. The attributed location and time is from where it was struck by a car. There is no breeding population of cougars in New England, though they historically occupied every continental US state. More information on the "Connecticut Mountain Lion" can be found below.

Photos supplied with permission from Connecticut's Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP), Wildlife Division, courtesy of Cyndy Chanaca.
Individual photo credentials: Paul J. Fusco/ CT DEEP-Wildlife

(http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/fish-wildlife-plants/mammals/confirmed-reports-of-mountain-lions-in-massachusetts.html)
(http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?Q=483778)

@bobbyfingers, this is one you might appreciate: I made a terrible first impression on this lady by opening my front door two inches and smacking her in the head with it. Presumably, this is a female looking to make a scrape to lay eggs and not a door-to-door saleswoman selling armor. Unfortunately, she chose the tumbling escape route off the side of the front deck and not the stairs I assume she came up in the first place. She then took a second tumble from the bed she landed in down to the paved path below her. She showed no signs of damage and seemed unfazed by what looked like a serious tumble. We were both a bit in shock but thankfully, we both left the scene with digits intact. I'm very interested to hear if anyone else has had such an experience? I've had plenty of garden encounters but not a snapper climbing 5 steps and trying to dig into the front door. Very cool.