Poison Ivy Identification #2

I've noticed an up-tick in the number of people visiting my post, Poison Ivy Identification. Written in the month of May, it provides descriptions and photos to help readers identify poison ivy. (Please hop over and read it to learn more). Now that we're into the month of October, that poison ivy looks very different, so I thought fresh photos might help you learn to identify it in the fall.

What follows is a collection of photos I took on October 11th.

Here's a typical example of Poison Ivy growing along the ground.

As it climbs a tree it may look like this:

Or this. Note that in this case, it climbed more than 20 feet in the air. All of the bright leaves you see are poison ivy.

Here's a close-up of the leaves:

And here are the berries. Yes, berries.  (Do not touch them either!) 

And here's what the vines look like when climbing the trees. Those little hairy bits help me identify it in the winter when there are no leaves. When I was a kid, I learned the hard way...you can get poison ivy in the winter from touching the vines.

If you live where poison ivy grows, learning to identify it is an important skill. Some people are lucky not to "catch" it but most of us are not so lucky. The rash is, at best, an annoyance, and at worst dangerous enough to warrant being put on steroids by a doctor. It's best to learn to avoid it altogether.

Do you have any tips for identifying/ avoiding poison ivy? Are there other plants you need to avoid where you live?

Related posts:

Poison Ivy Identification

Mystery Rash

Lyme Disease Prevention

Wordless Wednesday: Fireworks in St. Louis

Photo taken 6 July 2013

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Cactus

My husband's Nana died more than ten years ago but her cactus still blooms for us (albeit, a little off season).

Photo taken 15 May 2013

Wordless Wednesday: American Woodcock

I can't go entirely wordless today- I want to give a little background. Every night at about 7:30 for the past couple of weeks, we've been hearing an interesting bird in our yard. It comes and lands just alongside our driveway and starts making an intermittent beeping sound. Since it comes at "late dusk" and stays until dark, seeing it camouflaged among the grass and leaves in the shadow of a tree is almost impossible.

On Sunday, using the amazing online resource, "The Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Birds," I thought I had identified it as a nighthawk by it's sound. But then, on Monday, I managed to get this photo and learned it's real identity: an American Woodcock.

Photo taken 1 April 2013

I know the photo isn't great- I had a hard time in the dim light. I set my camera on a slow shutter speed, pointed where I thought the bird was sitting and shot. I only took three photos before the light was too dim to focus any more.

Wordless Wednesday: Great Horned Owlets

Look how big they've gotten!

All Photos by Joe Moss, 19 March 2012

Related Posts:
Nature Walks in the City

Nature Walks in the City, Cont'd

Wordless Wednesday: Capitol Building

Photo taken 21 January 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Thanksgiving

Wordless Wednesday: Spotted Salamander

Photos taken 18 June 2012

You might Also Like:
Big Night for Salamanders

Wordless Wednesday: Salina, Italy

Photo taken 23 June 2012

Related Posts:
Photo Montage: Western Sicily
WW: Caper Flowers

Wordless Wednesday: Salamander

Photo taken 30 October 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Leaf on Rock

You might also like:
Fall Leaves- This post suggests fall leaf crafts you can do with kids, including a modern twist on an old placemat activity.

Wordless Wednesday: Lost River Gorge

Photos taken 8 October 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Driftwood on Black Brook

Photo taken 17 September 2012

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: Protective Eyewear

Does chopping onions bother your eyes? No problem!

Wordless Wednesday: Car in Rome

Photo taken 8 July 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Zinnia

Photo taken 25 August 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Dragonfly Caught in Spiderweb

Photos taken 22 July 2012

If you like these photos, check out Rebecca in the Woods' post from Monday. She has a fantastic still photo and video of a spider wrapping up a nice dragonfly burrito!

Attracting Monarchs (and Other Butterflies)

Many years ago, my husband and I tried to grow a wildflower meadow in our backyard. We wanted to limit the amount of lawn we needed to mow and attract more wildlife, especially butterflies. 

Unfortunately, we weren't very successful. So, when a few milkweed plants appeared in my front flower beds several years ago (maybe 5, now?), I let them grow. Each summer, my kids and I would check for monarchs but found no evidence. Each year, more plants would creep into my garden and I'd leave them. Then we'd go back watching for monarchs. Nothing. We had a large mass of milkweed but no monarchs.

Until this year, that is. They seem to have appeared suddenly- multiple butterflies flitting and dancing together.   

Sipping nectar from butterfly weed, purple cone flower,

 and other flowers.

Landing on the milkweed (laying eggs?). 

Photos taken 22 July 2012

My family is so excited. Now we'll look for eggs (they're really hard to see) and wait to see if any caterpillars emerge. No matter what happens, we enjoyed spending time watching them flit about on Sunday afternoon.

The lesson I learned is that you need patience when building a butterfly garden But "if you build it, they will come"... eventually. (I already knew this, of course, but it's hard to be patient sometimes, isn't it?).

If you want to start a butterfly garden, start small. Go to your local nursery to learn which plants are native to your area and plant one or two. You can add others over time to attract more and more butterflies.

ADDED LATER: Mass Audubon has a great post called "Don't Weed the Milkweed." I highly recommend you read it to learn more.

Have you planted a butterfly garden? Was it successful? What species of butterflies have you attracted?


Related Posts:
Life from Milkweed

Wordless Wednesday: Palermo, Sicilia

Photos taken 22 June 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Ladybug

Photos taken 10 June 2012