Nature Finds Again

I have the habit of composing my blog posts early morning Monday, fast and quick because i am just sneaking for sometime before i start my normal work. I first look at my latest pictures during that weekend and choose the nature or macro photos from there. I always have bias for either hoyas or butterflies, because they are the ones i have the addiction for. Today i am posting on Sunday night because i did not go home this weekend. The culprit is the very hot surroundings yesterday morning when i am about to go home to the province. The result is that i do not have fresh weekend photos, i did not see nor take any butterfly shots, and the hoyas are both untended and not photographed.

But never mind, i always have lots of photos from recent files. Hmmm i wish to find some shots for Nature Notes. When i am looking for butterflies my attention is always for them, but when only a few of them show up i have attention too for other entities including spiders. However, i seldom know their names.

 a common jumping spider, Salticidae species

A lichen spider guarding its egg sac, it is supposed to be outside with the lichens but probably gallivanting and was trapped inside the bathroom. So it just stayed there with its egg sac. It has been there for two weeks.  Pandercetes sp. (Sparassidae)

A spitting spider (Scytodea sp.) carrying an egg sac . I don't know if they get prey even while guarding their eggs. If only i have time to spare, i will watch them spitting on their prey.

 a colorful Opadometa species

This is a very common resident of my hoya flowers, a crab spider. Very seldom will a hoya umbel  be without it. They are hiding there to ambush bees and butterflies that visit the flowers.

 My first time to see this one, i think unique for a spider

 Nephila sp.

Neoscona theisi

The owner of this web is very small hiding at the back of the central  object, pretending they are big.

I still have lots of spider photos, but i can't seem to see most of them when there's the need. I am posting these to the Arachnophiles Group in FB to know their names. When ready i will put them here. Thanks much!

Nature Notes

Macro Monday 2
Our World Tuesday

A Red Hanging Cactus

I am not so fund of growing cactus, just like what is a seemingly craze now here in our area! That doesn't mean i don't like them. Of course i appreciate them and in garden shows i spend time taking their pictures and scrutinizing them intently. However,  in my small unit in the big city where i only have a few plants outside my 5th Floor Window plus a few inside a rach utilizing the glass window for light, the plants suffer. Suffering is either from neglect when i am on travels for a few days, or from too much pampering when i am here and can't seem to have enough plants to tend. I inadvertently water them more often than is required, so most often they die. Please don't blame me, i can't just seem to remember they hate too much water!!!

I already killed a few round cactus and one stapeliad which is already a foot long. So this red Rseudorhipsalis ramulosa, i transfered to our garden in the province where most of my plants are. I planted it on a very small pot and hang it outside the walls of my hoya garden. It receives direct afternoon sun and sometimes forgotten to be watered. 

Pseudorhipsalis ramulosa (syn. Disocactus ramulosus) 

That flower is less than a centimeter in diameter. So special it is, i thought! I noticed that it has been flowering and fruiting last dry season, and the leaves are fully red that makes it more attractive. 

 The plant only have a few leaves because its growth is very much restricted by the very less soil it is planted in. Moreover, neglect did not give it much energy to grow. It matured fast because of those conditions and already gone to the reproductive stage, maybe in anticipation of protecting the species!

Look at those fruits at different stages of maturity, they are really cute. True to the characteristics of the leaf cactus, it has flowered and fruited at every notch on the leaves. Amazing survival characteristics that sometimes make some of their relatives very invasive. 

I will try transferring a few leaves in a bigger pot to produce a bigger plant. I have seen bigger hanging plants in the net, which are really looking great, especially with the flowers blooming simultaneously or with those fruits at greenish tinge.

I promise i will not be watering them too much to avoid deaths. They are too colorful to experience the death sentence!

Macro Monday 2
Nature Notes
Our World Tuesday
Floral Friday Fotos

Hardy Blooms in April 2018

The weather this year is not actually chaotic, but very misleading! Imagine, we feel that we are already at the height of the Dry Season in March because the Heat Index reaches 38°C and yet the official Dry Season announcement was only on April 10. It is very funny, because after the announcement it suddenly rained at noon, with concomittant thunders and lightning. It is incredible, and we made fun of the weather. The pronouncement was delayed because there still are Easterlies making the mornings still colder. When the air from the North East gets so hot, then that is what the Weather Bureau is waiting. But the truth is, the change to colder days are very very welcome!

Actually, for the last past 2 weeks there are intermittent drizzles! I am really puzzled by this, as it never happened in the past except last year. Probably, the ultimate culprit everyone always mention is indeed the reason, Climate Change. It is a very famous phenomenon on Earth! Whew! And i personally experience the changes in my own personal environment.

The saddest immediate response i envision is the also intermittent flowering of my hippeastrum. It happened last year when the small drizzles were enough to teminate the dormancy of the bulbs, sending some to blooming. The outcome is not my expected simultaneous hedge blooms i am visualizing and waiting for the whole year! OMG, it could be a repeat of last year, i am so frustrated. I feel great yet i feel sad, two competing emotions for two different reasons. Happiness is a choice so i am still happy.

 the ever gregarious bougainvillea that is happy with heat, welcoming everyone at our gate

 in the family of justicia or shrimp plant, though am not sure of exact ID

 Ixora javanica, a tree ixora, a new plant we got from the tree that was uprooted

 to give way for the garage. It is happy also with the heat.

 the real flowers of bougainvillea with satin-like petals

the 4 o-clock plant, Mirabilis jalapa

 close-up of Mirabilis jalapa

 Portulaca oleraceae, ornamental for us, but salad vegies and medicinal for others

forgot its name, Genus ? australis 

Turnera ulmifolia and Turnera subulata, which both blooms only until noon, favorite of some bees especially the stingless bees.

  

 My ever reliable and self-supporting purple Vanda, towering against the blue sky. At right is "kasupanggil" or Clerodendrum intermidium, food of butterflies

 Celosia argentea 'Cristata' or C. cristata, with their wavy tops, i just realized i also a nectar plant for some butterflies. From now on i will always plant it just to pacify them.

 The sweet scented Sansevieria trifasciata, whose inflorescense opens at early evening sending us their delightful aroma.

The most responsive among my collection of hippeastrum. My hedges are orange but the different color collections are in pots, just like this one. I have already asked around FB and groups the ID of this, but somehow the exact one is still coming. There still are 6 spikes already coming out last week, which i might not see the bloom because i am not going home this weekend. I hope my nephew will send me a nicer picture of their blooms, as most of them are first time bloomers. They are from seeds.

GBBD
Nature Notes
Macro Monday 2
Our World Tuesday
Floral Friday Fotos

Early Morning Walk

When at home in the province on weekends, i feel some semblance of rejuvenation. Maybe it is the result of clean air that is not as heavy as the polluted atmosphere we breath at the big city. It literally is easier to breath at home. I don't linger in bed because i have lots of things to do in the garden, and if there is spare time i will try to photograph some butterflies.

This morning i opted to go out, literally from bed i just slid on my slippers and go out clinging my camera. I felt a bit hungry but that can wait till i return. I intended to be out for just maybe an hour. It turned out that it rained that night, which i didn't even notice, maybe i had a very deep sleep. The plants are all still wet and there are still some puddles on the sidewalk. I am very familiar with the vegetation, the cracks on the pavement, the possible insects i will be spotting, and a lot more.

But i am always fascinated with my findings, as if it happened only the first time!

There is nothing more revujenating than the fresh air after the rains at night! And there is an emotion evoked by these fully refreshed grasses with still the dews on them.

Even the Artemisia scoparia, a weed favored by our butterflies, look so healthy.

 I spent lots of time trying hard to get some macro shots of the bubbles, got lots and lots of shots.

 I refer to this as my terrarium, with grasses mirrored in the bubble.

 

Our sidewalks are teeming with healthy weeds with these violet flowers, Ruellia tuberosa. I also spent a lot of time looking for any larvae eating them, they wont run out of food in this lush growth. 

 It is disappointing that our golden shower tree, Cassia fistula, has been fully pruned as it grows so enormously. The green and yellow butterflies, Catopsilia pomona, will find some alternative hosts as food. I just don't know what those plants are. 

 My single bush of Duranta erecta, a favorite nectaring plant for most of our butterflies, already need some trimming. The berries are already turning yellow, getting old. It has to be rejuvenated too. Can you see the male Mormon on it? Papilio polytes

 Some black ants converged on towing their big food, cricket, to their nest. 

I found 5 of these black thorny larvae on my hoya plants, many young leaves are already sacrificed as their food, so i gathered them and transfered to an area far from the hoyas. I wonder if they can find alternative food there. But these creatures are voracious, and they walk so fast. 

A pollinated hippeastrum failed to grow, aborted before its time. The sad thing about this plant is that they flower only once a year! It is another year of waiting for another attempt in cross pollination.

Our papaya with violet/blackish petioles have plenty of small fruits. There are 2 ripe fruits now, but they are not spared by the crows that linger in our area for whatever food they might find, including my mother's chicks if they are not properly protected. 

Lastly, here is a lovely find. A pair of blue-naped kingfisher are so noisy on our camansi tree. They are a bit far up the tree, and i only have a 50mm lens, so this is heavily cropped. At least we can see them a bit clearly. The female on top seem to be talking as its beak is widely open. 

My intended time for walking definitely did not materialize, it was extended until i was out for 3 hours, 6:30 - 9:30 a.m. I cannot anymore pretend that my stomach is not complaining, i am very, very hungry now that i have first to have breakfast. Besides,  the sunlight is already a bit biting the skin. 

Macro Monday 2
Nature Notes
Image-in-ing
Our World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday

Garden Residents Popped Again

 It is already very very dry and hot again. Our dry season just started in March, but the heat seems to already be in April-May, the height of our intense 2nd season. Here in Metro Manila the highest recorded temperature now is 31°C with Heat Index of 39°C. Can you relate to these conditions, when you are still expecting for spring, still in the midst of very cold winter? I remember reading something like, the hot countries will get hotter, while cold countries will even be colder! OMG, we are being punished! If this is not climate change, then what is inflicting us these conditions?

Anyway, enough of that, that is a human being talking. I wonder how the smaller garden creatures feel. They are still there, as if not feeling the heat. They just hid among the flowers or leaves. They seem to be just feeling great, as long as there is food.

This spider doesn't have the back abdomen marks as i posted before, with smiling faces, or scary old men's snare!

 

Larvae still eats available leaves, but that has to be in colder mornings, or else their bodies will not tolerate the oven-like temps. That right hoya leaf is the damage of that larva at the left.

This sphinx moth probably just emerged from the pupa, as the wings look great. However maybe that bald head is a result of bumping into something hard like glass window.

 

 A young praying mantis hopefully gets its prey, or hopefully will not be seen by its predator.

 These 2 photos are just pictures of only one spider. Above is taken towards the sky, while below is taken at its eye level.It just shows that expressions of anything only depends on the perspective of the onlooker. Top looks like that of an angry dog or angry old man. On the other hand the bottom looks like a smiling young creature, even with a ribbon on its head. So all of us don't judge immediately of what we see, let sometime pass until you change your perspective.

We are into perspective, so what do you see in the above photo. I will be very curious of what you think, or see, or feel, or what is your perspective. I see a poodle, don't you think so? Please let me know. I will tell you the answer at the comments.

As for me......later!

Saturday Critters
Camera Critters
Macro Monday 2
Nature Notes
Through My Lens