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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4m

Heritage® River birch has bark that wildly curls and reveals a range of earth tones ...

Heritage River birch variety at Spring Grove Cemetery - curly textured bark

Reposted by Constance Lee Menefee

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 2h

It is what I have used 99% of the time (I use the 12-100mm if shooting landscapes) since May 2023 - the following images were shot my first time out! Camera (OM‑D E‑M1 Mark II) + lens (100-400mm) weigh a bit less than 1,500 grams <3 lbs>!

Female Red-winged Blackbird in cypress tree

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 2h

More 1st time out with new lens ...

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 2h

It is what I have used 99% of the time (I use the 12-100mm if shooting landscapes) since May 2023 - the following images were shot my first time out! Camera (OM‑D E‑M1 Mark II) + lens (100-400mm) weigh a bit less than 1,500 grams <3 lbs>!

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4h

Floating ...

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4h

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4h

It is versatile.

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4h

Once, I was in a park across from the U of Cincinnati & saw some collage aged lads trying to help a big spiny softshell out of a bad spot on a road. They were flummoxed - but I have a plastic shovel in my car & we gently lifted the turtle to the bank. It made tracks back to the pond.

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4h

I was so thrilled to see this delightful turtle somewhere I could stop my car and use my Olympus M.Zuiko 100-400mm lens out a window to take a photograph! #Herps

Eastern spiny softshell in #SpringGroveCemetery

Spiny softshell turtle on a pond bank - a rare encounter!

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4h

Cincinnati has some local groups that are preserving farmland & making trails, eliminating honeysuckle + other aggressive plants - one has ventured into the urban areas & it gives me hope. Habitat that is free of farm/industrial runoff is vital!

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 4h

Blanding's are lovely turtles. The local cemetery (700+ acres) where I photograph my bullfrogs & turtles (and whatever else grabs me) has snapping turtles, spiny softshells that were likely not originally released by humans. I photograph what I observe - introduced or not.

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 5h

Sassafras!

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · Dec 3

Sassafras, with up to five lobes on a leaf, can turn many colors ... their soft, velvety beginning leaves in Spring smell a bit like mellow root beer. Sassafras was used as a flavoring until it was discovered that the safrole is a carcinogen. Sassafras oil & safrole are used in manufacture of MDMA.

Sassafras leaves orange, yellowish, brown and still a bit brown

Sassafras leaves are almost gold when lit by sunlight

Sassafras leaves can be oval or have from one to five lobes - a blue sky behind green and and orange three lobed leaf

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 7h

More turtles ... red-eared sliders
#Herps

Portrait of red-eared slider on a cut log in water

Red-eared slider at a slant on a steep concrete pond edge

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 8h

Sassafras ...
tiny, fuzzy green leaf
starts
in Spring
taste like citrusy earth and spice and green hope:
This reminds me of root beer!
people blurt
and mundane memories
blur the wonder.

12 Oct 2025