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Constance Lee Menefee

@conniemenefee.bsky.social

13K followers 1.1K following 35K posts

Glimpses of nature; bullfrog paparazza; poet; pen & ink artist; researcher of military-adjacent topics; my roots are in science (lab + technical writer & editor) Banner image is metal warning sign: DUMP NO WASTE/DRAINS TO RIVER

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

Bullfrog of the day!
Sunday, 12 Oct 2025

Bullfrog looking up to left, spattered with duckweed, sitting in duckweed and sun dapples

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 1h

Floating ...

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 1h

💚💚

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 1h

It is versatile.

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 1h

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.

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 1h

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 · 1h

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!

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 1h

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.

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

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

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

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 · 4h

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

Sassafras leaves trying out shades of Autumn and wearing a few spots

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

Turtles seeking basking locations #Herps

Dead branches coming out of pond, turtles trying to fit - reflections of all

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

Of course I cannot see such a still, flattened gray squirrel with a fluffy tail ##Sqrlpix

Gray squirrel flattening itself onna cypress branch overhead

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

Autumn ago ...

Autumn trees and layers of textures and colors

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

Bullfrog of the day!
Sunday, 12 Oct 2025

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 17h

Sweetgum trees have a variety of colors in Autumn ... love 'em!

Collage with four different sweetgum trees

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 19h

Leaf light ...

Spruce branches hokding oak leaf with light

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 19h

Not this year's maples...

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 19h

##BlueSkyArtShow #Red

Two different maples ...

Collage with two different maples turning brilliant red

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 19h

Oh! Cool!

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 21h

There are local regulars, so I think you're correct!

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 22h

I probably mentioned it 😃

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 23h

Yeah, that's always a problem.

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 23h

The Northern Pintail is not a typical Southwest Ohio Winter resident.

Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 23h

Jan/Mar 2023 - Northern Pintail male has arrived for a few years in Winter (Spring Grove Cemetery) & hangs around a Mallard female.

Activities between a Mallard & a Pintail (Anas platyrhynchos x acuta) that could result in hybrids are observed in the wild, but such crosses are often nonviable 🪶🌿

The elegant Northern Pintail drake and his reflection in a picturesque part of the pond

Northern Pintail drake with his well-camouflaged Mallard lady love

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 23h

Makes good bows and duck calls, too!