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JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI)

@jbtheexplorer.bsky.social

510 followers 70 following 1.4K posts

Wisconsin Native Plant Gardener🦋 (more than 3000 sq. ft.!), Habitat Enthusiast🌿, Casual Nature Photographer, Hiker, Gamer, Motorsports fan, Plane watcher. Using Bluesky to document the nature in my yard and elsewhere. Please plant #NativePlants

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JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · Sep 9

I cant even believe it!

I've waited at least 25 years to see another one of these! I kept telling myself this was going to be the year and I can't believe it actually was! 😍

Yellow garden spider. Seen during today's prairie walk.

#yellowgardenspider #spider #prairie #prairierestoration 🕷️

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JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 23h

Also, the goldfinches are absolutely feasting on plains sunflower seeds!

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 1d

The asters are pretty much done blooming now but plains sunflower continues on!

#nativeplants #nativegarden #sunflower #autumn #wisconsin #bloomscrolling

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JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 2d

One year ago. What an incredible experience! Still hoping we get another show like this but I know it's increasingly less likely as we get further away from solar maximum.

#northerlights #auroraborealis #wisconsin

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 2d

Still thinking about last weekend.

#aircraft #planes #aviation #KBUUFlyin #Wisconsin

Reposted by JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI)

Patrick @watchinthesky.bsky.social · 2d

Is it #Arachtober? I was just wondering if I’d see any big orb web weavers, Fall has been a good opportunity. This big, possibly gravid, Banded Garden spider is tending to its web. A print of one of these photos will go up on the office door at work for #Halloween 🎃 🕷️ #arachnids

The backside view of a large banded garden spider that made a web in our yard.

The front side view of a large banded garden spider that made a web in our yard. All of its long legs are banded with black and yellow.

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JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 3d

Photos from this morning's hike.

#hiking #wisconsin #prairie #birds

Swamp sparrow perched on indian grass in a prairie.

Dark seedheads from gray-headed coneflower dotting the prairie.

A view of the 13-acre prairie restoration, looking east.

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

So much bird activity lately! Lots of swamp sparrows and dark-eyed juncos seen during this morning's hike.

#hiking #nature #wisconsin

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

Nice to see this wild ginger doing good in an undisclosed location. Who knows how it got here. Probably not me. Probably just the wind carried it here and shoved it in the ground.

#nativeplants #guerrillagardening

Wild ginger growing in an area that doesn't have many other native plants.

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

🎶 This land is your land, this land is my land. 🎶

A sign was painted, said private property, but on the back side, it didn't say nothing. This land was made for you and me.

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

youtu.be/lfLKHY52ERc?...

Dr. Jane Goodall’s Final Message To The World | Famous Last Words | Netflix

YouTube video by Still Watching Netflix

youtu.be

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

UPS Airlines' McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flying over the prairie on its way into Milwaukee.

#aircraft #planes #aviation

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

That's my plan too. I did morning hikes all spring and then shifted to evening in summer. Seems like it's almost time to shift back.

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

Some woodland sounds about 10 minutes after sunset.

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

These evening hikes are getting a whole lot harder to squeeze in before dark.

#hiking #nature #birds #sunset #autumn #prairie #wisconsin

Mallard ducks in a pond exactly at sunset.

Tallgrass prairie, shortly before sunset.

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JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

I've never seen tri-colored bumbles. I love the rusties and red-belteds.

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 4d

Microsoft Flight Simulator has fall colors in Wisconsin right now and it really makes me want to get out and see some colors in real life. Hoping to get some good hiking in later this month! Until then, I'll enjoy them in the game.

Devil's Lake State Park in Microsoft Flight Simulator

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 5d

No lessons this year. This was mostly a sit back and watch year.

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 5d

My New England asters are just about done blooming. Drummond's asters are still going, but it wont be long before they're done as well.

#nativeplants #nativegarden

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JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 5d

A row of silver maples in my yard. These maples appear on satellite imagery back to 1937, which is the oldest imagery I could find. I believe they're over 100 years old. Early in their life, they were surrounded by farmland.

#trees #wisconsin #photography

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 5d

Nice to see a silver-spotted skipper still hanging out here. Could be the last one I see this year.

#butterfly #butterflies #nativeplants #nativegarden

Silver-spotted skipper sitting on plains sunflower (helianthus petiolaris).

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 5d

Also, ignore my alt text, the T-6 in the photo above clearly just landed, not taking off. T-6's don't use flaps on takeoff. Here's the takeoff roll:

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 5d

A few more fun photos from the KBUU Fly-In.

Is it sad that the first thing I think of whenever I see a large amount of farmland is that I wish I could buy it all and turn it into prairie?

#Aircraft #aviation #planes #KBUUFlyIn #Wisconsin