Susannah 🍁
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wweeta.bsky.social
Susannah 🍁
@wweeta.bsky.social
1.4K followers 390 following 700 posts
I photograph and write about the world I see around me here on Vancouver Island: the forests and hllls, things green and wet, the none- to multi-legged critters that scramble, ooze, and slither on our beaches, birds and the occasional beast.
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wweeta.bsky.social
Fungi on the sawed end of a log. Trichaptum sp. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/sapw... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungi #Polypores #NaturePhotography
A sawed-off log, left after clearing a trail, has sprouted a ring of small shelf mushrooms; they grow clustered closely together, on the cut end, from just inside the bark to a few inches towards the centre of the log, covering the sapwood of the tree. The mushrooms are shelf-shaped, slightly pinkish, faded brown. The log's bark is blackish, scaly. On the left are a few green leaves of salal, and in front, fronds of dried ferns.
December 15, 2025 at 11:36 AM
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Red-belted polypore, Fomitopsis mounceae, on mossy log. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/drip... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungi #Polypores #Conks #Guttation #NaturePhotography
A shelf mushroom, also called a conk. This one is brown mixed with black; the wide rim is off-white. The red "belt" is the border between the dark top and the whitish rim; in this one, it's narrow and barely reddish. The underside (not seen) is white. Along the bottom edge of the rim there's a row of clear droplets; they are secreted from the flesh of the mushroom; the process is called guttation. The top of the log is covered with a variety of small mosses.
December 14, 2025 at 10:09 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
White and yellow witches butter fungus. With a globular springtail. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/back... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungi #Invertebrates #Springtails #NaturePhotography
On the bark of a dark, wet log, are several small, bright blobs of jelly fungus. Some are yellow, some are white with yellow bases. On one of the yellow blobs, at lower left, there's a brown globular springtail. Also scattered on the bark are bright green squamules and two pillars of a Cladonia lichen.
December 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM
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Christmas cactus on a windowsill. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-co... #VancouverIsland #Flowers #BloomScrolling #NaturePhotography
Christmas cactus flowers have a tubular shape, with what looks like two sets of bright red petals, (actually tepals) at the start and end of the tube. At the mouth of the tube, the reproductive organs protrude: the stamens, with white fuzzy filaments, and the style, with dark red tips. Background: green leaves, plate.
December 12, 2025 at 9:33 AM
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Pileated woodpecker, diggging ants out of a tree. #VancouverIsland #Birds #Birding #NaturePhotography
December 11, 2025 at 5:32 AM
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Pileated woodpecker, carving up a tree. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/red-... #VancouverIsland #Birds #Birding #NaturePhotography
A black and white bird with a red head and strong bill. She's crow-sized. A female; males have a red moustache and the red crest extends forward over the eyes. Most of her body is black, but there's a white line at the top of the wing, and a wide white curve down her neck. She stands on a mossy tree trunk; the moss and bark are above her. From her beak level down to the bottom of the photo (2 body lengths) the wood is bare, chipped and ragged and hollowed out. She's been chopping and eating ants for hours. Background; the green of her evergreen forest.
December 10, 2025 at 8:04 AM
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Sparrow on a dock. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/more... #VancouverIsland #Birds #Birding #LBBs #NaturePhotography
A streaky brown sparrow, standing on the 4x4 board curb along the edge of a wharf. There's a black cord knotted at the lower left, with some dock hardware. Background; dark blue water, blurry reflection of a grey boat.
December 8, 2025 at 8:37 AM
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Mallard in shallow, grassy water, Campbell River estuary. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/gras... #VancouverIsland #Rivers #Estuary #Birds #Birding #NaturePhotography
A female mallard, angled away from the camera, resting. She's patterned in browns and beige, each feather outlined on her body and wings; the pattern on her head is finer, with less contrast. Her bill has an orange tip; the bottom and the edge next to her head are outlined in orange as well. Her legs, underwater, are orange. She's reflected in the water, slightly blurred as the water moves gently.
December 7, 2025 at 7:58 AM
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Campbell River estuary on a quiet winter afternoon.
New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/clou... #VancouverIsland #WaterReflections #Rivers #Estuary #Winter #NaturePhotography
View over still water. On the right, there's a point of land; evergreen trees, bare, brown shrubs, pale grasses at water's edge, mud banks. On the far side of the estuary, the shore is lined by trees, some green, many bare; beyond and above those can be seen the roofs of houses, then more evergreens. And above all that, clouds with a few blue patches of sky. The land forms and the clouds are reflected in the water in front. The predominant colours are blue and grey.
December 6, 2025 at 6:20 AM
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Reflections in still water.
New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/peac... #VancouverIsland #Reflections #Trees #NaturePhotography
Upside-down tree reflections. At the top of the photo, the rocks (the rip-rap) protecting the shore are seen, just their reflections; the photo starts at the waterline. Weeds and grasses grow over the rocks. Below the rip-rap, two small deciduous trees spread their bare branches, a bit rippled by the movement of the water. The water reflects the sky; pale, slightly bluish grey; it's a cloudy winter day.
December 5, 2025 at 8:24 AM
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Watch out! This kelp crab is waiting for a chance to grab you! (On a piling under the wharf.) New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/shap... #VancouverIsland #IntertidalInvertebrates #Invertebrates #Crabs #MarineInvertebrates #NaturePhotography
An underwater photo. On the left, there's a barnacle-covered piling. On the piling, there's a kelp crab, blurry in the semi-dark and the moving water. He is stretching out his long chelipeds, pinching jaws wide open, ready to grab anything that comes near. (Does he see me, above him, with the camera?) The crab is brown, with bits of orange. The water is green, with whitish reflections.
December 4, 2025 at 8:41 AM
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Big, unnamed, splotchy-gilled mushroom, and more. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/look... #VancouverIsland #Fungi #Mushrooms #Invertebrates #Insects #NaturePhotography
There's always more. The photo shows a large gilled mushroom. The gills are white, deep, and marked with brown spots. The rim is all that's seen of the cap; it's a light brown. But there's more; just under the rim there's a fly with long, whitish wings. And below that, a small brown moth. Beside these, almost invisible against the background, there's a harvestman. And at the bottom of the photo there are two clumps of yellow coral fungus, Ramaria sp. The ground is covered with twigs and evergreen needles, with a few leaves of green moss.
December 3, 2025 at 9:01 AM
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Cat's tongue fungus, Pseudohydnum gelatinosum. Also (now) known as "Spirit Gummy Bear" mushroom. With a springtail. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/12/ange... #VancouverIsland #Fungi #Mushrooms #NaturePhotography
A small, pure white mushroom, surrounded by bright green moss. It has a conical cap with the stalk off to the side. The mushroom is toothed; the tiny "teeth" are seen as projections from the lower edge of the cap. A globular springtail is on the cap; there's a fly underneath.
December 2, 2025 at 9:10 AM
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A bone lichen, probably Hypogymnia physodes, Hooded bone. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/rags... #VancouverIsland #Lichens #LichenSubscribe #NaturePhotography
A pale green lichen with round, tubular, irregularly branched lobes. Green with small black spots, black underneath.
December 1, 2025 at 8:36 AM
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Very clean sparrow after a long, refreshing bath. How they handle the cold is a mystery to me. I was wearing a fleece-lined jacket over a sweater. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/look... #VancouverIsland #Birds #Birding #NaturePhotography
A streaky brown sparrow stands on the edge of his birdbath (a terracotta tray with a stone in the centre). Light shimmers on the water, still in motion after his bath. Background; a green chain-link fence with yellow and green leaves on the far sided. In front, between us and the birdbath, there are a few rose stems, bare now of leaves, but bristling with thorns.
November 30, 2025 at 8:59 AM
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A dust lichen on a tree trunk. Lepraria inana. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/gree... #VancouverIsland #Lichens #NaturePhotography #LichenSubscribe
Pale green lichen covers the bark of a tree. It has the texture of a dust bunny; bubbles and bumps and smears. This lichen is composed of tiny balls of algae wrapped in fungal hyphae (hair-thin threads). A few leafy structures at upper right are another lichen, Cladonia sp., as is the erect stalk at lower right, a fruiting body of that same Cladonia.
November 29, 2025 at 5:54 AM
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Moss on a fallen evergreen branch. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/gree... #VancouverIsland #Forests #Moss #NaturePhotography
A bright green moss. Long, feathery leaves branching off central stems, arching somewhat like water in a fountain. The moss is growing on a dark branch. In the background, there's another branch, and a blurry fern frond.
November 26, 2025 at 8:08 AM
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Mist and clouds over an evergreen-clad hill. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/ghos... #VancouverIsland #Forests #Skywatch #Weather #Landscapes #NaturePhotography
Two parallel hills sloping down from right to left. They are densely forested with evergreen trees; mists float over the second one; over them, the sky is all grey cloud. On the right, a deciduous tree spreads its bare branches; they have a slight reddish tinge and small catkins hang from the branches; it's a red alder, and the catkins stay put over winter. November colour in the Pacific Northwest.
November 25, 2025 at 10:36 AM
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Mica caps, Coprinellus micaceus. In low-lying, very wet land beside the Campbell River. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/lbms... #VancouverIsland #Wetlands #Fungi #Mushrooms #NaturePhotography
A group of conical mushrooms, various sizes from small to very small. The caps are tan, fading to white, then grey near the margins of the larger mushrooms. The stems are straight, smooth, white. They grow from the ground, surrounded by dead leaves of red alder and big-leaf maple; there are a few green leaves as well, trailing blackberry and another native weed.
November 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
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Lichenomphalia umbellifera, the two components, fungus and blue-green algae. With a possible slime mold fruiting body. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/more... #VancouverIsland #Wetlands #Lichens #Fungi #Mushrooms #NaturePhotography
On a rotten log covered with a coat of blue-green algae (deep green), are two mushrooms; they are the fungal component of a lichen, never seen without this green alga. The mushroom has deep, widely spaced gills, cream coloured. The stem is pale brown, slightly wider at the base. We're seeing the mushrooms from beneath, so we don't see the top of the cap. On the left side, in a crack, is a small, brown stalk with a round ball on top, possibly the fruiting body of a slime mold. A brown mass at the right is a dead maple leaf, giving a sense of the time of year.
November 22, 2025 at 10:24 PM
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Fairy Parachutes, Marasmiellus candidus, on a soaked salmonberry stem. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-... #VancouverIsland #Wetlands #Fungi #Mushrooms #NaturePhotography
A group of white, translucent mushrooms on a brown shrub stem, probably salmonberry. The mushrooms, most of which are seen bottom side up, have a round, umbrella-shaped (or parachute-shaped) cap, with widely-spaced gills, showing up as whiter lines on the white flesh of the cap. The stalks are thin, white, and about as long as the diameter of the caps. Background; a crumbly log, bright green, wet moss. Crossing the salmonberry stem, there's a piece of fern frond, dead, wet, brown.
November 21, 2025 at 11:02 PM
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In a drenched forest. Slow-moving water, dripping leaves. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/all-... #VancouverIsland #Wetlands #Forests #NaturePhotography
A shallow stream in the forest. An up-turned root of a tree makes a mini-island, covered with grasses, ferns, and native shrubs, some with leaves turned yellow. Along the right bank of the stream, more shrubs have brown, dead leaves; behind them there's a patch of grass, then a path leading to a wooden bridge, top left. The water reflects the bridge, the green evergreens overhead, the browns of the dead leaves; towards us, the light glints off the ripples in the water. On the far left, a few leaves hang over the water, green and rust-red.
November 20, 2025 at 7:59 AM
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Hooded mergansers. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/flir... #VancouverIsland #Birds #Birding #NaturePhotography
November 19, 2025 at 1:30 AM
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Ripe puffballs, fallen alder leaves. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/too-... #Fall #Fungi #Mushrooms #EdibleMushrooms #AutumnLeaves #NaturePhotography
Two small puffballs surrounded by fallen red alder leaves, green fading to black. The puffballs are ripe, no longer edible; the "balls" have opened the pore on top, where the spore dust will be puffed out with any contact. They are relatively fresh; one is starting to collapse, the other is still smooth and round. In the lower left corner, a few more puffballs are half hidden under the leaves.
November 18, 2025 at 2:10 AM
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Fallen leaves, and a mushroom. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/leaf... #VancouverIsland #Fall #Trees #AutumnLeaves #NaturePhotography
Fallen leaves, mostly brown, turning to black. With a small mushroom upright in the centre. The mushroom is tan coloured, with a narrow, straight stem; the cap is gilled, becoming concave, with the edges turned up to show the gills.The centre of the cap is raised. The leaves are big-leaf maple (warm brown) and cottonwood (variousl colours from spotted brown to burgundy to yellow or black).
November 16, 2025 at 8:50 AM