Susannah 🍁
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wweeta.bsky.social
Susannah 🍁
@wweeta.bsky.social
1.4K followers 380 following 670 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
View from Baikie Island. Wetlands and November trees. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/inte... #VancouverIsland #Wetlands #Reflections #Landscapes #Skywatch #NaturePhotography
A November-ish photo. Half-bare trees, yellow and brown leaves, dried grasses. The view from one island to the next mini-islands. In front; smooth water, reflections of the bare tree branches. The water is blue where the light hits it, and black to greenish in the shade of the land. A channel cuts between the two islets; dark water with blurry reflections. There's one scraggly evergreen tree on the islet to the right, a tree with white bark on the one on the left. Sky overhead, a misty blue.
November 14, 2025 at 8:52 PM
wweeta.bsky.social
More Laughing Gyms. (I think). On a wet, mossy log, during a pause in the rains. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/more... #VancouverIsland #Fungi #NaturePhotography
Four gilled mushrooms (one broken) curving away from the camera, showing the gilled underside of their caps. The caps, from what can be seen of the tops, are concave, bowl-shaped. The gills and stem are speckled, brown and cream; the stems have a pale ring partway down. They're growing out of an old log. Looking at the bark, it seems to be a cedar; it has long strands rather than scales. Most of the wood is covered with green moss, and at the bottom of the photo, there's a layer of fallen Big-Leaf maple leaves, mostly brown with a yellow patch, a bit of still-green leaf.
November 13, 2025 at 10:34 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Mushroom sheltering in a crack in a log end. Very tiny. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/so-t... #VancouverIsland #Fungi #Moss #NaturePhotography
On a sawed and well-aged log end, under the shadow of yellow and brown, fallen Big-Leaf maple leaves, sprouting out of a deep crack in the wood, a tiny mushroom stands alone. The cap is light brown, shading to tan; the stalk is slightly darker. The wood is mostly black, with blacker lines of fungal growth, some lighter brown areas.
November 12, 2025 at 10:11 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Candlesnuff fungi on a chunk of old log. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/fina... #VancouverIsland #Fungi #NaturePhotography
On an old, blackened log end, small, white spikes stand out. They have blue-black bases, some are simple stalks, some have a forked end, "antlers". One name for this species is Stag's Horn Fungus. The fungi are surrounded by bits of moss, slightly shorter than the fungi, which are about 3 or 4 cm. tall. Background; forest floor, with dead big-leaf maple leaves.
November 10, 2025 at 10:30 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Gulls, arguing over the possession of a rock. Round 4. Sharing is a foreign concept to a gull. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/ever... #VancouverIsland #Birds #Birding #Gulls #Wildlife #NaturePhotography
Rocky, stony river bank. A gull sits on a guano-smeared rock at lower right. At upper left, there's another gull, in the air, wings spread wide, head stretched forward, aiming at gull on the rock. It looks angry. It is. This is round 4 in an ongoing battle for ownership of that favourite stone. With each round, they change positions; the winner takes the rock, the loser returns to the attack.
November 9, 2025 at 8:08 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Tar Spot fungus on Big-leaf maple. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/big-... #VancouverIsland #Trees #Fungus #NaturePhotography
A big Big-leaf maple leaf, fallen, in fall colours, yellow and brown. With circles and patches of Speckled Tar Spot fungus; here bluish patches. The leaf measures 430 cm. across, 17 inches. A circular patch on the yellow leaf, showing the green chlorophyll that remains still inside the fungal patch. The centre of this patch is darker brown. Veins of the leaf cross the fungal area. A legend reads 4 cm. The "tar spots" of Speckled Tar Spot fungus. A group of small, blackish, roundish, raised lumps on the yellow background of the leaf. A legend reads 2 cm.
November 8, 2025 at 4:27 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Lobster mushroom, Russula sp., infected with Hypomyces lactifluorum. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/welc... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungus #NaturePhotography
A fantastically shaped mushroom; large, bright orange, showing the white flesh of the original mushroom inside where the mass has broken. The orange is a parasitic fungus; the white was once a "normal" white mushroom with a tidy cap and stalk. On soil, with bits of moss, dead big-leaf maple leaves.
November 6, 2025 at 11:53 PM
wweeta.bsky.social
Coral mushrooms, probably Ramaria stricta. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/in-m... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungus #NaturePhotography
The coral mushroom raises a mass of vertical branches, forked at the tips. The whole mass is a pale tan to cream colour (depending on light or shadow). The mushroom grows among dead and dying leaves, Big-leaf maple, in darker browns, and fragments of another species, probably salmonberry leaves. Green leaves at the top are the edge of a frond of evergreen fern.
November 5, 2025 at 8:38 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Path, carpeted with fallen Big-leaf maple leaves. Kitty Coleman Provincial Park. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/riot... #VancouverIsland #FallColour #Plants #ProvincialPark #Trees #NaturePhotography
A narrow path through the forest. The ground and surrounding shrubs are covered with yellow and orange Big-leaf maple leaves, wet and shiny. The path goes from the bottom left corner, angles to the right to pass a couple of thick tree trunks (the maples), then turns back to the left again. On either side there are low native shrubs, (salmonberry, Oregon grape, etc.) Farther back, there are a few more trees, evergreens and more maples. The trees are mature, and the bark is rough and dark brown.
November 4, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Susannah 🍁
vincentledvina.bsky.social
The beautiful real-time motion of the aurora
November 3, 2025 at 12:16 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Croc on a northern shore. In Canada. wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/told... #VancouverIsland #Crocodile #Art #Humour #Pareidolia #NaturePhotography
An old log. One end sort of has the shape of a crocodile's snout, and someone has added a row of little stones to look like teeth, and a round thing for an eye. There's a lump of wood on top that looks like a turtle, and they've added green eyes. The whole "croc" rests on a bed of gravel, with grass in front, weeds behind. And barely seen beyond that, the waves rolling in on the beach.
November 3, 2025 at 7:19 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Great blue heron, Oyster Bay. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/11/grey... #VancouverIsland #Birds #Birding #Reflections #Wildlife #NaturePhotography
A Great Blue heron wading in a few inches of calm water. The water is still, silvery grey; where the heron disturbs it, there's an arc of ripples, with touches of blue. The heron is large, with a grey body and wings, a long, darker neck, a black cap with a bit of white on top; the beak is grey with some yellow. The water is so still that the bird is reflected clearly. Reflections at upper right are of the posts and nest boxes for purple martins, unused at this time of year.
November 2, 2025 at 6:59 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
After the rain stopped; damp boletes, Douglas-fir cones, dead leaves, moss, needles. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/10/noth... #VancouverIsland #Fungi #Mushrooms #Boletes #NaturePhotography
Two brown mushrooms. Lumpy, convex caps, close to ground, with the pore surfaces hidden away. A few slug bites on the top of the larger one show the brownish meat inside. The smaller bolete has bigger bites taken out of two sides. The mushrooms are on a forest floor, wet with recent rain, in mostly dull colours; the Douglas-fir cone is almost black. Only the moss is bright green. One recently-fallen leaf is pale green.
November 1, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Reposted by Susannah 🍁
jopabinia.bsky.social
And the special Halloween vampire crab (might be Geosesarma bicolor, G. hagen, or another species?)

🦀🎃🦀🎃🦀🎃

5/5
crabspromenade.bsky.social カニの散歩道Crabs' Promenade @crabspromenade.bsky.social · Oct 31
CB Geosesarma sp. "Black Leg" or Halloween Vampier Crab (nearly 10 months old)🦀
我が家生まれのハロウィンバンパイアクラブの中で一番立派な個体です。もうすぐ生後10ヶ月です🦀
October 31, 2024 at 7:01 PM
wweeta.bsky.social
Jumping spiders always love my car. Even this big guy. Happy Hallowe'en! Arachtober 2025, Day 31, Hallowe'en. www.flickr.com/photos/wande... #VancouverIsland #Arachtober2025 #Arachnids #Spiders #Arañas #Hallowe'en
A big, fluffy, black jumping spider; "Fangs", my old mascot, brushed up for Hallowe'en. A modified Dollar Store find, 400 cm., 16 inches leg span. (Added fangs and eyes. The eyes are not seen here, but the red fangs are.) We see her from the side. She's climbing onto the roof of my silvery-grey car. Background; quiet neighbourhood, distant hills, blue sky.
October 31, 2025 at 7:33 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Red-topped Brittle-gill, Russula sp. With slug bites. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/10/slug... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungi #Slugs #Invertebrates #NaturePhotography
A gilled mushroom with a white stalk, white gills, white flesh. And a red skin on the cap. With slug bites taken out of the cap, showing the white meat inside. The mushroom stands on a forest floor with well-aged twigs and Douglas-fir cones. The top of the mushroom is wet and shiny; the ground is wet. And the gills are guttating; oozing droplets of water.
October 30, 2025 at 5:53 PM
wweeta.bsky.social
Bathed in sunlight. An orb-weaver spider in a dim forest spreads her web where the sunlight streams between bare branches. Her mate waits for her above. Arachtober 2025, Day 30. www.flickr.com/photos/wande... #VancouverIsland #Arachtober2025 #Arachnids #Spiders #Invertebrates #NaturePhotography
An orb web, mostly intact, with the builder waiting for her prey in the centre circle. Her legs look white, with the sun shining through them; her body is dark. Above, at the upper left, her mate sunbathes; his whole body and legs glow; where there is colour, it is bright orange. The web is the typical orb; a small centre spiral, then an empty space, then the rows and rows of spiralling silk. Where the light catches it just right from our point of view, the silk acts as a prism, splitting the light, painting the web with rainbow colours. Background; the dark greens and browns of the forest, with patches of bright green where the sunlight has found a leaf. Bare branches, behind and in front of the web.
October 30, 2025 at 7:51 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
More possible "Laughing Gyms". New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/10/not-... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungi #NaturePhotography
Fat, round, yellow mushrooms growing out of the base of an old stump a hand's breadth tall, in a slightly weedy lawn. Three large ones; they look like biscuits fresh out of the oven. The stalks are straight, also yellow, growing out of the wood. There are several smaller ones at ground level. Towards the right, on the side of the stump and also on top, are two patches of yellow jelly fungus, possibly Witches Jelly, or Orange Jelly. Blobs of translucent yellow jelly; the one on top has some white stuff spread on top.
October 29, 2025 at 10:13 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Just a baby. Really. A Giant House spider, not quite a giant yet. Out hunting on a wall; maybe she'll find a moth. Arachtober 2025, Day 29. Two days left! www.flickr.com/photos/wande... #VancouverIsland #Arachtober2025 #Arachnids #Spiders #Arañas #Invertebrates #Wildlife #NaturePhotography
A Giant House spider, Eratigena duellica, can achieve a leg span of 10 cm. (4 inches). This little one measures, as seen by the edge of a frame at bottom left, with a 2mm. border marked, about 3 cm, stretched out. She's a dull brown, with black markings on the body; the legs are just plain brown. In this photo, two of her six spinnerets, the silk-producing glands, are visible; two small projections angled outwards from the rear of her abdomen. All true spiders produce silk, even the wandering hunters, like this one. She makes a web hidden away, not to catch prey, but to serve as a dining room, and later, a place to guard her eggs.
October 29, 2025 at 7:54 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Tougher than she looks. Cellar spiders seem so fragile, with their long, spindly legs & tidy body, yet they often catch & eat spiders bigger than themselves. Like this one. Arachtober 2025, Day 28. www.flickr.com/photos/wande... #VancouverIsland #Arachtober2025 #Arachnids #Spiders #Invertebrates
Two spiders: a cellar spider, long, long legs spread wide, hanging belly-up from her invisible web on the ceiling. Her small cephalothorax (head) and those incredible legs are translucent, slightly greenish in this light. Her abdomen is shiny, with a pattern like a cappuccino design on the top. The second spider, her prey, is twice her size, dark grey, with its legs contracted in death, its useless fangs exposed to our view.
October 28, 2025 at 9:00 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Large mushrooms on black log. An image search suggests "Laughing Gym", Gymnopilus sp. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/10/laug... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungi #NaturePhotography
5 large gilled mushrooms growing out of an old log, burned black, with pale blue spalting (coloration by fungi). The mushrooms have a brown, scaly top; two are bowl-shaped, three curved downwards. The gills are narrow, pale brown tending to white; the stems pale brown, scaly, with the remains of a ring. In front of the log are a few blades of dune grass, some dead, some green.
October 28, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Reposted by Susannah 🍁
theodramatist.com
The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without redress.

—Ezekiel 22:29
October 27, 2025 at 3:23 AM
wweeta.bsky.social
Camouflage fail. She's a ground crab spider, and should lie in wait invisibly for her prey outside in the leaf litter. Not on the shiny aluminum trim of a vintage kitchen. Arachtober 2025, Day 27. www.flickr.com/photos/wande... #VancouverIsland #Arachtober2025 #Arachnids #Spiders #Invertebrates
A brown spider, Xysticus cristatus, in dead leaf colours. She wears a V pattern on her cephalothorax, light brown on darker brown, with the opening towards her tiny eyes. The abdomen has a light border, then what has been described as a leaf shape with stripes crossing it. The legs are plain brown; the front two are longer, spread wide to welcome unlucky prey. She's walking down the aluminum trim of an old-fashioned kitchen; at the bottom there's cream countertop, and a line in between of old grout, dark with the grunge of years. Over to the right, there's the remains of a spider molt; empty body casing, all 8 legs. It seems too small to be hers. The ghost of some other kitchen resident. (Old homes must have their ghosts!)
October 27, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Susannah 🍁
joegarrity.bsky.social
This anemone hermit crab was defending itself by directing a stinging-celled anemone into my camera lens. 😆

My Portfolio:
portfolio.pixelfed.social/JoeGarrity

#marinelifephotography #marinelife #scuba #wildlifephotography #wildlife #naturephotography #nature #macrophotography #macro #photography
October 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
wweeta.bsky.social
Ma Nature's wild mini-garden. Moss, lichen, mushrooms, old wood. New blog post: wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2025/10/mini... #VancouverIsland #Mushrooms #Fungi #Lichens #Moss #NaturePhotography
Part of the root end of a rotting log, growing a crop of spiky broom moss, tiny, pale bluish Cladonia lichens, brick-red gilled mushrooms, and the Lichen Agaric; a lichen that produces a small mushroom with a fluted edge and gills that angle down onto the stem. The exposed wood is crumbly and dark brown.
October 26, 2025 at 4:54 PM