Pam Owen - Wild Ideas
@wild-ideas.bsky.social
Writer & photographer living in the foothills of the Appalachian Mts, Virginia. Write a nature column, "Wild Ideas." Dedicated conservationist. Comments welcome. 🚫Crypto, religious proselytizing, porn/cam girls 🚫DMs except from friends
From several years ago on the border of Shenandoah National Park, I found this beautiful Kentucky Flat Millipede. Two inches long and shy, it likes dark, damp places in for forest, helping break down rotting wood and leaves. It secretes cyanide compounds as a defense mechanism, so best left alone.
August 10, 2025 at 8:55 PM
From several years ago on the border of Shenandoah National Park, I found this beautiful Kentucky Flat Millipede. Two inches long and shy, it likes dark, damp places in for forest, helping break down rotting wood and leaves. It secretes cyanide compounds as a defense mechanism, so best left alone.
Nice shot! Up here on a dry foothill of the Alleghenies, it's tough to find a breeding spot. Looks like a juvenile Gray Treefrog. We had some hatch out in a "water feature" (a cattle tank with a pump that doesn't work) a couple of years ago. Where was yours?
June 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Nice shot! Up here on a dry foothill of the Alleghenies, it's tough to find a breeding spot. Looks like a juvenile Gray Treefrog. We had some hatch out in a "water feature" (a cattle tank with a pump that doesn't work) a couple of years ago. Where was yours?
Last night was pretty warm (finally, during a cold, wet spring). This Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) was one of the many moths that showed up while I had the front-porch light on. Its wingspan is about 6". 🧵
May 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Last night was pretty warm (finally, during a cold, wet spring). This Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) was one of the many moths that showed up while I had the front-porch light on. Its wingspan is about 6". 🧵
If this harvestman is angling to catch a hummingbird on this hummer feeder. I've seen these guys eat prey many times their size, but this is a bit too ambitious. I should admire its ambition, but since it appeared to be keeping the hummers away, I just transferred it to a more-suitable location.
May 12, 2025 at 8:11 PM
If this harvestman is angling to catch a hummingbird on this hummer feeder. I've seen these guys eat prey many times their size, but this is a bit too ambitious. I should admire its ambition, but since it appeared to be keeping the hummers away, I just transferred it to a more-suitable location.
Many native Virginia plants, even this gorgeous Wild Blue Phlox, are adapted to grow and bloom in shade. And native plants attract native insects, such as this Hummingbird Clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on the phlox's nectar. 🧵
April 28, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Many native Virginia plants, even this gorgeous Wild Blue Phlox, are adapted to grow and bloom in shade. And native plants attract native insects, such as this Hummingbird Clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on the phlox's nectar. 🧵
Had a short but arduous hike with my brother in Sabino Canyon, AZ, yesterday. A gorgeous day, but the creek running thru the canyon was almost dry. Virtually no rain thru the winter, 1 of 2 wet seasons there, so big hopes for the summer one.
April 19, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Had a short but arduous hike with my brother in Sabino Canyon, AZ, yesterday. A gorgeous day, but the creek running thru the canyon was almost dry. Virtually no rain thru the winter, 1 of 2 wet seasons there, so big hopes for the summer one.
Rue Anemone is the first native wildflower to bloom in our forest this year. Our Flowering Dogwood and Redbud are also bursting into color, which means pring has finally arrived. Although a short warm streak has turned into cold, damp weather, that's good for plants and mushrooms.🌨️😁
April 7, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Rue Anemone is the first native wildflower to bloom in our forest this year. Our Flowering Dogwood and Redbud are also bursting into color, which means pring has finally arrived. Although a short warm streak has turned into cold, damp weather, that's good for plants and mushrooms.🌨️😁
The female of the Eastern Bluebird pair that nest within a few yards of our house (and in our cedar siding until we sealed that hole) disappeared today in her search for this year's site. She doesn't seem keen on using the box we provided last year in which they fledged 2 broods. 🧵
March 28, 2025 at 12:21 AM
The female of the Eastern Bluebird pair that nest within a few yards of our house (and in our cedar siding until we sealed that hole) disappeared today in her search for this year's site. She doesn't seem keen on using the box we provided last year in which they fledged 2 broods. 🧵
Some of my housemate's Crested Cream Legbar hens prefer to lay their blue eggs in the wild. Here, under a pile of branches cut from an Eastern Redcedar. Two of the renegades are in the other photo, communicating with their incarcerated friends. They all forage in the woods for a while most days.
March 16, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Some of my housemate's Crested Cream Legbar hens prefer to lay their blue eggs in the wild. Here, under a pile of branches cut from an Eastern Redcedar. Two of the renegades are in the other photo, communicating with their incarcerated friends. They all forage in the woods for a while most days.
Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks, or just let them learn on their own. Mollie, my 13-year-old collie, finally realized she could use her paws to hold down a cottage-cheese container to lick it clean. Only took a few tries to master this, but she rarely used her feet to nail down food before.
March 14, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks, or just let them learn on their own. Mollie, my 13-year-old collie, finally realized she could use her paws to hold down a cottage-cheese container to lick it clean. Only took a few tries to master this, but she rarely used her feet to nail down food before.
I think we need to get a bigger suet feeder for our Pileated Woodpecker neighbors. Pileateds are large (almost the size of a crow), loud, loony, & great fun to watch. This female has been visiting our suet feeder, while her mate seems not to be drawn in, but I often hear him nearby. #birds #Virginia
March 14, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I think we need to get a bigger suet feeder for our Pileated Woodpecker neighbors. Pileateds are large (almost the size of a crow), loud, loony, & great fun to watch. This female has been visiting our suet feeder, while her mate seems not to be drawn in, but I often hear him nearby. #birds #Virginia
Looking around for more, I found several over the next couple of years, and the sightings are now in Virginia's rare-plant database.
February 22, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Looking around for more, I found several over the next couple of years, and the sightings are now in Virginia's rare-plant database.
I feel your pain. I had a checklist each day, but the weather or the time I had available were not the best. Low counts and few interesting species. I'm thinking that I probably will have both tomorrow, now that the count is over
February 18, 2025 at 1:26 AM
I feel your pain. I had a checklist each day, but the weather or the time I had available were not the best. Low counts and few interesting species. I'm thinking that I probably will have both tomorrow, now that the count is over
That's true of a lot of animals, including us. Nuthatches are among the exceptions, equipped to climb with their heads pointed up or down. Here are 3 fledglings descending a hickory tree, which is both a training ground for them and also a cache for the parents to store food (in the bark crevices).
February 8, 2025 at 10:46 PM
That's true of a lot of animals, including us. Nuthatches are among the exceptions, equipped to climb with their heads pointed up or down. Here are 3 fledglings descending a hickory tree, which is both a training ground for them and also a cache for the parents to store food (in the bark crevices).
View from my bedroom this morning. Waiting for the sun to come out and really make the ice sparkle.
February 6, 2025 at 3:30 PM
View from my bedroom this morning. Waiting for the sun to come out and really make the ice sparkle.
One fall, at another house, Mollie's predecessor, Mai Coh, brought 5 legs home to another house. She weighed about 50 lbs but, one winter day, also managed to haul a frozen Canada Goose home, fully intact, looking like it was taking a nap. The dog wasn't a killer, so I chalk that up to nature.
February 5, 2025 at 11:37 PM
One fall, at another house, Mollie's predecessor, Mai Coh, brought 5 legs home to another house. She weighed about 50 lbs but, one winter day, also managed to haul a frozen Canada Goose home, fully intact, looking like it was taking a nap. The dog wasn't a killer, so I chalk that up to nature.
This is what my dog, Mollie, was doing on Feb. 5 six years ago: chomping on a deer leg. I don't hunt, and she doesn't hunt deer (although she was keen on running them off the property), but somehow deer legs often ended up in the yards of several houses I rented in Rappahannock County (VA). 🧵1/2
February 5, 2025 at 11:25 PM
This is what my dog, Mollie, was doing on Feb. 5 six years ago: chomping on a deer leg. I don't hunt, and she doesn't hunt deer (although she was keen on running them off the property), but somehow deer legs often ended up in the yards of several houses I rented in Rappahannock County (VA). 🧵1/2
From my archive: A Prague Hydrangea shrub shows rows of shallow, rectangular holes that remain after a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker removed the bark to get at the sap
January 28, 2025 at 8:24 PM
From my archive: A Prague Hydrangea shrub shows rows of shallow, rectangular holes that remain after a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker removed the bark to get at the sap
Nice! There's a pealing paint group somewhere in Bluesky, but I couldn't find it. I put up the attached photo there, my favorite of what I'm guessing is a small genre. It's of an abandoned Union Pacific car in Rhyolite, a ghost town near Death Valley NP. Yours would be a great fit!
January 26, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Nice! There's a pealing paint group somewhere in Bluesky, but I couldn't find it. I put up the attached photo there, my favorite of what I'm guessing is a small genre. It's of an abandoned Union Pacific car in Rhyolite, a ghost town near Death Valley NP. Yours would be a great fit!
Maybe just have a serious talk with yourself?
January 24, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Maybe just have a serious talk with yourself?