The belly of a bird, twinings, and gall wasps
September 15, 2009
Working at the desk this week I was startled by the pecking and tapping of mourning doves on the overhead glass. Apparently some seeds had fallen in the window ridges and I was treated to this view of the belly of the bird. Such curious little creatures with their bobbing heads and ungainly waddle. This one continued walking on the glass undisturbed by my stare although he does seem to be staring back doesn't he? When checking the oak tree for acorn production, I came across this gall which attaches itself to the acorn so the wasp larvae inside can feed on the acorn as it develops. This is an acorn plum gall which seems to be trying to masquerade as a red acorn. The wasp responsible for this gall is thousands of years old and according to information from the Michigan Entomology Society has been found in fossilized form in the La Brea Tar Pits of California.
The details in the garden this time of year seem to be better than the whole picture. Are you finding this to be true or has your garden finally come into its' own this time of year?