Monday, June 7, 2010

This and That


Hopefully I'll squeeze in 1 more update before my trip to El Salvador/Guatemala but rest assured, I'll have plenty of non-bird photos when I return from that trip later this month. (Above: Salt marsh Dragonfly)


Above: I discovered a glass eel along the shore of Sagg Pond in Bridgehampton.  This is the larval stage of the American Eel and is the largest glass eel I've ever seen (it was just shy of 6").  The glass eel is the form this fish takes after hatching and it floats from the Sargasso Sea for 1-3 years until reaching North America where it transforms into the more often seen eel as it meanders into streams and ponds and lakes.  It's amazing how clear they are and the texture is like rubber and as evidenced in the photo it's thin like a rubber band.  After a few photos, I freed it to the water where it slithered away.
The above flower is a round-leaved sundew which is a carnivorous plant.  The "dew" droplets are actually a sticky substance secreted by the plant to attract and help digest insect prey.  It's a very small plant with the photo representing about 1/2" in size.