Keen's Photos
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Ruins of a lock on the old Schuylkill Canal. The canal functioned for just over a century and played a major role in the economic development of the region carrying millions of tons of coal, as well as agricultural and other products south and manufactured goods back to the north. The canal stretched from Port Carbon (near Pottsville the county seat of Schuylkill County) to Philadelphia serving the cities of Reading (Berks County) and Pottstown (Montgomery County) and many smaller communities some of whose names preserve a bit of that heritage (Port Clinton and Leesport, for example). At its peak, the Schuylkill Canal moved more tonnage than any other canal in the country.
Thread-waisted Wasp with its prey. These wasps sting and paralyze a caterpillar and then drag it into a burrow where its eggs have been laid. The eggs hatch and begin to feed on the caterpillar which is still alive. A grisly sort of business, but an effective way to provide fresh meat for their offspring. I watched this little drama for about twenty minutes as the wasp enlarged the hole to accommodate the size of the caterpillar, dragged it underground, and then backfilled the hole. The neat pile of excess dirt was four inches away.
Red Admiral - Vanessa atalanta - my first sighting of this species in the blue Mountain Wildlife garden. The only other place I have seen one is about a mile downstream on the opposite bank of the Schuylkill River.
Compare this to the rather similar American Lady - Vanessa virginiensis - posted on 14 July.
Painted Turtle - Chrysemys picta - basking on a rock in the afternoon sun. Pond turtles need basking areas to help them regulate their temperature but where the relative safety of the water is close by. The pond at our local industrial park is perfect in this regard as there are large rocks like this one, as well as some less picturesque construction debris and old tires, that are exposed most of the time. I wish I had seen this one coming out of the water, it looks like it must have been a strenuous climb for a critter not known for its agility.
Orange Sulphur - Colias eurytheme - female - this is the white form female which characterizes a minority of the females emerging in summer. Technically, it is not possible by mere visual inspection to definitely distinguish Orange Sulphur from Clouded Sulphur females in this form, but I have not confirmed sighting of Clouded Sulphur at this location, so the odds are this one is Orange Sulphur.
Orange Sulphur - Colias eurytheme - male - in the Blue Mountain Wildlife garden. These are fairly common from early spring into fall all over the area, only slightly less common than Cabbage Whites. There is enough backlighting in this view to see that the wide black border on the upper surface of the forewing is solid; females have several areas within the border where the base color of the wings is not covered by black scales.
Monday, October 01, 2007
I-78 reconstruction work proceeded through the night for about two weeks. This photo from shortly after 4:00 AM on 22 September shows about half the material that had been stockpiled at that place; it's all gone now and work is back to a daylight schedule now - no more backup alarms on dump trucks disturbing the peaceful rest of the neighborhood.