Nick Mark, MD @nick

6 posts6 participants0 posts today

**cohan** @cohanf@mastodon.online · 5h *

A little #ForestFloor vignette from yesterday afternoon. There is no fresh green here, yet, though Aspen and Willow catkins are bursting out and should soon be flowering, leaves and non-woody plants will follow..
Meantime #WildflowerWednesday #WildflowerHour will have to settle for the resilient leaves of Pink-flowered #Wintergreen Pyrola asarifolia against a backdrop of beautiful #lichen on a fallen bit of birch trunk. #LichenSubscribe #BorealForest #Alberta #Canada #spring #SolaceInNature

A fallen bit of birch trunk, a hand's width or less, crosses the frame from side to side in the top half. It has become completely covered in the small multiply branching 'fronds' of a pale blue-green lichen. The surface is dusted with reddish fallen spruce needles and bits of golden green moss have taken hold as well, including one spreading clump near the centre top. Below, in front centre is a small rosette of wintergreen, it's several deep green slightly purple-red limned leaves- clearly last year's, not fresh- are highlighted against the pale lichen. The wintergreen leaves rise from a layer of faded grey-brown poplar leaves from last year, wet between from recent snow melt and rain.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · 1d

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Closeup of a cluster of blooms on a Bradford Pear tree - tiny, white five-petalled flowers with dark pink and bright green stamens - against an intentionally blurred background of a bright blue sky and green foliage.

#SpringBeauty #bloomscrolling #flora

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · 3d

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

#SilentSunday

Black and white photo of a yarrow bloom (single long stem capped by a plethora of fine white florets)

#BlackAndWhitePhotography #monochrome #bloomscrolling

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · 4d

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

Raise a glass to freedom! Thank you to everyone who attended and supported today’s nationwide protests. We must keep raising our voices to protect our democracy.

A calling fish crow (glossy all-black bird with a thick beak) in a budding tree against a clear blue sky.

#50501Movement #GoodTrouble #WeThePeople

**cohan** @cohanf@mastodon.online · 5d *

5d *

cohan @cohanf@mastodon.online

I greet the day
breathing slowly
I draw in Life energy:
Streaming, radiant Sun/Starshine
and swirling, seeping, dark Soil/Earthfire
join inside me
giving me Love/Strength to go forward.
#pagan #animist #love #SelfCare #SolaceInNature #Alberta #Canada #EnergyWork #photography #landscape

Dramatic sky over early spring austere landscape. To each side of the view a couple of nearly silhouetted poplar trees frame an open area with low grazed grass and browsed saplings/suckers in front of a wetland patch of mid height clumps of golden dry grass, sunlit in the centre. An area of mixed poplar and spruce farther back extends from the right to left of centre. A cloud mass fills the mid left from horizon to beside and just above the mixed woods- the lower areas smooth and dark, top edge fading into pale to white fine wisps with a jumbly zone above the trees. Farther up on the left a near white ball of sun with faint coloured rays hangs above the cloud. The upper mid part of the sky is blue.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · 5d

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

A couple weeks ago @CTGT and I headed to a local spot where we get good looks at Wood Ducks in March. Along with seeing about ten of them, we had the delight of seeing another coolly graphic species, a wayward Long-tailed Duck.

A nonbreeding male long-tailed duck swimming on wind-rippled water - distinctive black, white, gray, and brown markings; pink and black bill; long pointed tail.

#birds #birding #BirdPhotography

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 31

Mar 31

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

Home opener underway - I’m ready for some #OriolesMagic! ️

A male Baltimore Oriole (black head, beak, and eye; bright orange underneath; black wings with bold white wingbars) sits on a metal pole against an intentionally blurred background of green foliage.

#BaltimoreOrioles #birds #birding

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 31

Mar 31

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

Farewell #MarshMadness. We hardly knew ye.

#GreenHeron #birds #birding #SolaceInNature #NaturePhotography #DelightOverDarkness

A green heron (small dark heron, blue-green back, rusty-colored neck, dark cap) facing left on a small branch amidst green leaves.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 30

Mar 30

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

Wings up! The dancing, whirling, and twirling of this perpetual motion immature Reddish Egret in a beach marsh make it the most entertaining bird I’ve ever seen. Pure joy and abandon.

#MarshMadness #SunsetBeach #birds #birding #GoneToCarolinaInMyMind #SolaceInNature #NaturePhotography #DelightOverDarkness

An immature Reddish Egret (large heron with pale gray plumage and a dark bill and legs) skipping through shallow blue beach marsh water with its wings raised against a background of bright green reeds.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 29

Mar 29

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

A trio of Mute Swan cygnets from last June. New life makes me smile and gives me hope.

#MarshMadness #SouthCapeMayMeadows #birds #birding #BabyBirds #SolaceInNature #NaturePhotography #DelightOverDarkness

Three juvenile mute swans (light brown downy plumage with dark gray bills) swim in beach marsh water; a small white feather floats in front of them.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 28

Mar 28

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

A #FridayFlashback to early June last year when things were going swimmingly.

#MarshMadness #SouthCapeMayMeadows #birds #birding #ducklings #SolaceInNature #NaturePhotography #DelightOverDarkness

A female Mallard (mottled brown, black bill with yellowish-orange areas) swimming with her six downy ducklings (cream, tan, and brown), on her left and just behind, in beach marsh water tinged blue by the sky’s reflection.

**cohan** @cohanf@mastodon.online · Mar 27

Mar 27

cohan @cohanf@mastodon.online

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we had a #weather forecast for #rain + #snow possibly quite a bit. It stayed rain longer than forecast, finally going white (for a short time) late his morning; stopped for now, but still a possibility of 10-20cm through tomorrow night. Yesterday afternoon when it was just wet / kinda dark I took a short walk on the acreage- I like the #forest best when it's wet! #mosstodon #GoOutsideForMe #GetOutside #Alberta #Canada #SolaceInNature #nature #BorealForest

We see part of the bottom of a balsam poplar tree trunk in upper left, leaning away out of frame. It is medium/dark grey, deeply furrowed vertically and covered in a thin layer of green moss and lichens in silver-green. The base of one large root shows at the left of the trunk and extends toward the lower left of the image, dividing the frame nearly in half, diagonally. The ground is covered with grey to red-brown fallen leaves from last year with a few small clumps of dried grass and fallen dark twigs here and there. Everything is wet dark. We don't see the root itself after the first foot or so away from the trunk, but we can tell where it is just below the surface, since the shallow or lacking soil on top of it has meant nothing is growing there except moss.The moss is bright to reddish green, with a generous sprinkling of dry red spruce needles. It rises just above the leaf litter in irregular clumps and blobs, sometimes touching, some with gaps, higher near the trunk, lower farther away as the root decreases in size/height.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 27

Mar 27

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

Brunch espied in the blue sky reflection.

#MarshMadness #SnowyEgret #BlueSkies #BombayHook #birds #birding #SolaceInNature #NaturePhotography #DelightOverDarkness

From October 2024: A Snowy Egret (small white heron with a black bill, yellow lores, and black legs) forages in the shallow rippling water along the muddy marsh edge.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 26

Mar 26

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

Black and blue.

#MarshMadness #BlackVulture #BlueSkies #WoodlandBeach #birds #birding #raptor #SolaceInNature #NaturePhotography #DelightOverDarkness

From October 2024: A large raptor with all-black plumage, black wrinkled-skin head, large beak with a hooked tip, looks over its shoulder while perched on a branch with dried leaves against a bright blue cloudless sky.

**cohan** @cohanf@mastodon.online · Mar 25 *

Mar 25 *

cohan @cohanf@mastodon.online

Another: I took #photos on #MacroMonday but just getting some posted today! How about #TextureTuesday ? or #TwiggyTuesday #TranquilTuesday
These ones for #LichenSubscribe (I actually got out the micro lens for a while yesterday..) My (not large) finger for scale in first shot, next views of the tiny bits on that and adjacent twigs! #nature #Alberta #Canada #SolaceInNature #TinyBeauty #lichens

A tiny and complex bit of silver-grey lichen composed of many tiny birds-nest shapes and some longer flat pieces with tinier dots that will presumably grow into more of those tiny bowls. The surrounding twig, smaller than finger diameter, is dark and bumpy, mostly blurred- bark texture and maybe another dark lichen?

A T-shaped branch intersection (no more than finger diameter, probably less) with the arms of the T starting from lower left angling to upper right, the upright of the T angling to lower right. Just at the centre of the intersection, the twig is wrapped in a golden orange fine textured lichen.It is composed of flatter bits underneath and roundish tiny mounds on top-- kind of like little piles of red letils cooked till they are starting to fall apart. To each side on the bar of the T are equally tiny bits of silver foliose lichen. Backround is blurred warm grey woodland.

A closer view of the orange lichen, showing more of the grainy texture in the centre of each tiny body- probably fruiting structures?
A T-shaped branch intersection (no more than finger diameter, probably less) with the arms of the T starting from lower left angling to upper right, the upright of the T angling to lower right. Just at the centre of the intersection, the twig is wrapped in a golden orange fine textured lichen.It is composed of flatter bits underneath and roundish tiny mounds on top-- kind of like little piles of red letils cooked till they are starting to fall apart. To each side on the bar of the T are equally tiny bits of silver foliose lichen. Backround is blurred warm grey woodland.

My not especially large, pinkish finger is held beside a dark twig, which is a little smaller in diameter, and with multiple spots of several kinds of very tiny lichens- the close-ups to come show patches no bigger than a (short) fingernail.

**Cambirdsong** @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town · Mar 25

Mar 25

Cambirdsong @cheriecreationstruck@birds.town

Morning light reflections. I love the elegance of American Avocets.

#MarshMadness #BombayHook #birds #birding #SolaceInNature #NaturePhotography #DelightOverDarkness

From October 2924: A large shorebird with cool, graphic black and white wings, very long, thin, upturned bill, and long blue-gray legs, foraging in shallow water that is reflecting the bird and foliage along the marsh edge.

Continued thread

**cohan** @cohanf@mastodon.online · Mar 24 *

Mar 24 *

cohan @cohanf@mastodon.online

another:
#nature #LichenSubscribe #ForestFloor #GetOutside #SolaceInNature #Alberta #Caanda #FindBeauty #Joy #Peace #photography sorta #MacroMonday #FotoMontag

A small knob of old wood- maybe part of a fallen branch or edge of a stump or bit of protruding root- covered with moss and lichens, surrounded by last year's dry leaves on the top and left, and to right and in front half melted granula looking snow. The lichens include the pixie cup type- tiny shallow irregular cups of grey green, some with reddish bumps around the rim rise on short tubes from grey green bases. These range from very small to super tiny.There also seem to be several other types of lichen- flatter branched silver grey, fine textured mid green foliose, a bit of a dark reddish rimmed larger foliose type as well as some low green moss. Early spring sun hits the middle of the lichen patch and some of the dry leaf and snow background, other parts are in contrasting shadow.

**cohan** @cohanf@mastodon.online · Mar 24

Mar 24

cohan @cohanf@mastodon.online

Watched news this morning- Canadian (mostly about coming election: worrying but not full on devastation at the moment) + U.S./International (mostly devastation by U.S. actions and other regional dictators). Yikes. Now YouTube has recommended a woman in evening dress playing a huge harp on the beach for nearly 90 minutes. Sure, I'll take that, along with editing some #nature photos!
#SolaceInNature #love #solidarity #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest #Alberta #Canada #photography #SelfCare #positivity