Mike Walton 🧪🦋🐍🦎🐸🥁
@bmwalton
Elly’s husband, Zach and Justin’s dad, ecologist and evolutionary biologist who’s lived a greater than 106 ppm increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
One of the many Monarch butterfly caterpillars feeding on milkweed in the backyard.
White baneberry growing in Solon Woods State Nature Preserve, a lovely patch of old growth forest in an otherwise suburban area SE of Cleveland. The berries are lovely as well, but toxic - at least to people.
American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) hanging out on the forest floor today in Rocky River Reservation in NE Ohio.
Some white jelly fungus working to breakdown a log in Rocky River Reservation in NE Ohio.
An erythristic red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) with a regenerated tail at Bessie Benner Metzenbaum Park in NE Ohio.
A lovely crown-tipped coral fungus in Welton’s Gorge Reserve, Geauga County, OH.
Partridge berry creeping across the forest floor at Beartown Lakes Reservation in NE Ohio.
A couple of red efts under a bark pile in North Chagrin Reservation, NE Ohio.
It’s spring at last. Romance and mating among spring peepers and wood frogs in my backyard pond.
An American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) calling in my backyard. Hopefully a bit of relief from shitty trumpishness.
A couple of non-native invertebrates on beech-maple forest floor in Ohio. A centipede, Lithobius forficatus, walking over a millipede, Cylindroiulus punctatus.
Lovely owlet moth, a Red-lined Panopoda, from a mature beech-maple site in NE Ohio.
On another cold winter day in NE Ohio, I look forward to seeing these in my backyard on warmer days to come-Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies (an adult and a caterpillar.
The impact of climate change on the tragic fires in Southern California brings to mind this quote from Aldo Leopold.
Fungus can be beautiful. This is a golden spindle coral fungus from NE Ohio.
On a cold snowy night looking forward to warmer days when you can encounter things like this lovely violet coral fungus.
My 1st Bluesky post! A Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) from my NE Ohio backyard a few years ago.