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Autumn Forest
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Black Squirrel
Black squirrels seem to be multiplying in Squirrel Hill and Schenley Park. This one was browsing for acorns in the Homewood Cemetery.
The black squirrel is the same species as the gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis); it is described as a “melanistic” phase, meaning that it has more of the dark pigment melanin. There is also a very rare white phase (a true phase, not albinism) of Sciurus carolinensis, but Father Pitt has never seen a white squirrel in Pittsburgh. The white phase is so rare, in fact, that each of its widely scattered habitats seems to regard itself as the only place in the world where white squirrels live. Father Pitt has seen them in Queenstown, Maryland, where they are a famous local sight.
Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.
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Moss
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Camera: Olympus E-20n.
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Broken Tree
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Leaves Are Changing in Schenley Park
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Mushrooms in Riverview Park
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Shapes in the Woods
A selection of interesting logs, stumps, and trunks in Riverview Park.
Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.
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Early Fall in the Woods
Leaves are starting to turn along the Liberty Trail, Kane Woods Nature Area, Scott Township.
Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.
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Tomatoes That Hate You
The Phipps Summer Flower Show this year was devoted to “weird and wonderful” plants. It closes tomorrow, though you’ll be able to see bits and pieces of it a while after that during the gradual transition to the Fall Flower Show.
Here are two members of the tomato family that want to kill you. Above, Malevolence (Solanum atropurpureum) from Brazil, absolutely stuffed with poisons and guarded by horrible thorns, but decorative in its own quirky way. Below, Porcupine Tomato (Solanum pyracanthos) from Madagascar, which is also prickly and toxic, but quite beautiful in flower.
Camera: Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3.
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A Walk in the Woods
A stroll through the dappled shade of the Kane Woods Nature Area, Scott Township.
Camera: Kodak EasyShare Z1485 IS.
