Sign in

Nick in NC

@nicknc.bsky.social
1.2K followers 595 following 3.2K posts

gardener, amateur naturalist. neurobiologist. mennonite. Views my own. All photos mine. May include predator-prey interactions, spiders, and snakes. sweetgumandpines.wordpress.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Building greenhouse, in my 30s: “This roof I designed is really high and looks cool. Time for a beer now.” Replacing greenhouse roof, in my 50s: “Who designed this ridiculous fucking roof to be 12 ft high and too steep to walk. Need to rest for a week now.” Replacing roof again, in my 70s: ??????
1142
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Foliage of Tradescantia sillamontana doesn’t look great after heavy rain this week, but the flowers are cute. 🌱🌴
Triangular three-petaled magenta flowers above fuzzy foliage.
0184
Reposted by Nick in NC
taenia @taenia.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
so anyway the North Cascades are pretty nice
A mountain valley overlooking a small lake. The foreground is mostly short bushes with red and yellow leaves, with a few dark spruces and lime green larches scattered around. The background shows craggy mountains under a blue sky
17110
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My favorite plant family is definitely Orchidaceae, but Ericaceae (heather, rhododendron, etc.) is a close second. Because there isn't a lot flowering in the garden right now, I'm going to post one ericad photo a day until I run out or get bored.
1240
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The temperature outside has dropped to a frigid 16 C, and it is only 23 C indoors. Time to break out the fleece-lined flannel shirt.
370
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
As I was sliding a tray into the oven, a flower crab spider fell from the ceiling with an audible plop, narrowly missing my frozen strudel. I whipped the tray back out, and the spider was non the worse for its brief sojourn in the furnace. Not sure why it was in the house instead of the garden.
A black and white crab spider is sitting on a blue silicone baking mat in an aluminum tray.
081
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Bulbophyllum corolliferum. This was one of my first orchids, purchased 32 years ago and still going strong. Flowers smell like mushrooms. 🌱🌴
an orchid with clustered yellow flowers. The individual flowers have large lateral sepals and small petals.
1305
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Me: “I don’t understand people who get angry at TV sports.” Also me, yelling at the screen during Jeopardy: “Grendel! Who is Grendel, you dumbfucks!”
1102
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The heck? No one else likes dung beetles? I think they’re pretty awesome. This one was cleaning up after a raccoon (I think) who ate too many persimmons.
070
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Dung beetles move like they’re animated by Ray Harryhausen.
140
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
An umbrella makes a pretty good impromptu snake hook if you need to gently encourage a copperhead to get off the road.
050
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Jordan Lake yesterday afternoon. A bald eagle did a close flyby at sunset.
Still water, bright green willow and marsh grasses, dark pine trees, blue sky, and white clouds.
2183
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Big Bloomers in Sanford is always an exciting trip. You never know what what will be lurking in the greenhouses. Today I got Medinilla sedifolia, which I have wanted for literally decades, Pseudorhipsalis amazonica, and Orbea caudata. And gazed longingly at more than a dozen other species.
110
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I think this is a male Carolina mantid, but I have never before seen one with bright green legs.
A slender, mottled brown mantis with green legs is walking across a glass door.
2113
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Polianthes tuberosa (tuberose), originally from Mexico but no longer found in the wild. All surviving plants are likely derived from those cultivated by the Aztecs. I planted half a dozen a few years ago and forgot about them. This one survived several winters before surprising me with flowers. 🌱
Stark white tubular flowers on an upright inflorescence.  One of them is being visited by a bumble bee.
1416
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
We were at the end of a holiday in Ireland. Got to our B&B in Dublin shortly before the south tower collapsed, and the owner met us at the door with “come and see what is happening in your country”.
110
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Rhododendron 'Ne Plus Ultra' buds opening for the first time in my collection. This is the cultivar (introduced 1892) that James H. Veitch chose to illustrate his 1906 history of his nursery's 50-year vireya hybridization program. Judging by its name, he thought it was something special. 🌴🌱
1343
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Well, crap. I didn’t expect the shiitake logs to do anything in this extreme heat, so I wasn’t paying attention. Suddenly, I have the biggest crop of mushrooms ever, and they’re all too far gone to harvest.
Oak logs covered with shiitake mushrooms
2393
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Fuzzy pink sage. 🌱 Salvia oxyphora in my neighbor’s garden today. . .
Furry, hot-pink tubular flowers in a tight cluster.
2314
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Rhododendron ‘Aravir’ shrugged off the extreme heat this week. In fact, all of my vireyas are doing surprisingly well. 🌴🌱
A tropical rhododendron with large, pristine white flowers and golden anthers.
0447
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I see the US dialect quiz is making the rounds again. Interesting how dialect/accent can be both malleable and fixed. I moved to the US as a teenager, and 5 years in the northeast had a permanent effect on how I speak. But 6 in the midwest and almost 30 in the southeast have made little difference.
A map of the United States overlaid with colors. The northeast is red, while other regions are blue or gray.
020
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Nice! Question about RTP on Jeopardy.
010
Reposted by Nick in NC
Colton the fish squeezer🐟🪴📚🏕️🐝 @fishsqueezer.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I know #InverteFest ended yesterday, but I got to visit Musselshell Creek today for the first time and it was so beautiful and also still full of mussels. Please love it with me.
A clear creek with huge boulders and piney hinterlands. The nearest rock has a horizontal log balanced on it.An underwater view of a group of mussels growing in some sandy gravel. There is filamentous algae on most things.
1381
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Hooray! It’s muscadine season!
A big flat of dark purple muscadine grapes.  The grapes are large, perfectly spherical, and individual, not in bunches. 
171
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This guy is distressed that his favorite human has gone off to university. He keeps leading me back to her room to show me that she isn’t there. Then he yells at me. #Caturday
A dark tabby cat is standing on the gray leather sofa that I am sitting on.
0231
Reposted by Nick in NC
Rachel Leggett @rleggos.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I got the shot. I've been scheming and hoping the conditions would work out for this for two weeks!! 🪶
A broad-tailed hummingbird hovers next to an anise hyssop plant framed by purple blooms and with a rainbow behind it!!! The bird also has a little bead of water on its bill because it is raining.
17186901984
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This is the third or fourth lunar eclipse that I have seen, but it is still pretty cool.
030
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
This little dude hopped out onto my arm when I opened the locker to get my new tank from the self-service propane kiosk at Home Depot. Set him free in the woods at the edge of the parking lot.
A small Cope’s gray tree frog is perfectly camouflaged on concrete.&
2245
Reposted by Nick in NC
Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Happy weekend! Here’s an ancient Egyptian bead in the form of a curled-up blue hedgehog! Look at the little face and paws! 🦔💙 Made of faience around 3,600 years ago. National Museum of Scotland 📷 by me #Archaeology
My photo shows an ancient Egyptian hollow blue spherical bead in the form of a hedgehog curled up in a defensive ball displayed on a grey background. It is made of Egyptian faience, a ceramic material with a shiny blue glaze. The hedgehog's snout, ears, paws and tail are shown in relief, and the quills are represented by black dots painted over the surface of the bead. A smll hole for threading runs through the sphere - it can be seen on the right hand side of the bead in my photo. The hedgehog's long ears suggest this is a desert hedgehog. Desert hedgehogs may have symbolized rebirth to the ancient Egyptians because they reappear after hibernating. Dated c.1985 - 1650 BC. On display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
201095283
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Sir, I understand that you enjoy a good wallow in a muddy puddle, but the middle of the road is not a suitable location for your ablutions. #herps
A smallish eastern box turtle, probably male, judging by eye color and carapace flare, is digging around in the mud of an unpaved road after overnight rain.
1313
Reposted by Nick in NC
Erik A. Rodriguez @erin-rod.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Today, I would like to honor the memory of Roger Y. Tsien, who died on August 24, 2016. His legacy lives with all who use his technologies, including calcium sensors, fluorescent proteins, the acetoxymethyl (AM) ester, & many more! #FluorescenceFriday www.nature.com/articles/nme...
012938
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
From the second-hand bookshop yesterday evening. It’s always a good day when I find a John M Ford that I don’t already own.
A selection of used books:  London’s Underworld (Henry Mayhew, a modern reprint), Victorian London (Eliza Picard), Of Golden Toads and Serpent’s Roads (Paul Freed), Growing Up Weightless (John M Ford), Elder Race (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
000
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Green (Inca) jays in forest above Caracas, 1998. I don't have a new photo to post today, so here's my oldest taken with a digital camera, a Sony Mavica FD7. The FD7 saved 640 x 480 pixel images on a 3.5" floppy. I still have the camera but no charger and no way to read the disk that is inside it.
Colorful birds with dark, blue/black face, green back and wings, and yellow breast are seen in a park on the mountain above Caracas, Venezuela.
081
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Two 600g tubs of Marmite arrived just in time. I had almost run out.
121
Reposted by Nick in NC
mossworm.bsky.social @mossworm.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Let us examine the set of circumstances that led to this Eulimnadia clam shrimp living out its entire live cycle in a styrofoam cup on the ground.
Styrofoam cup in a ditchView of the cup showing some water and algae insideA live adult clam shrimp living happily in the cup
524369
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I got some new bookcases, so I am rearranging books that have been languishing in boxes. I received this “children’s version” of The Canterbury Tales from my godmother, so you can imagine my surprise when I read an unexpurgated version in high school. (The Miller’s Tale, lol)
A book entitled “The Road to Canterbury” by Ian Serraillier with pictures of the pilgrims and scenes from the tales.
000
Reposted by Nick in NC
Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Out for a lil walk round the neighborhood, suddenly and unexpectedly PLEASED
Big ol polypore growing on one of our hundreds of quietly decaying tree stumps in my Pittsburgh neighborhood. But wait, what’s that? Could it be?YES it is a PLEASING FUNGUS BEETLE, family Erotylidae, genus Megodacne, having an adorable nibble of the ol sporocarp
410817
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
There are few places with better energy than an American university campus on move-in day.
040
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
About 75% of eastern box turtles clam up when I carry them across the road. The other 25% attempt to walk on air. This one was an air walker. It was surrounded by a cloud of mosquitos, several of them visibly distended with blood. #herps
A terrestrial turtle with a dull brown and yellow carapace and bright yellow spots on its head and legs.
2819
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
So incredibly delicate. A pleated inkcap (Parasola plicatilis), I think.
A tiny, translucent mushroom that looks like a parasol that has been blown inside out by the wind.
1444
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Latest #SixonSaturday. I included some plants among the fungi this week. 🌱
sweetgumandpines.wordpress.com
Six on Saturday #101; August 15, 2026
The biological diversity on our little plot of land never ceases to amaze me. I like to think I’m a fairly observant guy, but after nearly twenty years living here, I can still find things th…
1194
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Just the tiniest snek. Baby smooth earth snake, I think. #herps
A extremely small snake beside a US quarter dollar coin.  The length of the snake’s head is about the distance between L and B in Liberty, and the width of its body is about equal to the distance between George Washington’s nose and the edge of the coin.
2435
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Walmart is selling pine cones. In North Carolina. They’re selling pine cones in North Carolina.
A bag of pine cones for sale in the crafts and decorations section of Walmart.
280
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
While out mushroom hunting in the backyard this weekend, I noticed that huge numbers of cranefly orchids are flowering. They flower while leafless, and the flowers are almost invisible against the leaf litter except when a sunbeam lights them up. 🌱
Small, brownish yellowish orchid flowers lit by the sun against a backdrop of fallen leaves.
1327
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
When I was an undergrad (late 80s), I had a prof who wouldn’t permit calculators in exams but joked that slide rules were ok. I went to the student bookstore and found an older employee. She led me to a dusty box in the basement full of slide rules that had been pulled from the shelves in the 1970s.
160
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Crinum ‘Infusion’ standing tall—about 4 1/2 ft tall. 🌱
A massive Crinum with dark pink flowers on a tall, upright stalk above strap-shaped leaves.
0375
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Shaggy stalked bolete, Aureoboletus betula. Found two this morning.
A mushroom with a reddish brown cap that looks slippery and a weirdly reticulated yellow/brown stalkCloseup of the stalk.Another shaggy stalked bolete emerging from the leaf litter like an alien antenna.
0514
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Aaaaand another Hygrocybe, I think. This one has a yellow stalk and is larger than the presumed Hygrocybe miniata that I found the other dayZ
A small, bright orange mushroom with yellow stalk.
091
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
So, I steeped myself in DEET and went outside for 20 minutes. Found ANOTHER blue mushroom. This one seems to be Lactarias indigo. There is a small cluster at the base of one of our biggest white oaks.
A mushroom with undulate edges and concentric rings of blue pigment.
040
Nick in NC @nicknc.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Eeeeee! The color! Russula parvovirescens, I am fairly certain. Every time I go outside this week, I find more mushroom species.
The cap of blue-green mushroom.Side view of the mushroom.  At the edge of the cap, the blue-green color fades to ivory.
820919