Back from drooling over some lovely Latvian geology? Just about got your chin dry? Well, bust out a fresh napkin, my darlings, because I have some really fine flora, cryptopods, and a UFD from RQ’s beautiful Baltic nation! She has some really excellent photographic skills. I’ve been smiling over these ever since I got them, and there’s some more that are even cuter!
First up: our UFD, posing with a young child.
I love how that UFD’s playing it cool, looking away like, “Yeah, if I can’t see the kid, maybe the kid won’t run at me shouting ‘Rawrr!’ Although since I’m a dinosaur, ‘Rawr!’ is the appropriate thing to shout.”
Here’s a cropped version, showing the bird a little closer:
Love it!
Next up: a fabulous flower and an adorable little insect:
I love it when you get that nice black background to a bright flower. RQ has the eye for floral photography! And cryptopods.
Here’s a crop so you can see our cryptopod better:
How cool are the feathery textures on those petals! And those little water-droplets! I love it too much!
I figure that cryptopod either isn’t going to be much of a challenge, or will be too generic to ID easily, so I’m including a SECOND flora/cryptopod pair. You are welcome.
And a crop, showing the lovely little cryptopod:
Awww, lookit the little hairs! SO CUTE!
There you are, my darlings, some Latvian loverlies for you to enjoy. We’ll have even more in the not-too-distant future!
Given the apparent size of the UFD and the apparent plumage on its legs, I’d say a femal grouse, probably Tetrao urogallus or T. tetrix.
I have no expertise in European birds, but, after reading up on the Wood Grouse and looking at a lot of photos, Kilian certainly seems to have it narrowed down. It was certainly fun reading up on the grouse.
The first insect looks like a gnat of some kind. Not sure at all on the second or either of the flowers.
I’m not very good with small flies, so I’m going to pass on Cryptopod II. Cryptopod III is a beetle. If I saw something like it in the western US my first guess would be flower chafer (a scarab beetle, subfamily Cetoniinae.) A better look at the antennae would help, but I’ve never been anywhere near the Baltic and there are lots of ways I could be fooled by convergent evolution.
Neat pictures!
I’m pretty sure Kilian has it with the UFD – I couldn’t get any closer for a better personal ID.
Just to add some info, though, that is a Holy Grouse. We found it wandering the grounds of the Aglona Basilica, which is a place of pilgrimage in August for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Supposedly it’s the only place in the Baltics where Mary appeared to a young girl sometime in the 17th century, and now there’s an icon in the church that is said to have healing powers. Oh, and a pope visited once. The grouse is probably looking for the same kind of enlightenment (or, judging from the season, it was escaping from hunters).
Clue time!
Both flowers are variants of fairly common garden flowers. One tends to flower in May (hereabouts) and the other in early June.
Cryptopod I is a dipteran, but that’s as far as I get with that one, myself. Cryptopod II is a very common coleoptera around here. They congregate in the centres of all kinds of flowers, esp. roses and other large-bloomed flowers, basically anything that smell sweet. You can sometimes find four or five of them within a single flower.
… And since cryptopod I = cryptopod II, that coleoptera reference should be to cryptopod III…
A bit of Googling around “Latvia flower chafer” led me to Cetonia aurata, the green rose chafer, which looks like a pretty close match. The flower looks like a rose (rugosa?), so at least it’s consistent. :)
The first beautiful flower is a tulip – a parrot variety of tulip.
The second flower is a camellia japonica (theaceae). Not sure what that last word means but if I use it in google with “camellia japonica”, I can come up with identical flowers in “images”. Camellias are very common here in the NW.
Dana – you should go to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival next April up north if you want to have a feast for your eyes and your camera!
Nice pictures!
Photographic proof that Latvia was bugged. I knew the Soviets wouldn’t just let it go live in peace.
Not a camellia! :) Something far more ordinary (well, to me, at any rate… though it is a popular flower in Asian art and symbolism).
I think you’re spot-on with the cryptopod ID.
As for the flower: It looks like a rose, but it is not a rose! I have roses that look like other variants of this flower. It might be a bit more difficult to identify since this flower mostly appears in its ‘filled’ variant, and this particular shade of brilliant magenta, from what I understand, is also more rare. Though other shades of pink are commonly seen.
It’s a lot worse than you might think. They’ve bugged the potatoes, too.
You did good, rq. These are fine images!
I like the UFD for a female Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) because of the rufous in the longish tail, and what looks like the very edge of a darkish–potentially rufous–shield on the breast, but you should take any of my IDs of European birds with a healthy dose of salt, because I have no personal experience birding there, just a copy of Lars Jonsson’s field guide.
Dang! I guess I need a leaf to help with the ID of mystery flower #2. It sure is pretty!
Actually, those developing seedpod nubbins in the middle should give the game away…
Ah! Peony, perhaps?
Yes! I have no idea what the variety is called, but it’s a peony.