Last Monday I was at Heritage Park preparing for a water monitor training I was leading for Nature Up North. I aseptically collected a bottle of river water and brought it back to the biology lab at St. Lawrence University to grow the bacteria in the water sample on a petri plate. After two days of incubation this is what I got! These little colonies of E. coli and coliform bacteria grew and I counted them for our records. At first you might think "Ew!

These are better pictures than the first visit and just as exciting to see this unique deer family.

Had a great time getting to know a flower today. I've met Queen Anne's Lace before, but siting down and drawing it let me get truly acquainted, and I noticed details and parts of the plant I'd never noticed before. Nature drawing rocks! 

A blue chicory flower. This plant first came to North America with the Old World colonists. As I have researched, it is edible, and the root of the plant contains insulin.

Various fungi found on the trail in my woods.

These pictures were all taken on a trail in my woods.

While walking on the trails at the Fiver Rivers Environmental Education Center, this waxwing was flying around us and landing on the railing of a bridge over a pond. I couldn't tell if it was a Cedar or Bohemian Waxwing because I have a hard time telling one from the other without comparing size side by side. Can anyone tell from these photos?

I was dog sitting on Pine Street in early July and while I was walking the dog I noticed a bright yellow fungus growing beneath a tree on some mulch and I had to take a photo - it was such a pretty color. Did a quick google search of yellow ground fungus since I didn't know what this was or if it was even fungus. Turns out (according to Steve Maczuga of Penn State) that Dog Vomit Fungus, or Fuligo septica is not a fungus, but a slime mold.