Here’s a little Eastern Blue-eyed Grass-Sisyrinchium atlanticum to get the weekend started.
It’s “eye” is not blue, the petals are not blue but purple toned, and the plant isn’t a grass at all but a member of the iris family. For a more erudite discussion of iris relatives, click here to see Linda’s (Lagniappe/Shoreacres) post of this and a few others.
I already posted a Friday frog, but this morning was Frog Friday at Poor Farm Swamp. They are really out there now and the place was echoing croaks all morning. I’ve a few for future FFs.
I also saw one other critter across the swamp while at the Rail Trail. As with the moose I posted a few years ago, I was not at all prepared for an animal in motion so just barely got my lens pointed upwards for one not very good frame before I had a chance to boost the ISO. But at least it is recognizable.
It apparently got employment inspecting the railroad tracks and was moving right along. Wish I had a second chance.
And with that my vacation is over. I still have Saturday and Sunday but I would have anyway. The weather this past week has been disappointing. Not a sunrise to be seen and breezy almost everyday as well. But to adapt a fisherman’s phrase, a bad day of photography is still better than a good day at work. 🙂
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Great image of the bear..would make me nervous.
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I am glad that you enjoyed seeing it. It would have been better if the image was sharp but at least I have proof. 🙂
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As soon as I looked at your picture I thought about Linda’s recent post, which I then saw you linked to in your text. This is one of many flowers with blue in their common name that don’t look blue to me. In this case, of course, there are the additional mistakes of not recognizing that the “eye” is yellow, and of calling a non-grass a grass.
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I posted this on a FB native plant page also and there were a lot of comments the same as yours. Yellow-eyed purple-petaled is a bit of a mouthful. It is not a grass but then a lot of flowers with weed in their name are not in fact weeds.At least there is just one Latin name…until they get reclassified.
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Now, “weed” is a tricky word. I’ve counted over 50 native species in my area that have “weed” in one or more of their common names. Most of these “weeds” put out pretty—or at least interesting—flowers.
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That’s my point. For instance I photographed our species of Frostweed yesterday…soon to appear in a blog. And, as A.A. Milne said. “Weeds are flowers too once you get to know them.”
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What a special meeting….
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Thanks, Rudi. It was a happy one too.
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You did better with the bear than I did last weekend with fighting alligators and the bobcat. I did get a fine photo of the winner of the alligator bout, but only a thrashing tail from the fight itself.
Tom had mentioned one difference between many of our blue eyed grasses and yours. The anthers on yours tend toward a purer yellow, while some of our species are orange. It’s fun to see that difference here.
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I think I must have missed the alligator post and didn’t find it when I just looked. Maybe just mentioned in a post and I missed it?
That is the problem with shooting flowers when wildlife is near. If there is only a brief encounter it is hard to make all the changes necessary for a sharp capture. I guess if we are thinking it’s a possibility we might have a thought of a quick change in the back of our mind. My excuse…there were no herons or egrets to be seen so I did not think of birds. Had I… 🙂 I have now had exactly one “encounter” with a bear and just the one two years ago with a local moose. Oh well. Anything bigger than a bullfrog is out of my milieu. 🙂
I guess that we have yellow-eyed and your have orange-eyed. No one has blue-eyed.
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You didn’t miss the alligator post. It just happened last weekend, and I haven’t posted it yet.
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Something to look forward to.
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What a thrilling end to your vacation, and a reminder how much wilder America is compared to here – the forests adjoining my neighbourhood had bears roaming through them, but that was hundreds of years ago! Love your capture of the flower that is called a grass.
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It was exciting to be sure. My first sighting of a bear while not driving. I have had a few run across the road in front of me. That was exciting in a different way. 🙂 We had to stop feeding birds because there are bears near our neighborhood and they would occasionally take down our feeders. I take Bentley out at about 3 a.m. and that’s when the bears prowl around here. An encounter is not welcome.
There are a few other wildflowers I see around here with grass in their name. I will be posting one that is an orchid soon.
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Lovely portrait of a wildflower! Your climate is quite similar to ours here at the Arrow Lakes. Bears are also quite common here. They become a real nuisance in the fall when they climb our fruit trees.
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Bears are trouble for those who put out bird feeders here. I haven’t heard about them ruining orchards although they have been known to pass out drunk on alcoholic apples on the ground.
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Beautiful portrait of the BEG, Steve. I love this charming little flower.
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I am pretty fond of it too, Eliza. I bought one plant last year and it is flowering like crazy right now.
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A lovely start for a weekend, or any time! 🙂
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Yes it is. I am enjoying seeing them. They close their eyes at night and then open them wide in the morning. 🙂
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So a lovely start to the day too!
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Love your fisherman’s phrase and that bear sighting. Little blue-eyed grass always charmed me when I found it and I always liked the sound (at least in my mispronounced imagination) of the Latin name. .
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When we first moved in here there was Blue-eyed grass in our side yard and I would avoid mowing it. For whatever reason, it disappeared. I am glad to have them in the yard again although in a garden setting rather than totally wild. Glad you enjoyed the phrase. It is a popular bumper sticker around here.
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Like Steve, when I saw the subject of your post I was immediately reminded of Linda’s post. Despite the size of the Internet, sometimes it’s a small world.
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The timing was good as mine were just budding up when she made her post and then opened the next day. And she always offers splendid information about her subjects.
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I’m glad to have seen this post, both for the beautiful flower photo and the identification of it. I’ve recently been photographing what may be the same type of flower and this either ID’s it or helps point me in the right direction, so thanks much for that. And a bear sighting is great, even if the photo isn’t sharp. I keep hoping to see one in the forest down here, but none so far. And the only photograph I’ve made of one in the past is much like yours. 🙂 But we take what natures provides, and as you said, it beats work.
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I wasn’t very excited about returning to work this past Monday. But I am back in the groove. 🙂 I have a few friends who concentrate on wildlife so get more great images of them. I am more in tune with smaller things or landscapes so generally am not and am likely to not be prepared for an encounter. If I do get something sharp it is luck, I think. Glad that this post helped with an ID on something you are seeing there, Todd.
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