Posts tagged #Nature

It's the Small Things that Matter - Macro Photography

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Wednesday Thoughts

Earth Day

Earth day came and went while most of the US were under some sort of “shelter in place” order. I remember last year they closed off parts of Broadway and had a bunch of sustainable groups that gave out freebies, or had you sign up for various things. I think the same part of Broadway is closed today, but for very different reasons. It’s nice to have a day that celebrates the marvels of this earth, but I of course like to marvel about our earth every day.

Documenting the smaller things on earth

Ever since I moved from Alaska my camera has been getting less and less attention. By now it is a bit outdated and I have been thinking that I should get a new one for several years now, just like I have been thinking that I should get a tattoo. None of that has happened, yet. At one point I got really into macro photography, because there is no better way to see natures magical world than to drop down on your knees and get close to the tiniest parts of this ecosystem. I am the type of person that will do just that and don’t think about the consequences, i.e dirty knees, until afterwards. I can easily get sucked in to the details, maybe that is why I am a lab manager.

Now when I look through all my photos I want to get back, back into photography again, but the lack of the nature I want to depict is nowhere to be found in this urban place. There are details here too of course, just not so obvious, or maybe that is the whole point. You have to search for it and train your eye for a different environment. Either way, one can dream about the nature that used to surround me at least.

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Life in New York, Photography, Nature, Wednesday Thoughts and tagged Earth Day Broadway Macro Macro Photography Photography Alaska Montana Wisconsin Puerto Rico Flowers Nature insects Life in New York Ladybug 2020 Taking Macro Photos.

The spring that came and then got cancelled - New York City

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The Spring that Sprung

This winter and early spring has been so fun. We have explored so many new and old restaurants and bars in the city but also got to go to Montuckey, Sweden and Colorado. And now we are about to go into “stay at home” mode, a modification of “shelter in place”. You can still go for a walk, go to get groceries etc, and we have more or less been in that stage for a couple of days already. I am not sure about going to the laundry mat so I am grateful that we have a washer at home!

We are already one month early with spring this year and yesterday it was 73F outside. Spring has been breaking through for a few weeks here in NYC and I have tried to follow it in Riverside Park, around Columbia University and in Central Park. I even saw a bunch of snowdrops already in February. It feels a little sad now that we have the “stay at home” order. I am not sure if we will be going on any long walks anytime soon.

But last weekend, we did venture out to Central Park. We watched spring slowly making its way through the park. A Wood duck and a turtle were sunbathing along the Loch trail. And by the reservoir you could clearly see the Cherry trees blooming.

At this point the cherry trees have been out for three weeks. You can definitely tell that spring is about a month early here in NYC. Before heading back home we took a stroll through the conservatory garden, and the Magnolias were partially blooming there. You can check out one of my posts from last spring as a comparison.

W works from home two days a week on a regular basis, so he has an office space set up in our back room/tv room/guest room. After we all got the work from home instruction on Saturday I ordered a desk, computer chair and office lamp to set up my own little nook in the living room. It’s hard to get into working from home, especially when you are a lab manager. There are of course things you can still do, albeit limited, so we will see how things evolve during these 6-8 coming weeks (or more?). How are you preparing for the coming weeks?

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Life in New York, Nature and tagged 2020 New York New York City New York Life Central Park Spring Colorado NYC Parks parks Cherry Trees Magnolia Snowdrops plants Nature buds budburst Life in NYC.

Springtime and the case of Phenological Mismatch

March 30th, 2019. Central Park

March 30th, 2019. Central Park

Signs of Spring

Budburst and Leafout

When I lived in Alaska the timing of spring was maybe more apparent compared to what it is here, in New York City. Fairbanks, AK, usually has some snow cover that lasts from October to April, sometimes even May. There are two main factors that drive a plant species budburst and leafout, temperature and light. In Fairbanks you get the right amount of light pretty early (late February-early March), so most of the time the plants are sitting around waiting for the ideal temperature. Once the warmer weather comes along and the plants accumulate enough warmth you will see budburst and leafout. The warmer temperature acts as a cue for the plant, and triggers physiological changes that starts the budburst. Leafout is so apparent around Fairbanks that you can see a change in color of the deciduous trees between morning and afternoon. You can leave town for a week during end of winter and come back to summer. I have posted the video below before, and it shows how fast spring comes and evolve in Fairbanks. It really is remarkable to see spring happen this fast, and I haven’t seen it anywhere else.

May 26th, 2013 Alaska:

April 26th, 2014 Alaska:

May 3rd, 2014. Alaska:

April 25th, 2015. Alaska:

2017 we went back to Alaska and skied in Denali on April 1st, it was an extraordinary warm spring there then, something that keeps repeating itself again, and again, and yet again. Of course it makes you extremely happy after a long dark winter, but at the same time it definitely makes you worried. Worried not only about the danger to local communities that a warm spring brings (open water instead of ice covered streams along common travel routes), but also the ecological consequences, and the possibility for a phenological mismatch to occur.

April 1st, 2017. Alaska:

Currently Alaska is experienced the highest increase in temperature world wide, and it is projected to increase into the future as well. In a state where light usually is not a problem, a shift in temperature in the early spring can be devastating for certain species. Scientists often talk about the term phenological mismatch. When two or more life cycles, of certain species that generally overlap, all of a sudden don’t overlap any longer, this results in a phenological mismatch. What this means, is that certain species are dependent on other species, let it be insects that are crucial for certain bird species once they arrive or native bird species that depend on the insects for their hatchlings. Or insects that hatch on time to get their life-cycle timed with certain flowering plants. If one or the other is delayed or sped up, and synchrony is disrupted, it can be detrimental for certain species. We know that changes in the lower level of the ecosystem chain, can have huge effect on the upper level. Just last week Alaska broke the record of the earliest warmest day when it hit 70 degree F.

Flowering Magnolia in Madison 2018:

This past weekend we walked through Central Park and got a first look at spring here. The Magnolia is already blooming, in Madison that didn’t happen until mid-April and in Alaska snow is usually still on the ground right now as I mentioned earlier. But, then again, it’s all a matter or temperature once the sunlight is sufficient. This was also one of the first times I really felt like a New Yorker. The feeling that I am not just here for the weekend, the week, this month or the next 6 months. I never know how to identify myself after I move to a new city, especially now when I have been in the US for so long. If people ask me where I am from, should I say Madison, Fairbanks, New York or Stockholm. Who am I really, and why do we always identify ourselves with the origin of our lives? I guess in one sense we are all shaped by our origins, but at one point we will have lived longer somewhere else other than our birth place, and who are we then? There is a quote that I really like, from a Salomon running movie about Anna Frost, about home that really identifies how I feel about Home. I don’t know where the quote originated from, or if it’s a mix of several quotes put together.

“Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your mind, something you dream about and think about. Maybe it’s not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you visited. Maybe Home is just a collection of memories and our roots, based on nostalgia”

Central Park March 30th, 2019:

What are the signs of spring where you are, and did spring come early?

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Science, Life in New York and tagged 2019 Spring Science leaf-out Budburst Central Park Alaska Nature Wisconsin Life in NYC.