Andrew Trundlewagon's photos

Flowers of roadside agrimony (Agrimonia striata).

This is the same image I loaded a few days ago of two ambush bugs, but just out of curiosity I wanted to see what it would look like if the two ambush bugs were isolated from the background. This image has been digitally modified using AI (Google Nano Banana) to remove the flower, the insects are unchanged. I prefer the original, but this, I think, gives a very clear sense of the intricate structure and natural engineering of the two insects. The Original image: www.ipernity.com/doc/319515/53413032

This is from an Exhibition of Escher's work in Montreal, and is a photo of a video installation that animated some of his etchings.

These are Jagged Ambush Bugs. Despite appearances they are not mating; this is the "mate guarding" position with the male riding on top of the female to prevent other suitors gaining her attention. When (if?) they mate, the male will slide off the female's back and consummate the relationship holding on to her from the side. As the name suggests they ambush prey insects feeding on the flower. In the Southern Quebec region there are two species that are hard to tell apart, but by far the most common is Phymata americana.

(part two): The "Old Man of Otricoli", from the mid-1st century BCE or the late Roman Republican period. (Wikipedia disputes this date and suggests it is a copy of an older bust and is from the reign of Tiberius, 14-37AD). It was displayed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal, as part of the recent "Torlonia Collection: Masterpieces of Roman Sculpture" exhibition that included 57 pieces of Roman sculpture selected from the Torlonia Collection in Italy. No one knows who the “Old Man” was, but it is an example of verism, an artistic style with the scars of old age and life carved unflinchingly into the marble. Only the head is original, the torso is a modern addition. There is something rather moving to encounter such a lifelike face two thousand years old as he really was, a complex individual, marked with the burdens and joys of a long life.

(part one): The "Old Man of Otricoli", from the mid-1st century BCE or the late Roman Republican period. (Wikipedia disputes this date and suggests it is a copy of an older bust and is from the reign of Tiberius, 14-37AD). It was displayed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal, as part of the recent "Torlonia Collection: Masterpieces of Roman Sculpture" exhibition that included 57 pieces of Roman sculpture selected from the Torlonia Collection in Italy. No one knows who the “Old Man” was, but it is an example of verism, an artistic style with the scars of old age and life carved unflinchingly into the marble. Only the head is original, the torso is a modern addition. There is something rather moving to encounter such a lifelike face two thousand years old as he really was, a complex individual, marked with the burdens and joys of a long life.

A young deer, feeding in the woods.

The Italian Navy training ship, Amerigo Vespucci docked in the Old Port, Montreal. The masts are approx. 50 metres tall, carry 26 sails with an area of 2,824 m2 (30,400 sq ft) and 30 kilometres (19 miles) of ropes. It was launched in 1931.

Seen several months ago at a local commuter station. Make Tea not War!

Two waxwings in the treetops.

A sweat bee in a musk mallow.

Wasps on flowers (probaly Meadow sweet).

The Northern Pearly Eye lives almost entirely in the shade of the woods so it is not often that I see it. It is not colourful, and is well camouflaged, but I find the markings on the wings very appealing. It feeds mostly on tree sap, fungi and dung, rarely visiting flowers, while the caterpillars eat grasses and sedges. (Lethe anthedon, named after the Underworld river of forgetfulness, Lethe, and a Greek nymph. Anthedon).

Hibiscus in flower.

A slaty skimmer dragonfly (Libellula incesta) resting beside a lake. It is male as the female is golden brown with a black stripe. St, Bruno, Quebec. Une libellule inceste (Libellula incesta) se reposant au bord d'un lac. Il s'agit d'un mâle, la femelle étant brun doré avec une rayure noire. Saint-Bruno, Québec.

Orange hawkweed (Pilosella aurantiaca) grows in grassy fields and beside paths. It is an immigrant from Europe that grows extremely well here in Southern Quebec.

Flower of the Allegheny monkeyface plant, Mimulus ringens, which grows in wet areas. This was in the woods at the mouth of a stream that flows into a small lake.

Flowers of the Shinleaf plant (Pyrola Elliptica), small flowers found in woodlands. They contain a chemical that is similar to aspirin, and, supposedly, applying the leaves to cuts and wounds reduces inflammation, hence their slightly odd name.