| Friday after
work I headed across the Patullo and decided to stop by Queen's
Park for a little photography before it got dark. Queen's Park has
flowerbeds here and there, and I started with some of those. Daffodils
and tulips were in bloom, and I decided to try to get some different
shots of different daffodils. |
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Daffodils, of course,
are also called narcissus (which is their scientific name)
and jonquils. (Technically, jonquils are a type of daffodil;
not all daffodils are jonquils. However, in some places, the term
jonquil is used for all daffodils.) There are over 25,000
registered varieties of daffodils.
Some folks call the
middle part that projects forward the trumpet, and some
call it the corona, or the cup. That part is ringed
by usually one layer of six petals, called the petals (I'd
like to be the guy that dreamed that name up) or the perianth.
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| Anyhow,
I was trying to catch different daffs in different moods, using
only my long telephoto lens. Here I got one backlit by the sun. |
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| So far I
had been dealing with one-flower-per-stem daffodils, but my last
one was a multiple-flower-per-stem daffodil. Horticulturists divide
the daffodils into eleven to thirteen groups, and most of the groups
are one-flower-per-stem. My amateur classification of this would
be in Division 7, the Jonquilla, because of the multiple small flowers
with flat petals. (Although it could be in Division 8, the Tazetta,
as the stem seems pretty thick....hmmmm.) |
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| Well, on
that puzzler I left the daffodils and turned my attention to the
tulips. I was trying a lot of different things and got fairly ordinary
results. I did find one red tulip with a petal or two missing, and
it made for photos that felt a little more original or interesting. |
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| Past the
flowers, I went over by the petting zoo, and found a few black squirrels
on the park lawn. Here's one of the little guys, giving me a good
looking-over. |
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| The petting
zoo was still closed, and so I headed across the road to investigate
a few clumps of trees and bushes, hoping to find some birds. In
and around the evergreens, I caught glimpses of a few Varied Thrushes
flying about. With some stalking and some patience, I managed to
finally get a clear view of one in some sunlight. |
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| I then headed
over to a row of bushes where I had seen some little birds flitting
around. I fairly quickly found a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, who was obligingly
showing just a little of the crown for which he is named. Often
I will see these guys and not see a speck of red on them. They can
raise or lower the crown at will; when it's fully raised it's quite
dramatic. |
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| I watched
for other little birds flying around the bushes, and was rewarded
with a few encounters with Bushtits. Here's one hanging below a
branch. |
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| That was
about it for birds at the park—nothing out of the ordinary.
I headed on back to my car, but stopped to photograph some flowers
on the way. |
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As near as I can determine,
these are either a species of Potentilla (a cinqfoil) or
Ranunculus (a buttercup). Many of the flowers had more
than five petals. Let me know if you know their identity.
That was it for my
Friday afternoon in the park. Dinner was calling!
Feeling floral,
Tom
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