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pro tem pictorial quiz

Bigboote

Bigboote

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I spent a couple of weeks on the coast of Maine recently, including a week camping in Acadia National Park. I took a lot of pictures of the local flora and geography. I thought I'd post them in the form of a quiz since there hasn't been one in awhile. I think many of these are gimmes, but there might be a few stumpers.

Evidently I can only post one pic per image, but the questions are all listed in a separate message at the end.

1) These trees have swollen sore-like patches caused by scale insects:
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3) This small plant, with five leaflets, will have a cluster of very dark berries. (You can see the blooms below the leaves.) The berries have been used to make soda. What are the plant and the soda called?

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7) When a pine tree dies some time before it falls, flammable saps drain to lower parts of the trunk, leading to wood that burns like this. Give one or two names for this type of wood, commonly used as a fire starter.

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8) The pink granite that makes up much of Mount Desert Island is also common in what mountain range? This recognition lent credence to the theory of plate tectonics.

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10) Old man’s beard (which I’d always thought was Spanish moss, but that doesn’t grow as far north as Mt Desert) is an epiphytic type of what life form that’s a combination of fungus and algae?

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11) This caterpillar will turn into a monarch butterfly, which is well-known among its predators to be toxic. But it’s not congenitally toxic. What causes the toxicity?

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Here are the questions all in one message to make them easier to respond to:

1) These trees have swollen sore-like patches caused by scale insects

2) Loons must run on the water in order to get enough lift to fly. Why?

3) This small plant, with five leaflets, will have a cluster of very dark berries. (You can see the blooms below the leaves.) The berries have been used to make soda. What are the plant and the soda called?

4) This little plant is called bunchberry. It is closely related to what common decorative tree?

5) Name a key difference between damsel flies and dragon flies. Which one is this?

6) True or false: Bald eagles generally mate for life.

7) When a pine tree dies some time before it falls, flammable saps drain to lower parts of the trunk, leading to wood that burns like this. Give one or two names for this type of wood, commonly used as a fire starter. (I know of at least three names for it.)

8) The pink granite that makes up much of Mount Desert Island is also common in what mountain range? This recognition lent credence to the theory of plate tectonics.

9) This orchid is common to coastal regions on both sides of the Atlantic.

10) Old man’s beard (which I’d always thought was Spanish moss, but that doesn’t grow as far north as Mt Desert) is an epiphytic type of what life form that’s a combination of fungus and algae?

11) This caterpillar will turn into a monarch butterfly, which is well-known among its predators to be toxic. But it’s not congenitally toxic. What causes the toxicity?

12) These are the blooms of what carnivorous plant that lures its prey down into a pool of digestive juices?

13) Gray squirrels tend to live in deciduous forests, while these squirrels tend to live in coniferous forests.

14) Those couple of light-colored boulders were deposited by glaciers. What’s the term for rocks that’s happened to?

15) These sorts of fungi that grow out usually parallel to the ground are named for something you might set a book on.
 
1) Birch
4) Dogwood
5) Damsel fly - they fold their wings. A dragon fly's wings are always at 90 deg to it's body.
6) True
10) Lichen
11) From feeding on milkweed
12) Pitcher plants
13) Red Squirrels
14) Erratics
15) Shelf Mushrooms
 
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Just to show moral support for the quizzes (this will be embarrassing)

1. Birch?
2. My guess is that they run awkwardly on land for some reason...do they have big flipper feet?
10. Lichen?
12. Looks kind of like a pitcher plant.
 
7. Fatwood
9. Lady Slipper - love to come across these on walks in CT woods, usually late May - early June
 
Gamecockfan77 said:
2. My guess is that they run awkwardly on land for some reason...do they have big flipper feet?
Expand ...

I should clarify: They need to run in order to take off. I've only seen them take off from the water.
 
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Bigboote said:
Probably West Coasters and Southerners, too. ;)
Expand ...
Don't concern yourself. I've been in that area and never observed even some of what you have photographed so nicely. And I don't know much about it, either.

OTH - have visited (seen) all but a few of the Maine lighthouses, and I have a strong interest in select historical stuff. Before the summer's over, I'll do a pro tem quiz primarily relating to military history - Civil War, World Wars primarily.
 
2) Their bones are solid. While that allows them to dive in water very effectively, it makes taking off very challenging. I worked in the Experimental Lakes Area in Canada (a little north of Lake Superior) for 3 summers, and once I saw a loon make three loops around a lake (after it became airborne) before it had enough elevation to clear the trees surrounding the small lake.

4) Dogwood.

5) Damselflies can fold their wings, but dragonflies cannot. Your picture is of a Calopterigid, so you were probably near a stream, as damselflies are not strong fliers like dragonflies, and the other families of damselflies are lake/marsh dwellers.

6) True.

7) Fatwood.

9) Lady slipper. I love spring ephemerals!

10) Lichen

11) The toxicity is due to alkaloids from its host plant, the milkweed. We have desert milkweeds out here in Arizona, and they are eaten by monarchs and milkweed bugs, which are bright red and black, warning coloration (aposematism) just like monarchs.

12) Pitcher plants. I think carnivorous bog plants are cool! They are capturing insects not for energy, but for nutrients! Pitcher plants are also found in rain forests, which are also very low in soil nutrients. Bog plants suffer low nutrient availability because their defining plant, sphagnum moss, releases hydrogen ions as part of its metabolism, preventing bacteria from thriving and breaking down organic matter to release the nitrogen and phosphorus bound there.

13) Red squirrels.

15) Shelf fungus.
 
Really like your photos!
  1. The tree kinda looks like birch but really can't tell. BTW, are you sure about the bumps being caused by scale or gall mites?
  2. Loons have small wings relative to their body size. Thus they must gain speed in order for sufficient air to flow under their wings for take off. Also Loons unlike most birds have solid bones, not unlike the geotropic penguin.
  3. Don't really know so two guesses. Poke berry certainly has very dark berries but I never heard of anyone concocting soda from the poke berry … salads yes (ask Annie!). I have heard of blackberry soda but only homemade which was called blackberry soda.
  4. The leaves and flower seem to closely resemble those of the dogwood tree.
  5. This is a damselfly since its wings are folded back against its body. The dragonfly at rest has its wings perpendicular to its body.
  6. True. Mrs. SVC and I would drive NW of Saint Louis to Lock & Dam 24 on the Mississippi River to view anywhere from 30 to 75 bald eagles. They wintered there for easy “pickens.” The fish would get stunned by the lock & dam operation and float on the water.
  7. Kindling
  8. Rocky Mountains
  9. The Pink Slipper Orchid! At least this is what it reminds me off.
  10. Lichen
  11. It eats milkweed which is poisonous. Our Penn State Master Gardener Program has been encouraging gardeners to plant milkweed which we provide to help the Monarch flutter-by. Of course it comes with a great deal of education since eating milkweed is a risky proposition without detailed knowledge which kids don't understand. So save the Monarchs or the kids?
  12. Some variety of the pitcher plant.
  13. The Little Boote squirrel!
  14. Eratics
  15. Shelf mushrooms
 
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I quite enjoyed this. It was really just a twist on posting pics, but y'all came through.

1) Sorry for the poor pic. The trees are beeches, and the insect is commonly called the beech scale. Kudos to SVC for causing me to question my clue and look it up. The scales enable the disease by perforating the bark; this enables a fungus to infest the trees between the bark and wood, causing the sores.

2) Choke and SVC

3) The little guys are a type of sasparilla. We're usually up there when the plants are be

4) NWHoops and Rocket lead a quartet

5) SVC identifies it, and FightinChoke even gives the fly a name and reminds me that we were about 200 feet from a stream (and a pond) when I snapped this one.

6) Rixx rings in along with three others correctly identifying our nesting pair as wedded for life.

7) Bantamlaker and Choke ring in with fatwood. I've also heard it called heart pine and lightwood. We were very excited when our pack of kindling had a couple of pieces of it, as it rained most of the time we were camping.

8) Believe it or not, Mount Desert broke away from the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa many millions of years ago.

9) Bantam leads a trio in identifying the lady slipper. I'd never seen so many; we probably saw close to 100 plants.

10) Gamecock and three others

11) Rocket, Choke, and SVC with some good data on milkweed. We planted milkweed in our yard (our suburban neighbors don't hate us as far as we know, but they sure think we're weird) about ten years ago, and saw the first caterpillar last year. We were excited to see many pillars on some milkweed near my sister's house in Maine.

12) A quartet identifies the pitcher plant. I'd never seen blooms this size on them. A few years back, I gave my wife a subscription to a carnivorous-plant-of-the-month club. We didn't have much luck with pitcher plants, but she's had enough luck with flytraps that she's been able to sell some.

13) Rocket and Choke correctly identify the red squirrel; SVC with extra credit for humor.

14) SVC, NWH and Rocket show their steadiness by identifying the erratic.

15) A trio know their shelf mushrooms
 
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