Sarah E. Kelsey

@botanylicious.bsky.social

132 Followers 110 Following

Autistic naturalist, photographer, and CNF writer, documenting the Southeastern US through a neurodivergent lens with my weekly newsletter, Falling in a Bog. ✍️ sarahekelsey.substack.com 📸 botanylicious.darkroom.com ☕ buymeacoffee.com/sarahekelsey

A large black wasp dragging an even larger brown spider, both of them on the surface of shallow water, in the center of a ring of ripples. The water reflects pale sky above and shows brown sand beneath the surface.

In the center of five long, wide, dark green linear leaves with parallel venation, the three-petaled pale blue flower of Virginia dayflower. The petals (or perhaps tepals) are wide semicircles that curve and sharply taper to very thin, linear bases that connect in the center of the flower, where there is a spray of bright yellow anthers. The petals of this flower are such a pale blue that they are almost white.

Six red-breasted mergansers crossing a darkly overcast sky. In this low light, the colors of the birds are muted. The mergansers have pale bellies and dark wings, a russet cast to their pale breasts, and dark heads. Their heads are so narrow they are barely distinguishable from the birds' pale necks, but for their darker color.

Close-up of a yellow passionflower, a small blossom that resembles a sci fi spaceship, at the end of a slender yellow-green vine. The flowers are mostly yellow-green with a fringe of yellow-green radiating from a center surrounded by upright, thin yellow and dark purple fringe-like floral structures, and protruding above these, a darker yellow-green structure with recurved greenish structures radiating from it. This flower is hard to describe.

Diving brown female mallard duck in brown water, showing the graceful, curved neck of the duck stretched out, very long, as her head and yellow-brown bill poke around at the brown ground. The only thing that isn't brown in this photo are her orange feet.

The bright green, trifoliate compound leaves and loose domes of small white flowers of a wafer ash tree fill most of the frame, with a bright yellow bird peeking out from behind flowers in the bottom left of the frame. The petite yellow bird has a black eye, dark gray small, pointed bill, and dark reddish-brown vertical stripes down his breast. The back half (or maybe more than half) of the bird are mostly hidden by the flowers and leaves, just a few small glimpses of bright yellow glowing in the gaps between the small white blossoms.

Close-up macro photo of a tumbling flower beetle with a narrow, tapered body; reddish brown head and thorax, and wings banded with espresso and gold stripes. The beetle rests on the edge of a slightly fuzzy green elderberry leaf with curved, serrated margins.

A great egret, a very large wading bird with black legs, a thin and pointy yellow-orange bill, and entirely white plumage, wings raised above the bird's body and out to the sides, about to land, flying low over a shallow, still lake that is bronze-y brown reflecting the wintry brown grasses and other plant matter all around. Some dark green plants with large, flat leaves (I think spatterdock, not water lilies) float on the water.

A paper wasp on echinacea (purple coneflower, though it's really pink). The disc florets comprising the flower's center are tiny pinkish orange and the ray flowers (which look like petals) are long and purplish-pink. The wasp has a slender body a mix of rusty reddish-brown and black, with some pale yellowish stripes, narrow dark wings, and big reddish-brown eyes.

A pair of mourning doves, pale grayish tan birds with pale sky-blue eyerings, against a dreamy soft focus background of different leaf greens, resting on a soft focus gray roof of a tan building.

A large dragonfly holding onto a dry, beige stem against a soft focus background of different foliage greens. The dragonfly has a pale, powdery blue body, large turquoise eyes, and wide wings, transparent but made visible by a network of black veins between wing segments, with broad black lines tracing the outer curve of each wing and a short section around the dragonfly's thorax, as well as a black spot at the top center of each wing border.

Male ruby-throated hummingbird on a wire against a beautiful soft focus green and white background of foliage on clouds. The hummingbird is petite and adorable with an olive green head, white belly, and gorgeous dark magenta throat, on full display in this photo, with the bird's wings partially raised and pointing downward from his body and his white belly feathers fluffed up. He is looking slightly to the right of the camera. Unfortunately what would have been a great photo is out of focus.

Under the curve of a gray, wet stone, framed by bright green moss, a pale brown salamander peeks out, facing the camera.

A Southeastern Coastal plain swamp/bottomland forest, with shallow standing water, mostly brown reflecting the tree trunks, with some pale blue and green from the sky and foliage above. The trees that stand in the water have dark trunks, narrow on top, flaring dramatically at the bottom into wide, cone-like bases.

Eastern tiger swallowtail with wide open black-striped yellow wings visiting a plant with flowers arranged in white balls, like pom-poms. In the midground is a dark morph female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, dark gray, with a black strip across one hindwing.
Both butterflies' hindwings end in slender tails, and both have borders of blue spots along the end of their wings. The female's hindwing has a row of orange spots, too.

Eight cedar waxwings in a tree with chartreuse catkins and slender branches, against a pale gray sky. The waxwings are elegant birds with soft, pale cinnamon brown heads and chests, soft gray wings tipped with red wax, and pale yellow bellies. They have a swept back head crest and black mask over their eyes. The mask has a white border. Their black tails end with a bright yellow band.

A small black wasp with a block head and thorax and slender abdomen visiting bright lime green milkweed flowers. The wasp has orange legs, black wings folded over his or her back, and three yellow stripes on the abdomen, plus a yellow stripe at the top and bottom of the thorax.

Against a dark background, a small plant with four blue flowers glows. The flowers are vivid, saturated blue with five petals, a small ring of white at the center surrounding a pale yellow stigma, and thread-thin anthers the same blue as the petals, tipped with small, bright yellow anthers.

A sanderling on a beach in shallow water, head lowered to the water, bill meeting the bird's wavery reflection. The sanderling is a small, mostly white shorebird, with pale tan wings and crown, black eyes, black legs, and a black bill.

Close-up of a savannah meadowbeauty blossom against a soft focus green and tan background. The flower has four large, bright dark pink petals and eight bright yellow stamens. In slightly soft focus in the midground, behind the flower and connected to branches of the same slender green stem are seedpods, the fruits of savannah meadowbeauty. these seedpods are small, vase-shaped, and a vibrant crimson.

Orange centered, purple flowers of fragrant heliotrope fill the frame, against a soft focus green background. On some of the small purple flowers towards the right of the frame rests a medium-sized moth, wings closed over the moth's body, which is shaped sort of like half of a cylinder. The moth's wings are bright orange with irregular vertical black stripes.

Sitting in the V where two thin, pale branches meet, a male house sparrow, a mostly pale gray bird with a black bill, a thick black line under his bill and from his bill across his face and through his eye to the brown at the back of his head, and wings with feathers a mix of different shades of browns. In this photo, he is looking to the left of the frame.

A somewhat close-up photo of a great blue heron with a brown eel caught in its long, dagger-like, bright orange bill. The heron is a large slate blue bird with a white face and dark blue crown and dark blue plumes, which are waving in different directions, showing that the heron was moving his or her head from side to side, fighting to keep a hold on the eel. The eel is a tube-like creature, shiny and wriggly and brown. No face or other features are visible in this photo. The background is somewhat soft focus crisscrossing narrow tree trunks and branches, with a bit of blue, shallow water on the ground.

A slender flower longhorn beetle on Cumberland rose gentian. The flower, which has eight pink petals and many curved bright yellow styles in the center, takes up most of the frame. The background is soft focus crisscrossing grasses and stems and leaves of other plants. The beetle is photographed from overhead and is resting on the bottom few petals of the flower, facing the bottom right corner of the frame. The beetle has a long, slender body that tapers gradually. Long wings, mostly a pale yellow similar to mustard (the yellow kind you would get in packets at a fast food place) cover the beetle's abdomen. The bottom quarter or so of the wings are dark amber brown, with a black triangle separating the yellow and brown sections of the wings. The thorax is reddish brown with two vertical black stripes, the head is small and dark reddish brown, and the beetle has very long black antennae and long legs, mostly black but with somewhat thicker femurs that are orange-red.

American coot (Fulica americana) floating in a lake, reflecting the blue of the sky with golden-tan ripples. The coot is a medium-sized water bird with completely black plumage, dark red eyes, an ivory bill, and a red bump (callus) at the top and base of the bill, the same shade of red as the coot's eyes. The coot is turned towards the camera, head lowered to the surface of the water. The coot has just caught a small crayfish. A rippled reflection of the coot meets the point of the coot's bill.

A belted kingfisher that has just taken off from a tree branch, wings spread out wide from his body, bill partially open, heading towards and just to the right of the photographer. The kingfisher is mostly blue, a pale yet saturated slightly grayish shade of blue that I have just learned it called "flint blue." She has a wide band of white around her throat and her wings, which are a darker shade of blue - a navy blue that is almost black - has white wingbars. His eye is dark and his bill is very long, with a wide base, tapering sharply to a bill that is mostly thin and very long and pointy. His belly is partially visible in this photo, and it is also white. The background is crisscrossing gray tree limbs, branches, slender trunks, and twigs.

In the center of the frame, in the center of a web, the ventral (underside) view of a Florida orbweaver spider (Argiope florida). The spider's abdomen is black with white and pale yellow markings, and her legs are long, thin, and orange-brown with black and pale yellow bands. She has woven some thicker strands into a stabilimentum of zigzag lines (like a series of Z's), five of them radiating from the center of the web (though not extending all the way to the center), forming an X shape. So, an X made of Z's. The spider rests in the center of the X, her legs almost touching the Z's and forming the rest of the X. In the background behind the web is soft focus green and reddish brown.

An adult Northern mockingbird lands on an unpainted wooden fence next to a waiting fledgling. The adult's wings are spread wide in the air, revealing bold, striking white patches against dark charcoal feathers. The fledgling sits to the right, wings and tail raised, and bill open in anticipation. The background is a flat, pale blue-gray shed. Both birds are pale gray, with darker gray back and tail, and wings that same darker gray with black and white wingbars. The adult's body is long and slender compared to the pudgy, short body of the fledgling, whose belly feathers are fluffy compared to the smooth, sleek adult.

Black and white photo of a Carolina wren (Thryothorus lucovicianus) perched on a branch, body turned towards the camera and head turned to face the left of the frame. The bird is small, stout, and round, with a pale throat and belly, white eyestripe, and dark head, back, and tail. (They are brown usually, but this is a black and white photo so they just look gray.) The bird has a very sweet face with a short, thin, pointy bill. The medium-width branch stretches at an angle from the bottom left of the frame, then bends about a third through the frame at an obtuse angle to stretched horizontally across the rest of the frame. The bird perches at the bend in the branch. The background is soft focus texture of many leaves, mostly long and thin, with some palmately compound Virginia creeper in the bottom right of the frame (five leaflets, medium-sized and ovate, pointy base and apex and serrated margins).

Close-up of candyroot (Senega nana), a low-growing plant with yellow flowers so bright they are practically neon, growing among grassy plants from white sand. The plant has somewhat succulent bright green leaves, ovate, narrow, and flat. The flowers are arranged on short, chubby stalks and resemble hundreds of tiny yellow spikes. There are four spikes in this cluster of plants.

Macro close-up of Hidalgo mason wasp on pink yarrow, with a soft-focus green background. The yarrow takes up most of the left half of the frame with lots of small, bright pink flowers. The wasp is medium-sized with a mostly black body, yellow stripes bordering the top and bottom of the thorax, yellow legs, narrow black wings, and yellow stripes on the abdomen. The abdomen has a pair of thin yellow stripes towards the tapered bottom, and at the top where it meets the thorax is an irregular yellow stripe, like a wide yellow band with a brown-bordered black splotch in the middle. The wasp is walking on the flowers, faced lowered to one of the blossoms.

A male American redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) perched on a lichen-covered branch with peeling bark, against a background of maple leaves on crisscrossing thin twigs and soft focus green further in the background. The bird faces the camera, head turned slightly to the left of the frame, showing one dark eye. The bird's head and throat are solid black, his belly is white, and his black wings are folded behind him. To either side of his throat are patches of red and reddish-orange. I often think his coloring is like a campfire, or a fire against a midnight sky.
The lichen on the branch is lacy, somewhat peeling from the branch, and pale toothpaste-green-blue.

Close-up of a Carolina larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum ssp. carolinianum) blossoms arranged vertically on a stem, which leans to the left against a dark brown background. There are four flowers with one closed bud at the top of the stem. The flowers have five petal-like sepals a bright and saturated blue, with some purple or purple-pink at some sepals' edges and in the center where the reproductive floral parts are. The uppermost sepal extends back from the flower in a conical hood that tapers to a sharp point, like a wizard's hat.

Facing the camera, a blue-gray gnatcatcher on a fat branch. The gnatcatcher is a small blue-gray bird, though in this photo, the bird's white underside is on display and only the blue-gray of crown and face are visible. The bird's eyes are ringed with white and stare at the camera; the bird's head is tilted to the left. The head tilt plus fixed gaze resemble a cross, judgmental stare. Curly gray Spanish moss hangs from part of the branch and forms the entire background, a soft focus gray with bits of sparkly sunlight peeping through.

A coral hairstreak butterfly (Satyrium titus) nectaring on orange butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) flowers. The butterfly is small, folded wings forming a triangle with rounded edges. The wings are dark tan with a border of bright orange spots on the outer edge of the hindwing and small black spots with white borders along the forewing and, on the hindwing, in a row parallel to the orange spots along the edge. The butterfly has a silvery pale gray body with large black eyes and slender, black and white banded antennae.
The milkweed flowers are arranged in a flat, roundish cluster of many flowers, all bright orange with reflexed petals that form a skirt around the base of the flower, from which the reproductive floral parts (hooded horns) stand upright. Throughout the background and to some extent the foreground and midground, green grass blades and tan grass and flower stems stretch vertically across the frame.

A small turtle with a peaked, brown shell (possibly covered in mud or pond gunk) rests on a large, mostly submerged log, photographed from behind. The turtle's yellow-striped dark green (nearly black) head is turned back and to the right side of the frame, eye gazing over the shell at the camera. The turtle and log float in the middle of still, green water from which tall, straight, green grasses grow, widely spaced around the log.

A bright green leaf curves across the frame. Attached to the leaf, a spiny oak-slug moth (Euclea delphinii) hangs upside down, wings folded. The moth is brown and fuzzy moth. On the shiny, velvety brown wing are two pairs of spots, each with one bright green splotch that matches the green of the leaf, above a dark, shiny, marigold orange spot.

Eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas), a small, shiny, powder blue butterfly, visiting fameflower (Phemeranthus sp.), a dark, bright pink flower. At the flower's center are many stamens with dark, bright pink filaments and bright yellow anthers. The flower and butterfly are illuminated by diffused camera flash against a black background.