Nature Identification Thread #14- Now Paying out Steem Basic Income Memberships to Participants!

in #science6 years ago

t's time for the weekly nature identification thread! Post pictures of plants, animals, rocks, or other cool stuff that you've photographed but can't identify, and I, along with anyone else who would like to help, will try and help you identify it. I'll be making some changes to it- most notably, I'll be using the SBD proceeds from this post to give out @steembasicincome memberships to people who post stuff to be identified or help me identify photos.


A volcanic bomb. Volcanic bombs are blobs of magma hurled through the air by a volcanic eruption that begin to harden and solidify in midair. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, ranging from spheres 5 meters across to ribbons only a few inches long. (A volcanic bomb needs to be at least 2.5 inches across to qualify as such.) This particular type of volcanic bomb is known as an almond volcanic bomb, for obvious reasons. The longitudinal lines are evidence of the bomb spinning in midair as it fell and hardened. The first sample I ever collected as a geology student was a volcanic bomb. [Image source]

Remember: The most important information you can give along with any photo to be identified is its geographical location. This narrows down the range of possibilities more than any other info you can provide.

Plants:
Along with the photo, add where you found it, the time of year, the approximate altitude, and any interesting scents or textures not caught in the photo.

Animals:
Along with the photo, add the location you found it, the time of year, the sounds it made, any interesting behaviors, and any other features not caught well in the photo.

Rocks:
Along with the photo, add the location you found it, a description of the terrain it was found in, whether it was attached to a rock outcrop or found loose on the ground or buried in the soil, a description of its texture (especially its grain size), and a description of its weight and density. Fossils are included in this category.

Fungi:
I will not be identifying mushrooms and fungi for foraging. Mushrooms should really only be identified for foraging purposes in person and by an expert. If another contributor wishes to identify them, that's their call, but I encourage them to be similarly cautious. I might also try to identify a few fungi that are clearly not being looked at for the purposes of eating, but that'll be a case by case decision.

@shasta, @bossel, @motordrive, & @samve all earned @steembasicincome memberships for submitting to the last nature identification thread or helping identify submissions. Congratulations! In addition, because I had a little leftover resulting, I grabbed another @steembasicincome share for @geopolis- which, if any of you nature and science lovers haven't checked out yet, you definitely should!


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Haha I love these threads, I learn so much more about my local wildlife from these!

One of these blue beauties came by my neighborhood a week ago (Seattle region)

bird.jpg

That's a Steller's jay! It's named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, an 18th century German naturalist. The Steller's Sea Cow is also named after him.

Hello mountainwashere,
you have an interesting project here.

Do I have your permission to feed your project from time to time with interesting wood types that I got my hands on and that I can not determine for sure?

I am a hobbyist woodcarver (not a pro) living on the Canary Islands and thanks to friends and neighbours I have (more or less) exclusivly access to a small number of different wood types (round about 30 for now)...

I am always interested to know with which type of wood I am actually working with and I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the situation that I do not have enough knowledge about wood to be sure what I am talking about.

To give an example:
The wood that is shown in the photographs I added to my comment has been a gift from one of my german talking friends here and this friend told me that the wood is cutted from a tree called "Jamaika Pflaume" (German).
If I do an internet research on that term I finally can not clearly determine the wood type... it could be Spondias purpurea, Spondias pinnata, an other Spondias type or even Blighia sapida... and all of them are called "Jamaika Pflaume" in German what leads me to the conclusion that the informations that I can get about this wood are to blurred to rely on.

Finally I put this wood to the side to wait for an opportunity to talk directly to the guy that planted the tree in the past while hoping that the guy has real good knowledge about what he planted once...

Maybe your project and you project members can help to enlight me a little bit... :-)

p.l.u.r. ~:-)

Spondias.purpurea.Rote.Mombinpflaume.Jamaika.Pflaume.Ciruela.Jobo.Xocote.Ciruela.De.Huesito.Jocote.Cocota.001.640x480.jpg

Spondias.purpurea.Rote.Mombinpflaume.Jamaika.Pflaume.Ciruela.Jobo.Xocote.Ciruela.De.Huesito.Jocote.Cocota.002.640x480.jpg

Of course! I can't guarantee how much help I'll be, but I'll certainly give it a shot!

Alright, so Spondias pinnata is native to SE Asia, not Jamaica- it might grow there, though I didn't find any evidence of that, but it wouldn't make a ton of sense to call it Jamaika Pflaume otherwise? A lot of people apparently do, judging by google image searches.

Blighia sapida is also non-native to Jamaica, but was imported there early in the colonial period, and has become widely associated with it. It's definitely a potential option.

Spondias purpurea sap contains urushiol, the active chemical also found in poison ivy, so working it could be quite hazardous, giving you not only a nasty skin rash, but also potentially hurting your lungs if you breathe in dust from it. You're, uh, going to want to make sure it's not this before working with it, I think.

Sorry I couldn't narrow it down more!

Thank you for your help... ~:-)

I need to talk to the guy who planted the tree...

For now I got three detail images* of the wood but I can not decide which fits best to mine:

Spondias pinnata:
http://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/servlet/detail/NCSULIB~2~2~14589~121833?printerFriendly=1

Blighia sapida:
http://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/servlet/detail/NCSULIB~2~2~20982~114999?printerFriendly=1

Spondias purpurea:
http://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/servlet/detail/NCSULIB~2~2~14594~121844?printerFriendly=1

*I can not put the images directly into the post for copyright reasons but I can provide the reference links here

Hello @mountainwashere

This is a good initiative and I salute you for this. The plan to begin gifting those who assist you is very much in order. It will draw more people to the project. Keep it up.

Regards

@eurogee of @euronation and @steemstem communities

I first thought it was a really huge almond!

que buena información,gracias por el apoyo te sigo

Thank you very much for @steembasicincome.
Will try to keep contributing...

I like it fascinating stuff volcanic bomb. The wealth of knowledge on here is second to none 💯🐒