Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • A successful ambush - a green lynx spider eating a small green stink bug from inside a garden flower in Jefferson County, Florida.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • I was crouched down in a field in the Withlacoochee State Forest  in Central Florida photographing butterflies when I noticed this amazing sight among the wildflowers in front of me.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • A massive golden silk spider catches a cicada - a testament to the strength and power of these predators. Note the much smaller male hanging around in the background.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • A great blue heron catches a northwestern garter snake in the wetlands in the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge just outside of Olympia, Washington on a beautiful springtime afternoon.
    Great Blue Heron - Dinner for One
  • Eastern ribbon snake lunching on a treefrog in the Florida Everglades. Just in the right place at the right time for this shot!
    Eastern Ribbon Snake
  • One of the best natural areas in all of Florida - Fisheating Creek. Completely rural with no signs of modern life - this is our favorite canoe trip for stepping back into time!
    Fisheating Creek
  • One of the best natural areas in all of Florida - Fisheating Creek in South-Central Florida. This creek is full of fish and alligators, and can only be accessed by canoe or kayak.
    Fisheating Creek
  • Already becoming a skilled hunter - this juvenile green heron easily catches a blue dasher dragonfly.
    Juvenile Green Heron with Dragonfly
  • Creamy New York-style cheesecake with crushed berries and basil.
    New York Cheesecake
  • "Island Style" key lime made with "Nellie & Joe's" key lime juice and graham cracker crust.
    Mike's "Killer" Key Lime Pie
  • Corn Pancakes with Blueberry-Kahlua Syrup
    Corn Pancakes with Blueberry-Kahlua ..yrup
  • Lobster Eggs Benedict
    Lobster Eggs Benedict
  • Bloody Mary
    Bloody Mary
  • Delicious pecan pie infused with chocolate chunks and toasted coconut.
    Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chunk Peca.. Pie
  • Strawberry Seduction
    Strawberry Seduction
  • Five Alive
    Five Alive
  • Ave4-Edit.jpg
  • Ave9-Edit.jpg
  • Fresh Organic Kiwi
    Fresh Organic Kiwi
  • The massive rufous garden slug (Arion rufus) photographed here in the West Hylebos Wetlands in Federal Way, Washington.
    Rufous Garden Slug
  • The Cascades frog is a high altitude-loving frog found in both theCascade and Olympic mountains of the Pacific Northwest. This one was seen in August in Washington's Stevens Pass near the edge of a beautiful and remote subalpine mountain lake.
    Cascades Frog
  • Pearini
    Pearini
  • Park Avenue
    Park Avenue
  • Crème Brûlée Martini
    Crème Brûlée Martini
  • Chocolate Hazelnut Bang
    Chocolate Hazelnut Bang
  • Blue Pearl
    Blue Pearl
  • Mimosa
    Mimosa
  • An osprey in flight over Everglades National Park.
    Osprey in Flight
  • An osprey in flight over Everglades National Park.
    Osprey in Flight
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • Osprey pair in a nest with young chicks in an Australian pine on Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
    Osprey Pair in Nest
  • Osprey spreading its wings on top of a dead tree in Punta Rassa, Florida. Beautiful!!!
    Magnificent Osprey
  • An osprey with a fresh mullet photographed while landing in a pine tree in St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
    Osprey with Fresh Mullet
  • An osprey sits patiently in its nest in the Florida Everglades while its mate is off hunting.
    Osprey in Nest
  • An osprey in flight over Everglades National Park.
    Osprey in Flight
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) growing near the summit of the heavily forested Little Mt. Si in North Bend, Washington, showing three distinctive phases of cap growth. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushrooms (Armillaria sp.)
  • Honey mushrooms (Armillaria sp.) in a wet forested area near Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington. As with many mushrooms, exact species are hard to distinguish and the taxonomy keeps changing, but luckily all of these honey mushrooms are edible and quite a commonly-collected type prized by forest foragers. It is advised that these be thoroughly cooked as these mushrooms are said to have variable levels of toxicity when eaten raw.
    Honey Mushroom
  • Wet osprey with the freshest of catches on North Florida's Gulf Coast.
    Osprey with Fresh Catch
  • Tortellini
    Tortellini
  • Shrimp & Scallops with Fresh Tomato and Basil
    Shrimp & Scallops
  • Rack of Lamb
    Rack of Lamb
  • Pork Rustica
    Pork Rustica
  • Mediterranean Salmon
    Mediterranean Salmon
  • Grouper Matichiati
    Grouper Matichiati
  • Grilled Flounder
    Grilled Flounder
  • Greek Salad
    Greek Salad
  • Filet à la Rossini
    Filet à la Rossini
  • Seared Ahi Tuna with Wasabi Aioli
    Blackened Tuna
  • Baklava Cheesecake
    Baklava Cheesecake
  • Grilled Scallops with Sun-Dried Tomatos, Basil and Beurre Blanc with Garlic Whipped Potatoes.
    Sicilian Scallops
  • Skirt Steak
  • This female mountain goat (also called a doe or nanny) was found and photographed just under the top of Hurricane Ridge on the Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Too busy eating to worry about a human nearby, she did keep an eye on me and her youngster (also called a kid) who was learning which plants to eat by copying its mother.
    Mountain Goat Nanny
  • This round-tailed horned lizard would not have been spotted had it not suddenly dashed out from where it stood motionless right in front of me in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico's Socorro County. One of the smallest of the horned lizards, these delicate desert-dwellers make their living eating mostly harvester, honey-pot and big-headed ants, with the occasional termite, small insect or larvae. What is most amazing about them is their natural camouflage!
    Round-tail Horned Lizard
  • This round-tailed horned lizard would not have been spotted had it not suddenly dashed out from where it stood motionless right in front of me in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico's Socorro County. One of the smallest of the horned lizards, these delicate desert-dwellers make their living eating mostly harvester, honey-pot and big-headed ants, with the occasional termite, small insect or larvae. What is most amazing about them is their natural camouflage!
    Round-tail Horned Lizard
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • The black huckleberry is considered by many to be the prize of the mountain berries. These juicy, sweet member of the blueberry family are found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean (with a few isolated locations eastward) and have been enjoyed by wildlife and humans for millennia. This official state fruit of Idaho is a particularly important food source for grizzly and black bears, and traditionally the Native Americans have been eating them in dozens of different ways: fresh, dried, smoked, crushed up in soups or mixed with salmon roe - to name a few. These huckleberries were photographed (then eaten) just below the tree line at the edge of a subalpine meadow in the North Cascades National Park, near the Canadian border in Washington State.
    Black Huckleberry
  • Townsend's ground squirrles have unbelievably long hibernation periods. They can literally hibernate up to eight months! A little shorter for warmer, wet periods or longer for colder, dry periods. This means that most of their lives they are deeply asleep in their underground burrows, followed by a quick summer of breeding and eating as much as they can while avoiding hawks, falcons, coyotes, rattlesnakes, gopher snakes, crows and other predators. Furthermore, because of human encroachment and development, they are now listed as a vulnerable species (the lightest level on the threatened status).
    Townsend's Ground Squirrel
  • Banana slugs are highly variable in appearance, but most tend to be either a solid light to bright yellow (hence the name banana slug) or yellow with brown spots. Sometimes brown, green or even white ones are seen, and color can often an indicator of the slug's age, health, how moist or dry it is, or even can be a clue as to what it's been eating. The body structure of the banana slug is very simple. It has a "foot" that is used for locomotion in the same way terrestrial or aquatic snails move about. The "hump" part of the back is called the mantle, and has an opening on its right called a pneumostome that is a simple airway for the single lung that it uses for respiration. Their entire body is covered in a thick slime helps it retain moisture and aids in "sliding" through the forest. This one was found in a disturbed suburban park in Kent, Washington.
    Pacific Banana Slug-9.jpg
  • This round-tailed horned lizard would not have been spotted had it not suddenly dashed out from where it stood motionless right in front of me in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico's Socorro County. One of the smallest of the horned lizards, these delicate desert-dwellers make their living eating mostly harvester, honey-pot and big-headed ants, with the occasional termite, small insect or larvae. What is most amazing about them is their natural camouflage!
    Round-tail Horned Lizard
  • This round-tailed horned lizard would not have been spotted had it not suddenly dashed out from where it stood motionless right in front of me in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico's Socorro County. One of the smallest of the horned lizards, these delicate desert-dwellers make their living eating mostly harvester, honey-pot and big-headed ants, with the occasional termite, small insect or larvae. What is most amazing about them is their natural camouflage!
    Round-tail Horned Lizard
  • This round-tailed horned lizard would not have been spotted had it not suddenly dashed out from where it stood motionless right in front of me in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico's Socorro County. One of the smallest of the horned lizards, these delicate desert-dwellers make their living eating mostly harvester, honey-pot and big-headed ants, with the occasional termite, small insect or larvae. What is most amazing about them is their natural camouflage!
    Round-tail Horned Lizard
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • The black huckleberry is considered by many to be the prize of the mountain berries. These juicy, sweet member of the blueberry family are found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean (with a few isolated locations eastward) and have been enjoyed by wildlife and humans for millennia. This official state fruit of Idaho is a particularly important food source for grizzly and black bears, and traditionally the Native Americans have been eating them in dozens of different ways: fresh, dried, smoked, crushed up in soups or mixed with salmon roe - to name a few. These huckleberries were photographed (then eaten) just below the tree line at the edge of a subalpine meadow in the North Cascades National Park, near the Canadian border in Washington State.
    Black Huckleberry
  • One of my favorite snakes to be found in the wilderness of the American Southeast is the Florida yellow rat snake. This very long, mustard-yellow colored subspecies of the western rat snake is not very common, like most gray or near-black rat snakes found in the wild, but it is one of the coolest. I have an affinity for this type of snake and once had one as a pet in captivity for years until I decided to let it go free and "go forth and propagate". These non-venomous constrictors primarily feed on rats and birds, although their habit of sneaking into barns and eating eggs has also earned them the nickname of "chicken snake". This one was found by surprise on accident (as most snakes are usually encountered) as I was walking through the edge of the woods in the Ocala National Forest  in Juniper Springs when the tree limb I grabbed suddenly moved in my hand and tried to bite me. I pulled this beauty out into the open for this shot and let it go. It was just about four feet in length and was fat and healthy!
    Florida Yellow Rat Snake
  • It's been discoved that these highly-dense covering of pale spines not only deter animals from eating it, but also reflect heat, keeping the cactus cool and shaded at the same time.
    Teddybear Cholla
  • The native and uncultivated woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) and is found through out much of Europe and parts of Asia, where there is eveidence of humans gathering and eating this small vibrant red strawberry from the stone age. This one in flower was photographed in Steven's Pass in Washington's Cascade Mountains.
    Woodland Strawberry
  • Goldenrod crab spider eating a variegated fritillary butterfly in the Lake Talquin State Forest in North Florida. This little camouflaged spider really blends in with these flowers where the butterfly feeds!
    Goldenrod Crab Spider
  • These strikingly beautiful songbirds are favorite among just about every birdwatcher in North America, and the world. Not only are they fun to watch enormous numbers of them attack fruit-laden trees at peak ripeness, they are also one of the few North American species of birds that specialize in eating only fruit. This one was found in the Warm Springs State Wildlife Management Area near Anaconda, Montana.
    Cedar Waxwing
  • Extremely common throughout North America and easily overlooked, this native lily with small nondescript white flowers can be found mostly around mountain forests up to around 9000 feet in elevation. While the berries may be considered edible, some people complain of an upset stomach after eating them. The local Blackfeet Indians have been known to use a powder made of the roots of this plant to treat wounds. These ripe berries were found above Petty Creek in Alberton, Montana on a rocky mountain slope.
    Common False Solomon's Seal Berries
  • Extremely common throughout North America and easily overlooked, this native lily with small nondescript white flowers can be found mostly around mountain forests up to around 9000 feet in elevation. While the berries may be considered edible, some people complain of an upset stomach after eating them. The local Blackfeet Indians have been known to use a powder made of the roots of this plant to treat wounds. These ripe berries were found above Petty Creek in Alberton, Montana on a rocky mountain slope.
    Common False Solomon's Seal Berries
  • Extremely common throughout North America and easily overlooked, this native lily with small nondescript white flowers can be found mostly around mountain forests up to around 9000 feet in elevation. While the berries may be considered edible, some people complain of an upset stomach after eating them. The local Blackfeet Indians have been known to use a powder made of the roots of this plant to treat wounds. These ripe berries were found above Petty Creek in Alberton, Montana on a rocky mountain slope.
    Common False Solomon's Seal Berries
  • Eventually the King of the Florida Everglades ends up getting eaten. This alligator met its demise in the Fakahatchee Strand, and provided a meal, ready to eat for this black vulture. Without carrion birds such as this to keep the ecosystem clean from decay and rot, very little of the habitat would be safe for wildlife.
    Black Vulture
  • This stunningly red relative of the firefly, the bloody net-winged beetle uses aposematic coloration (warning colors) to its advantage. The bright red and black coloration/pattern is a strong warning to others that might want to eat it that it is toxic to eat and best left alone. This one was photographed just as it landed on a desert shrub below the Chisos Mountains in West Texas, near the Rio Grande River.
    Bloody Net-winged Beetle
  • Ranging from toxic to poisonous to humans and several species of animals - particularly fish, the common snowberry is an important food source for wildlife. Moose, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorns will readily eat the foliage, while bears birds, rabbits and other small mammals can safely eat the waxy white berries. This snowberry bush was found growing next to the Green River about 20 miles south of Seattle, Washington on a warm summer day.
    Snowberry2020-3.jpg
  • Ranging from toxic to poisonous to humans and several species of animals - particularly fish, the common snowberry is an important food source for wildlife. Moose, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorns will readily eat the foliage, while bears birds, rabbits and other small mammals can safely eat the waxy white berries. This snowberry bush was found growing next to the Green River about 20 miles south of Seattle, Washington on a warm summer day.
    Snowberry2020-2.jpg
  • Ranging from toxic to poisonous to humans and several species of animals - particularly fish, the common snowberry is an important food source for wildlife. Moose, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorns will readily eat the foliage, while bears birds, rabbits and other small mammals can safely eat the waxy white berries. This snowberry bush was found growing next to the Green River about 20 miles south of Seattle, Washington on a warm summer day.
    Snowberry2020-1.jpg
  • A busy  female mallard takes a break from showing her eight bundled ducklings how to find and eat peamouth minnow eggs from a shaded tiny creek in Bellevue, Washington on a warm spring afternoon.
    Mallard Family
  • Working alongside mushrooms and other fungi, banana slugs are detritivores that help turn decaying matter into soil humus. They eat leaves, dead plant materials, moss, fungi, and animal droppings and help in the movement of nutrients throughout the forest and prefer mushrooms over other foods, much to the detriment of human mushroom foragers. Because slugs do not have teeth, food is broken down using its ribbon-like radula, which works like a millstone to grind food into smaller and smaller particles that are then ingested. This one was found in a disturbed suburban park in Kent, Washington.
    Pacific Banana Slug
  • These very beautiful bittersweet nightshade berries found ripening on the vine are native to Europe and Asia, and arrived roughly in the 1860's and were used by the Makah Indians as a medicine for stomach issues. Now naturalized throughout most of North America, this relative to the potato is an invasive weed that can grow in huge thickets and can compete with native plants. This plant is known to be VERY DANGEROUS to both humans and other animals and has caused people to die. It is said that once the berries are fully ripe (when they are bright red) that the amount of solanine - the toxic alkaloid, is greatly reduced. Seeds are spread by the common song sparrow and a few other birds that eat them, who are unaffected by the poisons the berries carry.
    Bittersweet Nightshade
  • These very beautiful bittersweet nightshade berries found ripening on the vine are native to Europe and Asia, and arrived roughly in the 1860's and were used by the Makah Indians as a medicine for stomach issues. Now naturalized throughout most of North America, this relative to the potato is an invasive weed that can grow in huge thickets and can compete with native plants. This plant is known to be VERY DANGEROUS to both humans and other animals and has caused people to die. It is said that once the berries are fully ripe (when they are bright red) that the amount of solanine - the toxic alkaloid, is greatly reduced. Seeds are spread by the common song sparrow and a few other birds that eat them, who are unaffected by the poisons the berries carry.
    Bittersweet Nightshade
  • Closeup of salal flowers next to Deep Lake near Enumclaw, WA. Found in many places across the Pacific Northwest, this common native woody shrub is found in forests and woodlands and is of great historical importance to the native tribes who have inhabited the region for thousands of years. The delicious, intensely sweet edible berries that will come later in the summer were used to make dried cakes that would provide nourishment throughout the winter. It is said that cakes of pure salal were reserved solely for the chiefs to eat, and anyone else had to have theirs mixed with other local berries, such as huckleberries or elderberries as was the custom.
    Salal
  • A tachinid fly feeds on the flowers of Queen Anne's lace outside of Imboden, Arkansas. These specialized true flies have a very interesting reproductive behavior. The eggs (or newly hatched larvae - depending on the species) is laid on a very unlucky host (usually a caterpillar) where the larvae bores into the body. It will begin to eat its host alive, eventually killing it, and soon after emerge as an adult, ready to breed and repeat the cycle.
    Tachinid Fly (Belvosia borealis)
  • Viceroy butterfly in the heat of a summer day in the Corkscrew Swamp in SW Florida. This is one of the several species to mimic the Monarch's colors and pattern - known to birds for being toxic to eat.
    Viceroy
  • This emerging Leucocoprinus birnbaumii (more commonly known as the plantpot dapperling or flowerpot parasol) is an tropical to subtropical common mushroom that is more widely known for popping up in cultivated flowerpots in hothouses far north of its natural range. While considered to be toxic and nearly impossible to get rid of, it's best to just learn to enjoy their delicate beauty and try not to accidentally eat them. This one was found growing on some old wood in a hardwood hammock on Key Largo, Florida.
    Plantpot Dapperling (Leucocoprinus b..mii)
  • Recently, the western scrub jay was split into two distinct species: the California scrub jay (which is a brighter blue and is found in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest) and the Woodhouse's scrub jay (which is a duller blue and found in more interior regions away from the coast.) Much like any jay or other corvid, these often loud and very inquisitive birds will eat just about anything they can overpower or steal. These California scrub jays are easy to recognize from their neighboring cousins by the distinct blue "collar" around the neck. This one was found screeching in a maple tree in Southern King County, Washington on a chilly afternoon.
    California Scrub Jay
  • Recently, the western scrub jay was split into two distinct species: the California scrub jay (which is a brighter blue and is found in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest) and the Woodhouse's scrub jay (which is a duller blue and found in more interior regions away from the coast.) Much like any jay or other corvid, these often loud and very inquisitive birds will eat just about anything they can overpower or steal. These California scrub jays are easy to recognize from their neighboring cousins by the distinct blue "collar" around the neck. This one was found screeching in a maple tree in Southern King County, Washington on a chilly afternoon.
    California Scrub Jay
  • Looking much like a miniature watermelon, the creeping cucumber is in fact a native cucumber that grows in the American Southeast as far north as Illinois and Pennsylvania and west to Texas and Kansas on long vines with grape-like leaves. While considered edible, it's just one of those things you wouldn't go out of your way to eat. These were found in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Southwest Florida.
    Creeping Cucumber
  • A male juba skipper pauses for a moment on a clump of asters on a windy spring day on Whiskey Dick Mountain in Central Washington just west of the Columbia River near Vantage. Similar in appearance to other related skipper species in the sagebrush deserts and plains of the northern western states, this one is dependent on certain native grasses for their young to eat.
    Juba Skipper
  • Saskatoons, or western serviceberries (or “pomes” in botanical terms) are apple-like fruits that look very similar to salal berries  and are one of my favorite foraged berries in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains. Distantly related to apples, they taste like an beautiful mix of blueberry, salal, crabapple and Oregon grape. You can eat them fresh (my favorite!), dehydrate them like raisins, make them into jelly, jam or wine, or bake them into pancakes, pies and pastries. These perfectly ripe beauties were found growing in Alberta, Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park in midsummer.
    Ripe Saskatoons
  • Saskatoons, or western serviceberries (or “pomes” in botanical terms) are apple-like fruits that look very similar to salal berries  and are one of my favorite foraged berries in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains. Distantly related to apples, they taste like an beautiful mix of blueberry, salal, crabapple and Oregon grape. You can eat them fresh (my favorite!), dehydrate them like raisins, make them into jelly, jam or wine, or bake them into pancakes, pies and pastries. These perfectly ripe beauties were found growing in Montana's Glacier National Park in midsummer.
    Ripe Saskatoons
  • Saskatoons, or western serviceberries (or “pomes” in botanical terms) are apple-like fruits that look very similar to salal berries  and are one of my favorite foraged berries in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains. Distantly related to apples, they taste like an beautiful mix of blueberry, salal, crabapple and Oregon grape. You can eat them fresh (my favorite!), dehydrate them like raisins, make them into jelly, jam or wine, or bake them into pancakes, pies and pastries. These perfectly ripe beauties were found growing in Montana's Glacier National Park in midsummer.
    Ripe Saskatoons
  • Saskatoons, or western serviceberries (or “pomes” in botanical terms) are apple-like fruits that look very similar to salal berries  and are one of my favorite foraged berries in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains. Distantly related to apples, they taste like an beautiful mix of blueberry, salal, crabapple and Oregon grape. You can eat them fresh (my favorite!), dehydrate them like raisins, make them into jelly, jam or wine, or bake them into pancakes, pies and pastries. These perfectly ripe beauties were found growing in Montana's Glacier National Park in midsummer.
    Ripe Saskatoons
  • This great find in a purplish prickly pear cactus flower (Opuntia azurea) in Big Bend National Park in West Texas was an exciting one for me. This bee assassin bug is a clever hunter of bees and other pollinating insects found throughout much of North America. It is most often found inside flowers waiting to stab the unsuspecting insect attracted to the flower's sweet nectar with its sharp proboscis, where it will literally drink its prey dry. Even though this one is covered in pollen, you can still see the warning colors of black and red (aposematic coloration) warning birds and other predators that this bug is not safe to eat or hunt.
    Bee Assassin on Purplish Prickly Pear
  • These very beautiful bittersweet nightshade berries found ripening on the vine are native to Europe and Asia, and arrived roughly in the 1860's and were used by the Makah Indians as a medicine for stomach issues. Now naturalized throughout most of North America, this relative to the potato is an invasive weed that can grow in huge thickets and can compete with native plants. This plant is known to be VERY DANGEROUS to both humans and other animals and has caused people to die. It is said that once the berries are fully ripe (when they are bright red) that the amount of solanine - the toxic alkaloid, is greatly reduced. Seeds are spread by the common song sparrow and a few other birds that eat them, who are unaffected by the poisons the berries carry.
    Bittersweet Nightshade
  • These very beautiful bittersweet nightshade berries found ripening on the vine are native to Europe and Asia, and arrived roughly in the 1860's and were used by the Makah Indians as a medicine for stomach issues. Now naturalized throughout most of North America, this relative to the potato is an invasive weed that can grow in huge thickets and can compete with native plants. This plant is known to be VERY DANGEROUS to both humans and other animals and has caused people to die. It is said that once the berries are fully ripe (when they are bright red) that the amount of solanine - the toxic alkaloid, is greatly reduced. Seeds are spread by the common song sparrow and a few other birds that eat them, who are unaffected by the poisons the berries carry.
    Bittersweet Nightshade
  • These very beautiful bittersweet nightshade berries found ripening on the vine are native to Europe and Asia, and arrived roughly in the 1860's and were used by the Makah Indians as a medicine for stomach issues. Now naturalized throughout most of North America, this relative to the potato is an invasive weed that can grow in huge thickets and can compete with native plants. This plant is known to be VERY DANGEROUS to both humans and other animals and has caused people to die. It is said that once the berries are fully ripe (when they are bright red) that the amount of solanine - the toxic alkaloid, is greatly reduced. Seeds are spread by the common song sparrow and a few other birds that eat them, who are unaffected by the poisons the berries carry.
    Bittersweet Nightshade
  • These very beautiful bittersweet nightshade berries found ripening on the vine are native to Europe and Asia, and arrived roughly in the 1860's and were used by the Makah Indians as a medicine for stomach issues. Now naturalized throughout most of North America, this relative to the potato is an invasive weed that can grow in huge thickets and can compete with native plants. This plant is known to be VERY DANGEROUS to both humans and other animals and has caused people to die. It is said that once the berries are fully ripe (when they are bright red) that the amount of solanine - the toxic alkaloid, is greatly reduced. Seeds are spread by the common song sparrow and a few other birds that eat them, who are unaffected by the poisons the berries carry.
    Bittersweet Nightshade
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