Pic(k) of the Week: Wood stork, perched

In Fort Mosé Historic State Park, in St. Augustine, Florida, USA, a wood stork (Mycteria americana) perches in a tree on a brackish marshland hammock. 5 September 2022.

To the north [of Fort Mosé], there is a rookery, a nesting colony of gregarious birds, such as wood storks, egrets, and herons. These birds showcase their breeding plumage from mid-March through July. One of the largest birds to nest in this area is the wood stork [a large American wading bird]. This area is ideal for nesting because the changing water level reveals higher concentrations of fish during lower tides. Females lay two to five eggs, which both parents incubate for about one month. A pair of nesting wood storks and their young need approximately 443 pounds of fish during the breeding season to survive.

In the 1930s, there were an estimated 20,000 breeding pairs of wood storks [in Florida]; today, the population is approximately 8,000. The numbers have declined drastically, mainly from loss of feeding grounds due to land development, logging, and draining.

— Fort Mosé placard

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Fort Mose

Fort Mose Historic State Park is a former Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1738, the governor of Spanish Florida, Manuel de Montiano, had the fort established as a free black settlement, the first to be legally sanctioned in what would become the territory of the United States.

The park is located on the edge of a salt marsh on the western side of the waterway separating the mainland from the coastal barrier islands. The original site of the 18th-century fort was uncovered in a 1986 archeological dig. The 24-acre (9.7 ha) site is now protected as a Florida State Park.It was designated a US National Historic Landmark on October 12, 1994.

— Wikipedia.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Live Oaks at night

Even (especially?) at night, southern live oaks can be dramatically magnificent.

St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA. 9 September 2022.

Quercus virginiana —also known as the southern live oak— is an evergreen oak tree native to the southeastern United States and the lower coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South.

Depending on the growing conditions, live oaks vary from a shrub-size to large and spreading tree-size: typical open-grown trees reach 66 feet in height (20 m), with a limb spread of nearly 89 feet (27 m). Their lower limbs often sweep down towards the ground before curving up again. The southern live oak has a deep taproot that anchors it when young and eventually develops into an extensive and widespread root system. This, along with its low center of gravity and other factors, makes the southern live oak extremely resistant to strong sustained winds, such as those seen in hurricanes.

The bark is dark, thick, and furrowed longitudinally. The leaves are stiff and leathery, with the tops shiny dark green and the bottoms pale gray. Although live oaks retain their leaves nearly year-round, they are not true evergreens. Live oaks drop their leaves immediately before new leaves emerge in the spring.

— Wikipedia.

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Pic(k) of the Week: O'zapft is!

O'zapft is! ^*

A refreshing draught pint of Oktoberfest lager is served in the beer patio at Odd Story Brewing, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.

Oktoberfest/Marzen lager is a beer rich in malt with a balance of clean, hop bitterness, similar to the Vienna lager. Toasted bread or biscuit-like malt aroma and flavor is to be expected. Originating in Germany, this style was traditionally brewed in the spring (“Marzen” meaning “March”) and aged, or lagered, throughout the summer. A stronger version was served at early Oktoberfest celebrations and became known as Oktoberfest. Today, the festival’s version of an Oktoberfest is quite a bit lighter than what American craft brewers consider an Oktoberfest. 5.1-6% alcohol-by-volume (abv)

Craft Beer.com

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Oktoberfest in Munich

After a dry, two-year absence, the 'official' —and original— Oktoberfest returns today to Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria in Germany. Since 1810 —when Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig I organized the first Oktoberfest in Munich to celebrate his nuptials with Princess Teresa of the duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen (now subsumed in the German state of Thuringia)— there only have been only twenty-six occasions on which the Oktoberfest festival has not been held. Of those, the most recent were last year and 2020, both cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Twice before that, disease also aborted Oktoberfest —in 1854 and 1874— but then because of cholera epidemics.

Munich's Oktoberfest —often referred to as the word's biggest party, with in excess of six million vistors expected— usually runs for sixteen days, counting backward from the first Sunday in October. Since the 1990s, however, if the sixteenth day falls before 3 October (which is the German Unity Day national holiday), the festival continues until and including the 3rd. Thus, this year, Oktoberfest comprises seventeen days: 17 September through 3 October.

Munich's name, by the way, is derived from the Old German term "Munichen," meaning "by the monks," referring to Benedictine monks who founded a monastery in what would later become the city. Trappist monks —a stricter, offshoot of the order— became known in 20th-century Belgium (and, in the 21st-century, elsewhere as well) for their eponymous wine-like ales.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Sunday morning Adirondack

Sunday morning light.

A sense of summer's close.

Have a seat.

Decatur, Georgia, USA.28 August 2022 (8:40 am EDT).

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Pic(k) of the Week: Butterfly & zinnia

In a summer garden, an eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly pollinates a zinnia flower.

DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 11 August 2022.

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