This morning I decided to go on an adventure in a brand new woods (new to me, that is). Off I went to the Bent of the River Audubon sanctuary!
This place turned out to be basically wonderful. It had deep woods with delightful streams and pools, and wide meadows dotted with huge trees:
And a long trail following the river that gives the sanctuary its name:
The most amazing thing to me, though, was how obviously well cared-for this place is. I saw no trash at all on the whole 2+ miles of trails I walked. None. Every other park I go to around here always has at least the occasional (sometimes more than that) beer can, fishing line, cigarette butt, etc., so this seemed pretty crazy by comparison. I also didn't see any other people on the trails. I'm sure the fact that Bent of the River doesn't allow dogs, bikes, or fishing is related to all this. In any case, I loved it. Except for the well-groomed trails and occasional nesting box, this place really felt like it was more about nature than it was about people. I felt totally comfortable ambling along these trails (and not at all dorky with my binoculars and camera), and I was happy to pay the suggested $5 trail fee to get to hang out here.
And as for my actual woods walk, there was plenty to see! Now that the canopy has entirely leafed out, I heard a lot more birds than I saw, but that just meant I got to work on identifying by ear. (Normally I take pictures of things I don't recognize to figure out IDs later, and today I was doing a lot of sound recording for the same reason.)
Although the birds stayed out of camera range, several other creatures did come close. A few Little Wood Satyr butterflies were chasing each other through the woods and fields, and one let me creep up on it for a picture:
(I love those orange antennae.)
A dark fishfly (genus Nigronia) fluttered around on oversized wings:
And this Ebony Jewelwing damselfly was definitely jewel-like in the light-dappled forest:
At one point, I turned around to face where I had just been walking, and I was surprised to find that an Eastern Garter Snake had suddenly appeared a few feet away from me and directly in my path:
Sneaky snake! Oo, look at your pretty red and black tongue:
I looked away to check my camera's settings, and when I looked back up the snake had completely disappeared again. I think this snake might have some ninja skills.
I had been hoping to see Pink Lady's Slippers in bloom in these woods, but all I managed to find were several large flower-less plants:
Oh well, maybe these plants will have flowers next year.
The Mountain Laurel was just opening its fancy flowers:
These flowers are gorgeous, but I also really like the way these buds look before they open, like little shooting stars lighting up the woods:
Continuing the lighting theme, these (I think) Varnish Shelf Fungi (Ganoderma tsugae) were like weirdly-shaped lanterns:
In the fields, huge Cow Parsnip plants were opening their big flower-umbrellas a few feet above the ground:
It was definitely a good morning, and if I lived closer to this place it would become one of my frequent haunts. And really, any nature walk gets bonus awesome points when it ends with a field of horses:
:)
There have been some really strange insects showing up in our yard recently. And by "strange" I mean creatures that I can't immediately put a name to, not even a really broad family name like "bee" or "fly." Take this bug that I found on our front porch this afternoon, for instance:
What in the world is that?! With that long body and those long shiny wings, it looked a lot like a big wasp. It even moved like a wasp, cleaning itself with quick, graceful motions, and starting up at me menacingly when I got too close:
But what are those hard shells in the middle of its back? And those aren't a wasp's antennae, nor is that a wasp's face...
It was actually those square-shaped shells that tipped me off as to what type of insect this creature might be, and pointed me in the right direction toward identifying it. Those shells are elytra, the hardened forewings of beetles that usually cover their entire abdomen. And searching for "beetle with short elytra" led me to the rove beetles (family Staphylinidae) and the probable identification of this creature as the species Platydracus maculosus. It's a beetle! Totally weird!
Another bug that I didn't have even a general name for has shown up in the garden a few times this year, and I spotted it again today:
I don't remember seeing anything like this before, and the body shape seems utterly strange to me. But those long hind legs suggest something in the grasshopper family, and indeed, with some looking around, this turns out to be a nymph (juvenile) of some sort of tree cricket (possibly Neoxabea bipunctata).
Tree crickets are supposed to live, well, up in the trees, so I'm not sure what this little guy is doing in my garden. Maybe it'll stick around as it grows up, and then I can see what an adult tree cricket looks like.
I'd seen a Fishfly (genus Chauliodes) last summer, otherwise I would have also been stumped by this individual who came to our porch lights last week -- what a monster!
And although very familiar to me by now (since there are always a few hunting in my garden), Robber Flies do still bring a certain weirdness factor, especially the big ones:
Finally, I wouldn't call these last bugs "weird" (at least, not in the same sense as all the previous creatures in this post), but their bright colors make them pretty unusual compared to most other insects around here. I like these fancy leafhoppers a lot, so I was happy to see them in the process of making more leafhoppers!
Just when you think you have a handle on bugs, there are always crazy new creatures waiting to appear!
After that ridiculous heat wave we just had, I was happy to get back out to the Naugatuck State Forest this morning. Not all the creatures there were happy to see me, though!
At one point, I must have accidentally gotten too close to a nest, because a pair of Ovenbirds started flipping out, flashing from bush to bush, raising their bright orange mohawks and yelling at me. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them while they were so close (even if they weren't sitting still), but I soon left them in peace again and went on my way:
This creature wasn't exactly thrilled at my presence, either:
I happened upon this Painted Turtle right next to the path, in the process of digging a hole (or covering one up) with her back legs. I say "her" because I'm almost certain this must be a female in some stage of the egg-laying process. (I have to wonder, though, is the area next to a path really the best place to bury eggs?) She kept her head neatly tucked into her shell, and I made good use of my zoom lens before leaving her to her business. Such a pretty lady:
Everything else I saw today seemed more or less ambivalent toward me. This male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (perhaps the mate of the female I saw in this area a few weeks ago?) was singing calmly from his perch in a tree:
This weird-wacky bug (some sort of fishfly, Chauliodes sp.) was just sitting on a leaf -- it was something like two inches long, what a monster!
And of course the dragonflies were everywhere, doing their own thing. I actually managed to identify another one of these creatures today -- this is a Calico Pennant:
I just love the stained-glass-window effect of its wings in this next picture:
I can't close a post without mentioning some new flowers as well. The pretty little Partridgeberry blooms are just starting to open, creeping along the forest floor:
And the summer full-sun flowers have a new companion, this Daisy Fleabane:
I saw a lot of fun things today, and I'm glad that the weather decided to cool down. Here's hoping we get a nice long break before the heat gets too intense again!
