More Walks

Monday was miserable and rainy, with the constant threat of thunderstorms. Rain I can take, but the idea of being in the middle of the woods in a thunderstorm was too daunting for me. So my walks so far this week have been Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday I did the Red Trail. It was a rather ordinary walk, but, I did get a good picture of this tree, with a hollow right through it. The tree is flourishing, in spite of it.



The sumac flowers are maturing.



And, the honeysuckle berries look like perfect little works of art.



New flowers included Black Knapweed, which was way off of the path and is seen here at high magnification. If you click on the picture, you may get a better view.



I think that this is Bugle, though the leaves don't seem quite right. This flower identification can be a little frustrating at times.




In one of the little streams I crossed, there were a lot of water striders.



As I was walking along the path, I saw a bird ahead of me taking a dust bath. I didn't want to get any closer, because I was afraid that I would scare it off. This is the best picture I got (for some reason, I got a lot of pictures of the bird's butt). It looks like it is a Wood Thrush.



This dragonfly is going to be a challenge to see so click away. Isn't it fascinating to see how creatures can blend so perfectly into their surroundings?



I went over to the swamp again.

This blue dragonfly isn't so well camouflaged.



I wanted to check out that winged loosestrife again. I'm a little more sure of my ID now, as that little plant has produced a lot more flowers.



Doesn't it look like something has made tracks through the algae? I wonder what? Maybe a frog, or five? There were certainly enough of the croaking, though I couldn't see a single one.



You know, maybe that wasn't such an ordinary walk after all.

Wednesday was the Big Meadow near the Big Woods. The meadow was beautiful, so full of flowers.





It seemed like there were dozens of swallows in the air over the meadow, swooping and turning, catching dozens and dozens of insects. This may be another one to click. I couldn't follow one, of course, so I just pointed my camera at the air and started clicking.



Everyone knows this flower, it's Queen Anne's Lace. This is the first for the year, and it's just opening. I was surprised at the subtle shade of pink.



It was breezy in the meadow, so I had to hold the flowers, to get a good picture.

Chickory



Goatsbeard



Spotted Knapweed. It's pretty, isn't it? It's an invader, and a noxious one. It's also st the edge of a big patch of poison ivy, the smart little bugger. Otherwise, I'd ask for permission to dig it out.



Birds and flowers weren't the only things in abundance yesterday. Insects were too.

Bumblebee



Grasshopper



But, the prize of the day was a bird, an Indigo Bunting. I have never seen one before. I heard singing that I didn't recognize so I started looking around. I finally say a bird, high up in a tree. When I turned my camera on it, I saw that there was blue. I thought then, "could it be?" When I got home and downloaded my pictures, sure enough, there it was, the first live Indigo Bunting I have ever seen.



Beautiful, isn't it?