Butterfly Outing - NOT

I left the house at 10 am, almost making my goal. I was hiking by 10:15, going slower than usual and scanning for butterflies. I saw very few tiny ones flitting about so I had no chance until the very end as I began to descend to the parking lot.

I'll post a few other interesting pics I took along the 3 hr. hike:


My first delight was catching a pair of chickadees


I can never resist cute little prints in the mud


And cute little worm trails, too


This is the carcass my daughter found yesterday; I used the least distinct pic on account of the gross-out factor. I inspected it more carefully and my best guess is a large rodent-type mammal because of the 5 toes on the hind foot


I heard these coming loud and clear, found the largest opening in the trees and waited. The sound was like what I would expect a sputtering plane just before crashing to sound like. In fact, I first thought a plane was about to crash


Close-up of lichen algae type growth on a boulder in Rock City


In Rock City I noticed this basketball-sized rock was cracked, so I pulled on it...


...and found a beautiful inside!


This is the deer scull hanging on one of the paths; my cousin IDed it the first time we saw it, and later I looked it up and sure enough it is a deer skull. The teeth, with double edges for grinding bark and stuff, are very very sharp


I got to watch the mallards land and by the time I got my camera up and focused they were way over there


These turtles, and others were basking in the next pond to the south, which would be the middle one


I checked on the blackberries and there are quite a few canes leafing out, or whatever that's called. I'll keep checking and post pics of the blooms in May, and the berries in June


And this is the guest of honor - an old weather-beaten something. It looks like it may be a type of comma, but with the ragged wing edges it's hard to tell. This is not the same kind I saw a few times during the past 2 weeks