hooly's hikes and bugs: Turtle Mountain

Update on 5-24-08: my sister-in-law, the herbalist, saw this on our hike today and said it is chammomille (sp?)

I watched this wasp for quite a while. At one point it stretched out its ridiculously long legs and went from one clump of flowers to the next. It took a little time and he looked like a bridge, but he made it. Notice the little friend in the lower rt corner - I just love 2-for-1s!

I'm a real sucker for bugs on flowers

Today's hike was great. Eddie didn't go because I decided to focus on photography, which meant I needed my hiking pole/monopod. I don't know why, but I didn't use the monopod. I parked low, started off at 1:45, and took the rocky craggy way to the top. I came across 2 different groups of pipevine swallowtails but never got a shot I'm happy with.

Pipevine swallowtail

Instead of hiking for exercise I ambled along and actually took time to stand and wait for the swallowtails to land, which they rarely did. Today was very windy, and as is my luck, I would see a butterfly or flower I wanted to shoot and everything would be calm until I lifted and focused my camera. At that time, without fail, the winds came up and would continue until I finally put the camera down and start to walk away. Then the whole process would repeat. I know this about myself, but I really don't have patience on windy days.

This cutie was one of my highlights. Online literature says it's a forest tent caterpillar

I spied a rustling at the side of the trail and stood until I saw about 6 inches of a thick snake. I took a step to get in a better position and it was like the snake was shot across the ground with a crossbow it was so fast getting away from there. I actually jumped from being so startled and I'm not even afraid of snakes.

A ways further I heard another rustle, stopped, waited, saw the weedy grasses moving and finally stepped closer. Stopped, stood, waited, etc., and then I saw it: my first TM box turtle! I couldn't believe my luck. I picked it up and proclaimed him to be a fine-looking fellow, then put him back down to snap his pic. I waited and waited. He wouldn't come back out. I finally took a pic and began walking away and heard the rustling again. It's like he pivoted in place and shot off through the weeds.

Upon finding the turtle I called A to tell her, and while talking to her a very large yellow butterfly came along and LANDED right next to me. I hung up and began to get shots, but the prime time had passed. I ended up with a pretty good shot anyway. My trusty little book couldn't differentiate it for me, so I'll later go to Kim and Mikes butterfliesofamerica site to help.

For now I'm calling it a cloudless sulphur
My daughter wanted to hang out when I got finished so I ended up shortening my hike by about 1 1/2 hrs. I will say it was my first truly slow and relaxing hike and I really enjoyed it. Total hike 1 hr 45 min.