2 Hikes, 1 Post

My cousin and I hiked Monday, with her camera and Eddie. There were lots of butterflies killing me because I didn't have my camera. So on Tuesday, while she visited other relatives, I hiked alone with my camera. It was a beautiful overcast day -- perfect for taking pics.

I took the craggy way to the top, then moseyed west to the upper. Just as I was going north on the tadpole it began sprinkling, and I didn't have my camera bag with me. I wrapped my camera in my baggy shirt-tail and high-tailed it down the mountain. If not for my camera, hiking in the gentle sprinkle/shower would have been wonderful.

I wandered through quite a few weedy areas off path to get some of the pics, and paid for it later. My lower legs are scratched up and I had two tick bites.

Some kind of bee on yarrow

Leaf beetle on same yarrow with the bee

Weird ant thing on the yarrow. Those 2 leaves sticking up are not part of the yarrow

Profile view of a hackberry emperor that my cousin shot on Monday

This hackberry emperor landed directly at my feet. They are so courageous and flew so close that they hit my clothing and head several times during the hike

A question mark? comma,

There were a few, but they were more flighty

Hatchling ring-necked snake appeared injured, maybe by a coon or bird. You can see the injury a bit behind it's necklace and at the bottom of the "U". Poor baby.

Lots of tiger beetles this time of year, and they are very flashy right now

Flower fly on yarrow

Best sample of spittle foam ever. It even has a drip at the bottom

Green bee fly thing on yarrow

Leaf-footed bug, like a giant agave bug, slurping bird poop

Leaf beetle family, calligrapha xx. It was shiny and pretty

Tickseed flower, aka cleoxxsomething

Very interesting. Spikey things on the central vein of elm leaves (I think elm.) I saw these only in two places. On Monday my cousin said some bug bored holes in the veins, laid eggs which are making these. We would love to see what they are. We broke off one and broke it open, but couldn't really detect anything. They are very hard