September 30. Clear skies, temperatures in the 70’s. The land is still vibrant and lush, but the signs of the coming winter are unmistakable. The Autumn colors are beginning to creep into the leaves. Pollenators such as bees and flys are almost gone. Most of the showy wild flowers have folded up. Migrating bird species are becoming more common. The moist conditions are bringing out the fungi and soon the lichens will be in spectacular form. Although it may not look like it, the changing of the seasons is in full swing all across the Dunes. It was a great day spend on my favorite trail in the Indiana Dunes State Park, the #2/#10 loop.
A day spent outside is a great day.
The boardwalk across the Great Marsh is one of the highlights of the whole Dunes complex. Except for the little bit of fall color creeping into the trees, and the absence of masses of mosquitos, you would think it was still mid summer.
This photo was taken with my manual focus vintage 1991 200mm Macro lens. Using a long focal length macro lens is the best way to get a closeup of a grasshopper’s face. They are skittish and it is very difficult to get close to them, so having the ability to get high magnification from a distance is key to photographing them.
There were a lot of bullfrogs out on this day, I spotted more of them than probably any other single visit to this trail. These are the ones who survived a summer of snakes, snapping turtles, herons and many other predators.
October and November will be prime season for fungi and lichens. You can see the rich growth on this dead log in the shade of the forrest floor.
Plants in the shadier parts of the marsh were still holding on to their morning dew.
During the summer months this trail is swarming with insects of all kinds. On this day they were almost difficult to spot, though not yet impossible to find.
A Brown-hooded Owlet caterpillar just lounging about.
This Daddy Longlegs is hobbling around on only 5 of its usual 8 long legs.
I always appreciate how Wolf spiders lay out their webs and as they fill up with junk they just keep on laying down more webbing. As opposed to Orb Weavers who take their webs down each night and spin them anew. This Wolf spider does not care that his web is full of junk, he’s ready to pounce on any prey that happens to fall into it.
If you could shrink yourself down to about an inch tall this is what is would look like taking a stroll along a fallen log in the forrest.
Soon this fella will burrow down into the mud to hibernate through the winter. For now he is enjoying a the sun on a pleasant day.
Looks like someone sliced a piece off of this mushroom with a sharp knife. I love how the underlying structure of the gills has been revealed.