After a rather cool start, summer here has turned hot and humid. Last weekend was an interesting variation in that it was cool at about 70 degrees, but the humidity was at the saturation point. Cool enough for long sleeves to protect against the mosquitos, but after walking 10 feet you are pretty much covered in sweat that ain’t going nowhere until you shower. Perfect conditions for a nice walk around a marsh out on the Cowles Bog trail. Pretty much everything that lives in a marsh loves these conditions so it is well worth putting up with a bit of misery to get out in nature for a bit.
Lots of purples, pinks and reds on the marsh this time of year. This arachnid is a Harvestman, not a daddy long legs. Nor is it a spider. One difference is that spiders have to liquify the innards of their prey in order to consume them, but Harvestmen can eat solid foods. The moisture coating all the leaves is not from rain, just condensation from the saturated air!It is always wise to look both left and right before crossing the leaf…This is a mosquito. Not the kind that bites and leaves itchy welts, but the kind that feeds off of nectar and acts as a pollinator. Unfortunately for this mosquito however, a perfectly camouflaged Crab Spider was lying in wait when it landed for a quick hit of nectar. The body and hind legs of the Crab are an almost perfect match for the color of the flower, but the two pair of massive reddish-brown forelegs running diagonal behind the mosquito are unmistakable. Of course the fact that the mosquito appears to be lying on its back, with its legs up in the air is a bit of a tip off that something is up. Is this Caterpillar a future Butterfly or Moth? My Caterpillar ID skills are not particularly good. What I do know is I love the red and yellow highlights on this one.
Oh yeah. I was covered in sweat and mosquito welts by the end of the hike, but it was worth it. Always is. Nature is awesome.
A marsh is a great place to be in the summer, so long as you don’t mind the humidity and biting/stinging insects swarming all over the place. Personally I am not a fan of the humidity but it is more than worth tolerating in order to enjoy the biting/stinging insects and the plants they feed off of, like the Canada Lilys pictured above. All photos are from a recent hike on the Great Marsh trail in the Indiana Dunes National Park.
Queen Anne’s Lace has a very photogenic structure to it’s flower. It pays to explore it from multiple perspectives, head on being one of my favorites due its symmetries.When Queen Anne’s Lace is in full bloom it has a tiny red flower in the very center. This little spot of red is one of the features which distinguish it from the very similar Poison Sumac, which is quite a nasty plant. Placing the camera almost level with the flower and setting a fast aperture allows you to create a narrow band where the image is in focus.Although this trail has plenty of hard biting Deer Flys, this Flower Fly just slurps up nectar from wild flowers. Look close at the head (you can click on the image to view it full size) and you can see the extended proboscis which appears like a long snout.This beetle has beautiful metallic greens and blues, complemented by a splash of red.Here we see 5 caterpillar or maybe moth larvae munching on this leaf. I have no idea if these are considered to be good caterpillars or destructive ones.Something you will find in abundance in a marsh are Slugs. Tall grasses and reeds abound in marshes, including the horsetail that surround the puffy seed head of some other plant.While there are certainly lots of stingy things in marshes, the big old Bumble Bee is not one of them. They have no stinger. They are also incredibly difficult to photograph because they are in constant motion. Even when feeding on a flower they are in a constant state of frantic motion. Maybe they are just on a permanent sugar high from all that nectar they drink.And finally, we have a genuine stingy type. Wasps appear scary, but as long as you are not bothering them they have no interest in stinging you. They only use their stingers for hunting and self-defense.
