On day number three of this camping trip we went to the trail at Miller Woods. Specifically the southern portion of the trail that circles a wetland area which is created by water that gets trapped between successive dune ridges. This trail and the Great Marsh trail are both wetland ecosystems, but the variety of plants and insects are very distinct and I knew we would see plenty of things at Miller Woods which we had not seen the day before. Of course the two trails still have a lot in common, as the closeup of the Grasshopper above shows.
This has been one of the most intense years I can remember for mosquitos. Few things can make being out doors more miserable than mosquitos, I hate em. I also love them. This is a male mosquito I captured on some Goldenrod. Two things make it clear that this is a male mosquito. One is the antenna which look like fuzzy antlers. The other is the fact that it is feeding on nectar rather than my blood. It is the females that feed on blood. So on the one hand mosquitos are awful, but as you can see above they are also quite fascinating and beautiful.Here we see a couple more male mosquitos feeding on a Boneset plant. Unlike many pollinators, these are relatively cooperative when it comes to taking photographs because they stay relatively stationary when feeding.This is a Net Winged Beetle. Usually when I see beetles like this they have their wings closed. This one was slowly opening and closing its wings which would have made for a unique photograph if I could have caught it with them full opened. Alas it was swaying back and forth in the breeze and I was not able to get a clear photo of it with the wings extended. This was one of those times when Nature decided to taunt you, letting you get oh so close before saying “Nope” over and over…A view down into the wetland area which this trail circles. Depending on the time of year and amount of rain this area can look very different. It is not uncommon for it to be half to three quarters full of water. Earlier in the year we had some pretty good rains and now it is quite lush. It never looks the same from year to year and season to season. But it is always beautiful.This Soldier Beetle appears to be on lookout duty, guarding over the Flowering Spurge plant.Rough Blazing Star. They are beginning to pop up all over the park. A great attractor for Butterflies.I will admit I am pretty much obsessed with the ambush insects; Crab Spiders, Praying Mantis’s and now Jagged Ambush Bugs. Saw my first one of these maybe a month ago, now I am finding them everywhere. This one (look close just above and to the left of the wasp) has snagged a wasp. Nature is just so amazing and cool. You may have to click on the image and view it full size in order to make out the ambusher, absolutely fascinating little creature.My Day 1 and Day 2 posts both showed examples of different types of Galls. Here is yet another example of them. Not sure what insect created these, but they are spiky little red balls attached to the leaves. You can click on the image to see it full size.Rattlesnake Root, one of my favorites this time of year. The colors are subdued compared to many other plants, but that makes them stand out even more in my mind.I believe this is a Cuckoo Wasp. The rough texture and unmistakable blue metallic color are characteristic of that species.This Bumblebee has most of its face shoved down into the flower. They crawl completely into the larger ones. Despite being large, Bumblebees are one of the more difficult ones to photograph. They are in constant motion, always twitching and moving all over the place. A Paper Wasp grabbing a quick snack atop some Godenrod.
This summer has come with an extra side of hot sauce, that’s for sure. Another weekend of 100+ heat index on a trail with very little shade. When it is this hot I carry 2.5L of water and take advantage of what shade I can find. I also tend not to spend as much time in any one spot as I might otherwise do. Which is too bad because on this day I came across a patch of Cylindrical Blazing Star being tended by a couple dozen Swallowtail butterflies. In milder weather I likely would have spent a good 15 to 20 minutes in that area taking photos.
I was out on the West Beach trail system on this day, which is composed of 3 separate trails that all connect at the main parking lot. One of the trails involves climbing up and down almost 300 steps… I decided to bypass that particular loop on this very hot day however, and went with a flatter one instead.It was just past all those stairs that I came upon the Swallowtails. Often times when I encounter these butterflies they will periodically rest for a minute or so which gives me time to setup for a good shot. On this day however they were all in constant motion. I could have gotten frustrated over not being able to get clear and sharply focused photographs. Instead I quickly decided to go with what Nature was giving me on this day and just lean into the motion blur theme. I ended up getting a number of interesting abstract images and this has inspired me to work on developing this technique.
I did get a few images where the butterfly was in focus with a high enough shutter speed to freeze its motion, but those were more happy accidents than anything else. I was using my manual focus lens which made accurate tracking almost impossible. But it was fun to try.There’s always more than just butterflies to be found on the trail. I like simple arrangements like this, where there is good separation between the subject and the background. It was the burnt orange color and the tight clustering of the leaves which caught my attention for this shot. At the time I did not see the two grasshoppers which blend in so nicely with the leaves. It is not uncommon to find little surprises like this when reviewing my images. If I had noticed them at the time I probably would have put the focus right on them. But as is, I kinda like that they are just outside of the focal plane which emphasizes the fact that it is not to their advantage to stand out and be easily seen.This time I did not miss the Grass Hopper on the leaf. Though in this case it did not blend in nearly as well.I like to check for Crab spiders on the yellow petals of asters. This time I found a little jumping spider that was keeping a very close eye on me, multiple eyes to be precise.This view shows the length of what was once known as Long Lake. It was a lake at one time, but now it alternates between being covered by up to a few feet of water, to this.When Long Lake dries out you are able to see the channels which have been created by beavers. These days the beavers do not have many natural predators to worry about and they have become a nuisance.This was one of my last images of the day. This leaf was just floating about 5ft off the ground. It was caught in very faint spider web that spanned at least 6 feet. It ran from an overhead branch all the way down to the ground. That is what I call one industrious spider!
Even when it is so hot and humid that you know you will be miserably uncomfortable all day, it is still worth going out because it is guaranteed that you will find many wondrous things that make it well worth the effort. Nature simply never disappoints.
