On Saturday I was invited to go with a group of naturalist who usually get together this time each year to hunt for plants in the mustard family. Due to the early spring...the mustards are up, bloomed and gone...so the group decided to set out and just go where their phenological noses took them.
It was nice to be among a group of people who love experiencing nature and learning as much as I do. Now, don't get me wrong, I have friends who would give me their kidneys, and with whom I can sit and talk for hours about Life, or nothing important at all. I have many Anam Caras...but few of them care to go birding or botanizing with me...go figure. But I'm working on them.
So, it was nice to be with folks who randomly blurt out bird names or drop to their knees and start digging through leaf litter or stand motionless looking up or walk in circles staring at the ground, without thinking mental illness is involved. We were loosely led by Jim McCormac, who works for the Ohio Dept or Natural Resources and is a wealth of information and understanding. He has a great blog where you can see way better photos of the day than mine.
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| Gettin' the Shot! |
I was definitely out-gunned with camera gear and therefore photography enthusiasm. One of the photographers turned me on to a bino/camera strap combo, so next time I hope to bring the big, heavy Nikon, too. But until then, I hope you will enjoy these few decent photos of some of the things we saw along the way from my "camera lite."
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| Prairie Dock-A tall native plant of Ohio Prairies |
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| Columbine growing on and hanging from Dolomite Rocks |
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| Crossvine on Rt. 52 along the Ohio river |
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| There are larges patches of this growing up rock faces and trees on 52 |
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Juniper Hairstreak Butterfly...gorgeous...and a very patient model.
It soaked up its mud minerals for over a half-hour while we took photos |
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| A male Fence Lizzard lulled into stasis by rubbing his turquoise tummy |
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