Take A Guess

Good guesses! Yes, both are kaleidoscoped images of a butterfly's wing. To be precise, the wing of an American Lady, Vanessa virginiensis.

Tiny Treasures

Scattered among the browns of dead leaves littering the forest floor, we spotted some tiny treasures of late winter...

A perky little violet, either Viola affinis or V. sororia. I wasn't paying attention to the leaves, so I'm not certain which of the two species this flower represents. Treebeard has both species listed in the park's database.

The elusive least trillium, Trillium pusillum var. virginianum.

And the humble little common starwort, Stellaria media.

Sunday Salamanders

Treebeard and I carved out a little down time from our recently hectic schedules and took a walk Sunday afternoon. While we were out, we did a little peeking under logs to see what what stirring. Below are two of the critters we found. The first image is of a two-lined salamander, Eurycea bislineata. The second image is of a redback salamander, Plethodon cinereus. If I get the chance, I'll be back with some information about these two species. But right now I must leave for work...

 

Today, The Home Swamp

 

A Trick of the Lens

Julian Beever sees things differently from most of us, I think. CBS Sunday Morning did a story on him today and showed some of his pavement drawings. They are the coolest things...you have to go see for yourself. Click on the title of this post to take a look at his work.