Reconnecting with nature through hiking, camping, and paddling
While hiking in Yellowstone National Park I noticed flashes of yellow in the pine branches overhanging the trail. I stopped to check it out and saw a small group of Western Tanagers flying through the pines. They didn’t remain in sight for very long so this was the only worthwhile photo I was able to capture.
The views of the Grand Teton range are spectacular enough on their own. Throw in a few blooming flowers in the foreground and it’s hard to imagine a better landscape opportunity.
These yellow irises are growing near the edge of the lake at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. In the background is the Conservatory which has something blooming 365 days a year.
I don’t know what type of flower this is but it is big and very bright red. It was growing on a vine in the Conservatory at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden when I photographed it in May.
This Pearl Crescent butterfly rests peacefully in a bed of white and yellow flowers. According to “An Instant Guide to Butterflies” by Pamela Forey and Cecilia Fitzsimons, male Pearl Crescents patrol their territory and will fly at other butterflies and insects.
Wild Daisies grow along an open trail on a late spring morning in Central Virginia.
A simple buttercup grew in a patch of grass along the trail I was hiking. After stopping to take photos of something more compelling, I noticed this flower and thought it deserved a little attention.
Over the weekend I sat on my roof to get a better view of the bumble bees pollenating our redbud tree. These trees never cease to amaze me. They are in full bloom in Richmond and quite beautiful right now. The bees will be all over them for the next few weeks. Some of the birds will even eat the flowers. Then, late in the summer they will start to produce seed pods and become nature’s perfect bird feeder. Of course the trees benefit immensely from feeding the birds. We have one full sized tree in our yard and we must get a hundred saplings sprout up every year.
A Zebra Swallowtail butterfly feeds on henbit and buttercups along the Washington Ditch in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge near Suffolk, Virginia.
This little Yellow Breasted Chat and I met up along a rather unscenic part of a hike. I didn’t have my camera ready when I first spotted the bird but it was gracious enough to hang around and let me snap a few pictures of it. It almost seemed to pose for me a couple of times.