272: Getting freaky in the woods

Summer Solstice in the Woods

Yesterday evening, before the storms hit, I decided to wander back to the woods to get some Summer Solstice shots of the creek (as part of my contribution to Scott’s Assignment:  Four Seasons 2011).  I donned the appropriate clothing, including my ugly hat to keep the deer flies away, and slowly hiked to the back of the pond and down into the woods.  I got stopped along the way by a few things that caught my attention.

The dragonflies continue to show off for me.  I’m convinced that now they’re just doing it for time on the blog and their fifteen minutes of fame.  😉  This next photo is terrible in many respects, but kind of cool in others.  I caught a dragonfly that was hovering in front of me.  The sun was shining right on him, something that didn’t help as much as I thought it would.

In flight

Nevertheless, it is the first time I’ve captured a dragonfly in flight where you can tell it is a dragonfly in flight.  Maybe someday I’ll have a camera that is better at capturing this sort of thing.  In the meantime, I’ll keep practicing with what I have.

The first jewelweed flower of the season

A spot of orange under the jewelweed leaves caught my eye and I found the first jewelweed flower of the season.  They’ll probably start blooming like crazy now, but yesterday there was only one flower to be found.

I eventually made it to the woods and the creek where the sunlight was streaming through the trees from a direction and angle that was unfamiliar to me as I usually take my walks in the morning or early afternoon (mostly so I’ll have photos for the daily blog post).

Because it was so warm and humid, I gave some thought to wading into the creek, something I’ve never done.  The water looked inviting.  However, the mushiness as I got closer to the banks of the creek convinced me to wait.  It needs to dry out a little more back there.  I would also like to have my water shoes on when I go in.  I noticed once the creek receded that quite a bit of trash washed up, including broken glass.

After mucking about a little on one side of the creek, I followed the creek west for a short while.  There were a lot of deer tracks.  There were also other tracks I wasn’t expecting, that of someone’s shoes or boots (and they were not mine).  As I walked I noticed a stick standing up in what had been a vernal pool (and is now a muddy spot).  I have seen the stick there before, when there was water in the vernal pool.  What I have not seen before was this:

It took a minute for it to register in my brain that it is a skull.  A small animal skull of some kind.  Opossum?  Raccoon?  I’m not sure.  Perhaps someone is working on their own Blair Witch Project back there in the woods.  Freaky.

I wandered around a little while longer, went back to where I usually take photos of the creek, took a few more shots, and called it a day.  No other bones were found.

Today I walked in the meadow and the Future Woods, and spent a little time in the garden.  Things are growing nicely in the garden.  Last night’s storms brought us some much needed rain.  The storms also brought an amazing lightning show.  It was so bright it was almost blinding at times.

Mama Red-Winged Blackbird

That’s about it from the Bogs for today.  There are more storms in the forecast for today and tomorrow, with cooler (mid 70s) weather arriving after that.

See you tomorrow!

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