Another Visit on an especially wonderful day. No clouds visible, when I arrived shortly after the park opened.
And as always – being outside, smack in the middle of nowhere puts your head straight and makes the day to day worries just become childish. They just pale and dissipate.
Not having completely geared up I already saw the first two Butterflies. Here’s my today’s list on these critters.
Palamedes Swallowtail (10), Giant Swallowtail 
, Zebra Swallowtail (50+), Zebra Heliconian (2), Gulf Fritillary (4), Monk Skipper, Cloudless Sulphur (10+), Sleepy Orange (2), Spicebush Swallowtail .
And a few steps into my usual route a White-tailed Deer appeared on the path and just stared at me. Then some people approached, that had dogs with them and it jumped into the woods, giving me just one more chance to get a shot.
My Zebra Swallowtail Hotspot was brimming with them. They were all over the place doing their thing, which made it very difficult to shoot, since they refused to land.
Taking my path through the heath I came up to the wild orange trees. Not much going on – the lantana was still in hibernation, so my butterfly loot was on a diet. But I ran into two Gopher tortoise shell. One already showed the skeletal structure, with the characteristic pentagonal skin flaking off. The other however was intact, so I took it with me for Tim’s collection. (Along with half a dozen of ripe oranges.)
Scooting back I went to Lake Louisa, just noticing another visible drop in water level, which becomes quite frightening with the time. While still relatively quiet (saw only a few Dragonflies, no Damselflies) I encountered a handful of Butterflies mudpuddling. (They land in wet sand and take on minerals.) Here I got the first Spicebush Swallowtail and Giant Swallowtail.
5 hours walking and I felt – though very much relaxed a bit tired and went on my way. Just before leaving the park, Rangers were executing a controlled burn – a wildfire, to excel the natural growth of certain areas. Fascinating and mesmerizing, as well as incredibly fast and violent. Did I mention hot? Got some nice pics, too!
Temps – when I left were at 80?F – 27?C – very nice! And that was the 2nd of March 2008 for me!
Here’s the obligatory teaser:
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