The weather was finally nice again this past weekend, so to enjoy the sun and the wildlife it brought with it, we went hiking in our local area and photographed what we saw. Birds were not especially active when we went, although we did see two Red-tailed Hawks, some Turkey Vultures, some woodpeckers, and many, many Golden-crowned Kinglets. The Kinglets did not seem bothered by us in the slightest and would get very close, flitting among the small trees beside the trail. They did not like to sit still, however, and were somewhat frustrating to photograph.
While searching for birds among the trees, we spotted a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. It flew away before I could take any photographs, but Michael managed to catch a quick picture before it was out of our sight.
I also photographed a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Black-capped Chickadee, but the remainder of our outing focused on other wildlife, including plants.
Among the other wildlife we saw, most were invertebrates, but we were also fortunate enough to find a Sharp-lobed Hepatica in flower. We even saw a rare fern, Smooth Cliffbrake, growing on the side of a cliff.
We saw many invertebrates crawling in the dirt or flying through the air, but among the most interesting that we saw were a Shore Ground Beetle and some colorful Leafhoppers. We also saw an Eastern Comma, a pretty orange butterfly.
Although we heard frogs and a fellow hiker mentioned turtles, we did not see any. We did, however, see a snake that was evidently out enjoying the warm weather just as we were.
A great variety of wildlife was out enjoying the sun with us. We were happy with what we saw and returned home warm and satisfied. Here’s to more nice weather this week!
You can read about some of our previous adventures here.
