As we were driving back to the pavilion at the foundation, Melissa said she had never been down this way before. So of course, Jeanne and I said “we are game!” It was another limestone creek bed that drains to Leo Lake.
First we noticed the Mexican Buckeyes! Jeanne found these ladybugs taking shelter inside a seedpod.
Seven-spot Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata)!
A greenish crustose lichen!
A white round crustose lichen!
A ground beetle (Carabidae) sped across our path!
Ledges of moss!
Rusty Blackhaw roots were strangely laying across the rocks.
Looks like someone was playing tic-tac-toe? However the game must have been interrupted. Why because there were no X’s or O’s. LOL
Under the ledges, it is common to find the Daddy Longlegs! Sometimes there are bunches of them.
This moss which looked dead was fanned out on a rock in the creek bed.
Close up!
The inside of a gall. The occupants are long gone.
The layers in the rock were interesting to me.
Melissa told us that mountain lions had been spotted before on the foundation. Looks like this would make a nice den?
A spider had gotten a millipede. It looked ghostly white! That is its shadow to the right.
Organ Pipe Mud Daubers! This was a rather large grouping.
A close view of a different grouping, Indeed they are master masons!
This one was built horizontally!
The poison ivy rootlets off the main vine were so pretty backlit by the sun!
Wow, so many things I enjoy in this post! How exciting to find such a large and interesting chinkapin!
Wonder how long since a cougar has been spotted there. Love love the mud dauber nests. Insects are surely remarkable. Spider article good, thanks.
Looks like the kind of place I would have loved to have been along.
I know you would have! And would loved for you to come along.