In the interest of exploring new ecological niches, a few weeks back Joan and I took a hike at the Loveren’s Mill Cedar Swamp. This large preserve, in the northern part of Antrim, is owned and maintained by the Nature Conservancy.
The trail winds its way along the North Branch river which was loaded with Ebony Jewelwings, a damselfly that prefers fast running water. In the sunny spots along the roads we often saw white-faced meadowhawks; these were also present in the cedar swamp proper. In the pine woods we saw (but could not photograph) at least two different darners. I’m not sure if they were different species or male and female of the same species… the darn things (I know, bad pun) did not sit still long enough to get a good look at them. Lastly, we also saw a butterfly that makes a good demonstration of camouflage.
We also scared up a young bull moose while we were walking down the trail. We were about 50 feet away when he jumped up from behind a large rock where he was taking a siesta. He paused briefly (trying to decide which way to go?) before taking off down the trail away from us. I’m still not sure who was more surprised… the moose or Joan!
No moose photos though! One of the “problems” with the odonate rig is that with the lens mounted on the extension tube you can not focus more than about six feet away. So, by the time I got the tube off and the lens remounted, the big fellow was long gone. I can hear Joan now. “Excuses… excuses, a real photographer would have gotten the shot’!
Anyway, here are the photos, that I did get:
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