At 8:00 a.m. yesterday I was at the entrance to John Pundt Park in Spring just as the gates were opened. It was a cool and cloudy morning and I was looking forward to a couple of hours of woodland birding.
By 8:30 all I had seen was a female Cardinal and and a Great Blue Heron, and I had to accept that it was going to be one of those days when the birds just don't cooperate. So I started lowering my sights, literally, and looking for butterflies among the plants.
Unfortunately, butterflies too were very few and far between. However, looking for them got me paying more attention to the flowers and plants that surrounded me.
I lowered my sights even further, right down to ground level. To my amazement, I found that the paths were lined with an extraordinary number and variety of fungi. Here is a sampling of the different types I saw.
P.S.
On my way home, I popped in to Mercer Botanical Gardens. I rarely see many birds at Mercer but it's a surefire site for seeing lots of butterflies. In my next post, I'll show you what I found there.
You are so right that Nature has much to offer on a walk through the woods even when the birds are not cooperating. Wonderful pictures.
ReplyDeleteI have been poring over my Tveten butterfly guide to try to identify your butterfly. I'm torn between Pearl Crescent and Phaon Crescent but leaning toward Pearl. What do you think?
I couldn't believe how many types of fungi there were in the park. Some were too small to photograph.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a Pearl Crescent to me but I'm certainly not great with butterflies!