About once a month I hike Billy Goat Trail in Maryland with a group of women, but on Saturday I was the only person who showed up! The group hike usually moves quickly and I have to be careful not to get left behind when I inevitably stop to take pictures, so it was exciting to hike by myself and stop for as long as I wanted.
Hike highlight: slime mold! I searched for them in vain during the global snapshot of biodiversity, but I think this rainy weather we had last week really brought them out. I think I saw at least 3 different kinds of slime mold. All of the slime molds I found were on well-decayed (barkless) fallen logs. Anyone know their slime molds? I'm a new enthusiast as a result of my own challenge issued during the global snapshot (still need to run the numbers on that, but no one has told me they did it).
I found the first slime mold about 50 ft from the trailhead, so I mostly had eyes for those the entire time, but I made a handful of other observations too.
Being eaten by millipedes.
I think this was slime mold and not fungus.
Really guessing on this! Slugs were eating it.
It was eating fungus.
Some kind of swallowtail?
Speedy!
Tried to pick it up but it was holding on tight to the ground so I did my best to get the important angles anyways.
Saw many more crunched on the trail :-(
Parasitized dead caterpillar with cocoons on its back. On pawpaw, so I suspect a zebra swallowtail caterpillar.
Bad pic of a little baby so I don't think it can be id'd further.
I should know this but I can't remember what it is.
Comments
Hooray!
Congrats! I know the feeling of finally scoring that ONE specimen.
It's been that way with me and turkeys. After being foiled multiple times in getting a picture of a turkey for the Global Snapshot, I vowed to get one by the end of the summer.
It's not going well. I see turkeys but never with my camera at the ready. So far, Turkeys - 5, Anne - 0.
Hi Carrie,
I recently saw the yellow colored slime moulds along with others in our neighborhood in Apex, NC, while taking my dog for a walk. Unfortunately, I was not carrying my iPhone with which I often take pictures. I often feel like the lone hiker myself and yes, there is definitely advantages to that. I take pictures to my heart's content. My dog has learnt to be very patient on our walks. I wanted to thank you for starting this ( Global snapshot / Biodiversity) project where anyone can post nature /environmental pictures. I am not sure if you have received any message from me as I had tried to reach out to you earlier. I recently started posting pictures on the iNaturalist.org website. I have so many to share and hope to do so more in the future. I would love to work with National Geographic more closely as that has been my longterm dream since childhood. But for now, this is great!
Thanks again, Arunima
Add a Comment