Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid Season

Mid-May is prime season for pink lady's slipper orchids in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I went hunting for them last week.

They were blooming right on schedule. 

For a flower so brightly colored, they are surprisingly difficult to see and must be stalked. Click to enlarge.

Here's a nice one, showing off its twisting sepals and puffy pouch. 

I also saw this adorable eastern chipmunk.

The New Jersey Pine Barrens -- dark pools, interesting plants, cute mammals, and a legendary resident Devil. What's not to like?

Happy Mother's Day

 

 From the nursery in the hollow of the maple tree in my yard. The new baby gray squirrel is on top. Mom is below getting walked on. Click to enlarge. Happy Mother's Day!

A Black Swallowtail Butterfly Lays Eggs

One of my local parks has a planting of parsley, dill, and milkweed for butterflies. Monarch and swallowtail caterpillars feed on the leaves and stems of these plants, so it is a great location for a butterfly to lay eggs. I was watching this black swallowtail there. It's the first one I've seen this year. 

It was flying rapidly from plant to plant. When it paused, fluttering, to bend its abdomen like this I realized that it was laying eggs.

She darted over to a dill plant, paused fluttering, and bent her abdomen tip toward the plant to attach an egg. 

I waited until she flew away. 

Then I found the egg. See the little yellow sphere in the right center of the photo? Click to enlarge.

Here it is with my blurry hand in the back for scale. The egg is in the center of the photo. There is so much going on in nature that we never notice. Good luck to all the tiny caterpillars that will hatch in a few days!