A Cloud of Cloudless Sulphurs

B was the one who first spotted this cloud of Cloudless Sulphur butterflies puddling at a Lake Seminole boat ramp. Boaters had dutifully removed the aquatic vegetation from their motors as they came out of the lake. It was collecting and drying on the concrete just above the shore line.  Butterflies puddle in various places on the ground where they replenish their essential minerals.

Like Monarchs, Cloudless Sulphurs migrate. There have been so many  this year. I can lie out on our screen porch and watch them flying south over our yard.

Mailbox Monday: Electric Box

This is the mailbox for an electrical company.

Mushrooms and S'more

On our hike at Lake Seminole, we noticed several mushrooms and lichens. I thought this first looks similar to melted marshmallows, so I called it the S'more tree.

This was a tiny little group, as attested by the pignut on the right.

And this one was ginormous!

Such variety!

Muhly Grass and Goldenrod

Even God loves the garnet and gold!

Weaving and Waiting for Dinner to Arrive

This beautiful spider, a Golden Silk Orb Weaver, (Nephila clavipes) was hanging out by the trail we hiked that ran along the shore of Lake Seminole. There were lots of webs in the woods. At one point, B said he thought that there was one thick enough to snare one of the yearling deer we saw. (We saw eleven deer in several sightings at Three Rivers State Park that afternoon.) While to catch a deer is clearly a stretch, I read that the Golden Silk Orb Weaver sometimes catches small birds and bats in their webs and consumes them. This one is female, as the males are tiny and have different coloration.

Mailbox Monday: Atlas, Jr. in Training (Pants)

Seminole Sunday

We spent a Sunday afternoon around Lake Seminole. This was the view from our picnic table. We had the place entirely to ourselves.

We walked on every dock we came to.

We got "nothing" here.

We thought it looked like pumpkins in the lake. They were floats.

Cute. 

We saw some bass, but they were not on the road.