Leaf-cutter Bee Nest?

Ever wonder what those leaf-cutter bees do with all those leaves they cut?  I think we found out this afternoon.  Treebeard lowered one of the rolled-up shades on the front porch and this fell out...

It is a pretty intricate structure.  We want to see what emerges from this nest so I rolled the structures back up, this time using newspaper.  The roll will go into a screen box and we'll wait to see what comes out.  I'll keep you posted.

Lots of Legs

Yesterday morning, before I headed to work, Treebeard and I took a walk around the yard.  We like to keep up with what's going on out there, you know.  As we passed by one of the red cedars growing on the lower end of the property Treebeard spotted something neither of us had observed before - a molting daddy longlegs.

While we watched this critter wriggling out of its out-grown skin, I looked around and spotted a couple more in various states of molt.  I was surprised to see so many so close together. 

It was a fun find.  You just never know what you're going to see when you take the time to look.

Little Rewards

Sometimes you don't get to do what you want, but if you're lucky, you get little rewards for doing what you have to do.

These are some little things I was rewarded with today...

Eastern Amberwing - our smallest dragonfly

Little Grass Frog -- our smallest frog

Six-spotted Tiger Beetle -- a little predator with a big attitude.

Skink Fest

They have been everywhere lately.

On the bridge...

On the deck...

On trees...

And beside the boardwalk...

Check out that head.  This one is a mature male broad-headed skink.  It's an impressive lizard!

Road Trip

Treebeard and I left the swamp behind this weekend and headed to the Piedmont of NC for the wedding of two of our friends.  The wedding was held outdoors in a beautiful setting and everyone had a wonderful time.  Since it was a four hour drive to the festivities, we opted to spend the night and head back Sunday following a Mother's Day brunch hosted by the happy couple.

We are early risers and the brunch was scheduled for 10 a.m.  What to do with our time???  A hike, of course!  It was quite pleasant to roam around and wander up and down those exotic landforms known as "hills" - we don't have many of those down here in the Coastal Plain.  And, of course, we had to check out the wetland area on the property. 

 I haven't taken the time to ID this fern yet.  It was quite tall though.

 This boardwalk leads to what they call a river in these parts -- it was only about eight feet wide at this point.  It does get much larger as it heads east.

 Again, I haven't taken time to ID...most likely some sort of rodent.

The butterfly is a great spangled fritillary.  We don't have these in the swamp.

 I had to rescue this juvenile ring-neck snake from the road.  It was not an easy task.  The little guy made himself as flat as he could and wiggled like crazy.

  

Back in the long ago when Treebeard and I lived in the Piedmont, this was one of my favorite wildflowers.  It has the crazy name of fire pink.