Lots of super pretty flowers at Meadowlark Gardens, but wasn't really there to take pics of them.
One of the hundreds of flower varieties at Meadowlark Gardens
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These gardens are on Roanoke Island, and well worth a visit. http://elizabethangardens.org/ Some pics from the gardens...  Brilliant colors  Lace-cap Hydrangea is a highlight  Statue of Queen Elizabeth I  Okay, now that's pretty  At the center of the gardens  One of many cool flowers  Awesome red flowers and finally...  A leopard frog in a pool at the gardens 
red-banded hairstreak.
Tiny mushrooms
Wildflowers at Burke Lake
Gomantong Caves consist primarily of two caves, each with a horizontal entrance and quite a lot of pit entrances up high. For the last two days I have been mapping the colonies of bats and birds that roost on the walls and ceiling of the lower cave, Simud Hitam (Black Cave). We are just trying to figure out how much stuff is living up there. I am also working on figuring out which bats live where in the cave. In a big cave with very high ceilings, the way to do this is to spend a lot of time in the cave under the roosts and wait for a dead or dying bat to fall to the floor. Yes, where there is life there is death, and here it provides us an easy way to know what's up there. So a few photos from my trip to the cave today, where I was happily wandering around solo with my lights, big flash and camera, and a ton of gear in my pack (it weighs about 20 pounds for this type of work). We arrived at the visitor center and unlike a lot of cave trips, already had all our things ready to go. However, there was very nice bird sitting on a lamppost in the parking lot so it got some attention. 
Crested serpent eagle at the Gomantong Caves visitor center
That would have been enough, and time for caves, when the monkeys started jumping around just down the road so I went over to photograph them. 
The ever-so-beautiful red leaf monkey
And that would have been enough, and time for the caves, when the orangutans were spotted! 
Baby orangutan heading over to mom. She was eating a durian fruit and the baby would come over and get a bite every once in a while. It was wonderful to see
So unless an elephant was going to walk by, it was time for the caves. What a great start to the day, though. 
The walk from the visitor's center to the longhouse at the commercial cave's entrance is a boardwalk through great forest with lots of wildlife
The main entrance to Simud Hitam, the black cave, so named for the many black-nest swiftlets that roost here
This is a test photo for a pic I am working on. The pit you are looking at the bottom of is 85 meters deep. The little hut in the cave is a guard shack to protect the nests from being stolen. They had a theft attempt just yesterday but they caught them as I understand it
Often cited as the tallest guano pile in the world, this extends up and into the darkness for a long ways. I know, that isn't helpful but the guy with the actual height is back at camp. I will update with exact height soon. I think it is well over 100 feet high
A look at a small portion of the ceiling with a telephoto lens. The dark blots are bats, mostly in the genus Hipposiderus. The grayish masses are swiftlet net colonies.
Okay, so finally some cave shots. But that's all I have time for tonight. I leave you with a blue fly or bee of some sort. 
A very cool-colored insect heading in to a flower
A second pic today, This is partly to make up for getting some sleep rather than posting something yesterday, and partly because I really like teasels. 
Teasel from Stone Valley Recreation Area, Petersburg, PA.
So you may be used to the standard great president memorials/monuments on the National Mall. Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson. Wait, was Jefferson a president? Oh yes, he was the third president. But the president who really understood the value of nature (and created the National Park system) is Theodore Roosevelt. Yes, he had his flaws, but his administration figured out how to conserve some of he great parts of he United States. And his memorial is on an island in the Potomac River, I was out to this island today, and here are some pics. 
Whoa! This bit of flowering trees was just out my door. Spring is finally here.
But let's go to Theodore Roosevelt island. 
Cutleaf toothwart (Cardemine concatenata)
Lesser celandine has really taken over, as an invasive species.
Rowers on the Potomac
A Blackhawk helicopter, always keeping an eye on me
Virginia blue bells (Mertensia virginica) are just starting to bloom.
Double-crested cormorant
Two eggs on the trail. Seem like duck eggs, but no nest anywhere near. A mystery.
Seems like this will take two days to put up all the pics. So, more tomorrow.
Holmes Run Stream Valley Park, Annandale, VA. This park is a mix of ball fields and forest. I really didn't find anything amazing to photograph related to the park, and my telephoto lens wasn't getting anything, so I put on the macro lens for some flower shots. First up is a shot with the telephoto lens before I switched. Spring has been late coming this year, but here is a bee on a flower. 
Bee on a yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum)
So I put on the macro lens and took a few more pictures. I'm not known as a great flower photographer, and that is true here. But this was the only interesting bit going on. 
The lesser Celandine (Ranuluncus ficaria) is an invasive species, and quite common along the streams and floodplains.
This is a Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), a native plant that flowers in the early Spring.
And not a wildflower, but a shrub, the Forsythia are starting to bloom as well.
Which is where I should end this, but I took one pattern shot that isn't awesome, but worth adding. 
Electricity!
The pedestrian bridge over the train tracks was not exactly on the loop around the lake. But seemed like a nice side bit if I was going to see as much of the park as possible during a loop trip. So back to the trail... 
The loop trail where it apparently follows an old rail line.
I'm going to call this the halfway point on the hike, although not quite true. Here is a photo of Accotink Creek before it enters the lake. Just under two miles from where I parked, it is the point where you start heading back on the other side of the lake.
Not my greatest pic, but an eastern Phoebe. Even with the endless cold temps around here migratory birds are trying to fly north.
Snow drops! Flowers are coming up
A hermit thrush!
Skunk cabbage, always one of the first wetland plants to come up.
Red-eared Turtle on a log.
Red-eared turtle on a log. Shell still seems covered with mud from the winter
Pileated woodpeckers have no problems with foraging on the ground. This one was whacking away at a dead branch which it felt held tasty grubs for food.
A chipmunk! Only one I've seen so far this year.
And a pic of the chipmunk looking out of it's hole.
And thus I end the photos from Accotink Park. As always, I hope you enjoyed my walk as much as I did. And to finish, I include yet another great blue heron photo, which I started this bit with, and have said I wouldn't be posting more of... 
Great blue herons at Accotink Park
With Spring really trying to break Old Man Winter's grip, it is time to get back to my park series. I still did some of this in the winter, but Northern Virginia parks really start to get more interesting come spring. Sure, some of the animals are harder to see with the leaves out, but then all the birds are singing and colors come out and it just more photographic fun. So yesterday we finally had a warm day and I headed over to Potomac Overlook Regional Park. website: http://www.nvrpa.org/park/potomac_overlook/ This is a spiffy little park on a rise above the Potomac River (duh) with a lot going on. The nature center should not be missed, unless of course you do NOT wish to see the nice variety of live snakes and turtles within. Very nicely done, and for those cavers who read this, it actually has a "Kids Cave" downstairs with cave photos and information about bats and caves. Total surprise. But just outside, I could hear what I have been waiting to hear, a group of... 
Wood frogs! There were a couple small ponds with these guys calling away. Cold-tolerant critters and usually the first frog out.
Click on the video for a short bit to see and hear the frogs And that wasn't the only sign of Spring. There were... 
Crocuses! Actual flowers and color. This made me very happy indeed.
And I had been told that their was an aviary, and sure enough, there it was. These three beautiful animals were chilling out on the warm day. 
Great horned owl
Barred owl
Red-tailed hawk
They also have a butterfly garden and other things that aren't really useful yet. But after exploring around most of the park, I decided to walk down Donaldson Run (located just off the property) to the Potomac River. This trail crosses back and forth over the stream a couple of times, so plan on rock-hopping! 
The lower reaches of Donaldson RUn
And before coming to the river, there is a spot that looks like a steep little trail going up. Well, the "overlook" had to be up, right? Wrong, I ended up on a deer trail and had to backtrack. And it was while on this trail that I saw my oddity of the day. Several trees were painted with designed and a couple even had sayings painted on. Weird. But I was out of time for more, so headed out. 
Mysterious painted tree along a deer trail
 Beech Drops (Epiphagus virginiana) from Burke Lake Park in northeastern Virginia Beech drops (Epifagus virginiana) is a wild flower with an unusual twist. It has no chlorophyll, and thus is not green. It is parasitic on the roots of beech trees. Generally considered not harmful to the trees, it sucks the sap from the tree roots, thus making it saprophytic in the jargon.
Found generally across the eastern United States, it is not really rare, just that most people don't recognize it as a wild flower, and well, mostly ignore it as it is not showy by any means. The flowers in this photo are a foot tall or a little better, and were found at Burke Lake Park in northern Virginia. |
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