Three Amigos

These painted turtles remind me of three friends posing for a portrait.  They were basking in the sun, soaking up some solar energy in the Great Dismal Swamp when I took this photo.

Buttercup

A simple buttercup grew in a patch of grass along the trail I was hiking.  After stopping to take photos of something more compelling, I noticed this flower and thought it deserved a little attention.

Tiny Forest

The moss and saplings growing from this semi-submerged log make up a tiny little forest of their own.  A microcosm of the world around them.

Curious Horned Grebe

I spotted this Horned Grebe swimming in one of the canals at The Great Dismal Swamp.  It didn’t seem to mind me watching it at all.  It just swam around, in and out of the shadows and would occasionally dive under water.  I was able to get quite a few photos of it but this is one of my favorites.

Mourning Cloak

This Mourning Cloak butterfly stops to rest and feed in a patch of tiny, purple wild flowers.  I encountered it while hiking with a friend this spring in the Great Dismal Swamp near Suffolk, VA.

 

Unlikely Fisherman

Five of the eight legs of this spider were on the surface of a small pool of water.  The other three were resting on a leaf floating on the surface.  At first I thought this spider had been stranded on the leaf but I later realized it was probably waiting there for lunch to come along.

Like all the photos on my blog, you can click on the image above to see a larger, high resolution image of this photo.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Color

A Zebra Swallowtail butterfly feeds on henbit and buttercups along the Washington Ditch in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge near Suffolk, Virginia.