Wild Columbine
For many years a close friend and I have traveled to the mountains in late spring to tent, fly fish for trout, photograph and solve the mysteries of life. Our destination is a 45 square mile forested watershed that lies within a much larger forested region, most of which is State-owned. The area has relatively few year-round inhabitants and is a web of unpaved, seasonal roads; unbroken forestland of mixed hardwoods and conifers; pristine, freestone streams and the various discord elements that challenge and erode the wildness: natural gas right-of-ways, private lands, etc. The camp site is a dead zone too, which adds to the flavor of it all. We never achieve goal four but have fun trying. The trip is always a highly anticipated adventure that has a profound and lasting effect on our life story. The destination never changes but the experiences are never the same.
Forested mountain road typical of the region
A “freestone” stream in the watershed surrounding camp, harboring native Brook Trout and a reproducing population of stocked Brown Trout
I have many pictures from these trips but decided to be true to the theme of my blog and focus on my experiences with nature that filled the voids when the fish weren’t active. The gallery that follows is a sampling of my many encounters with the natural world during five days in camp in late May, 2013.
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Tiger Swallowtail feeding on the nectar of an early-flowering, exotic shrub, Autumn Olive
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Tiger Swallowtails “puddling” – seeking moisture and minerals from damp places (1 of 5)
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Puddling Swallowtails – maybe 150 butterflies in all.
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Puddling Swallowtails
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Puddling Swallowtails
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Puddling Swallowtails (this is a damp, abandoned fire pit – I couldn’t remove the trash without ruining the scene)
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Other species of butterflies and moths puddle as well: Nessus Sphinx Moth in lower right
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Fertile leaflets of Interrupted Fern; these structures occur mid-way up the three-foot high stalks, hence the name “Interrupted”
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Maidenhair Fern
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Foliage and fertile leaves of Cinnamon Fern
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeding on nectar in the tubular flowers of Autumn Olive
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Fungus on a dead Red Oak tree (i of 3)
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Fungus on Red Oak
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Fungus on Red Oak
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A small woodland tree, Alternate-leaf Dogwood, in full bloom
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Spider web in early morning
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Timber Rattlesnake; the “yellow” variation; protected status – rare or extirpated over much of its original range in eastern U.S.
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Timber Rattlesnake
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Wild Columbine
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Spider web and Black-capped Chickadee in early morning
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Raccoon tracks
Photos by NB Hunter. © All Rights Reserved.
Beautiful as always. I am not afraid of snakes, but I don’t think I would stay around long enough to photograph a rattler!
Wow, what a great set of pictures!! 😀 I’ve never seen so many butterflies, never seen a raccoon (or tracks of one), hummingbird, etc.. Actually, of all pictures, the only things I’ve seen before are fern and spider webs..
Thank you! It is indeed a very special place…and I’m thrilled to be able to share. I spend a lot of time photographing butterflies in 2 states and have not seen such extensive puddling behavior anywhere else. BTW, I did a hummingbird shoot in the same region last summer which will be the basis for a post sometime this summer – you’ll have fun with that one too.
What a beautiful place, the stream is so beautiful. These photos are all very beautiful, the photo of the wild columbine is superb, a real beauty. That’s a lot of butterflies, I’ve never seen this before !
I love your photography, you make beautiful photos. I’ll look forward to future posts 🙂
Your kind, thoughtful comments are much appreciated! I look forward to seeing more of your work as well.
Thank you Nick 🙂
Very nice indeed. The colors are just perfect, exactly as I remember them.
Thanks for that, and for your guidance, assistance and tolerance on site as well! The stream shot is now my screensaver — every time I look at it I’m drawn back to the water and camp.
A wonderful virtual walk through your woods! I shall enjoy viewing the world through your lens. Fly fishing is one of my husband’s passions, but i love to go along for the jaunts into nature’s embrace. I’ve learned that fly fishing is an art, and what a way to become at one with the ways of the river and it’s inhabitants. Here the Cape Piscatorial society is an active breed!
Thank you! Really appreciate your personal comments and thrilled that you’re following. I have enjoyed your writing as well as the excellent images from another part of the world. Looking forward to future posts.