Trail Pals at Play

What a joy it is to have a pal who likes to walk through the woods the same way I do.  One who doesn't chafe if it takes five minutes to get the right angle on a dragonfly photo.  Or who doesn't fret if we wander off trail to see what's over a rise.  My friend Sue Pierce is that kind of pal, and what's even better, we complement one another.  I may know the names of a few more plants than she does, but she knows lots more bird songs than I, and she can see much better, too.  All the snakes and frogs and dragonflies we found today were ones that she saw first.

Sue took me to a place in Moreau Lake State Park where she had found Wood Lily in bloom. I'm sorry, but I won't say exactly where she found it.  This native wild lily (Lilium philadelphicum) is so lovely it's now become hard to find in the wild.  Too many folks have dug it up to transplant to their gardens.  We found a number of widely separated plants, the brilliant orange of their showy blooms set off by the green of lacy ferns that surround them.

As I said before, Sue spotted lots of woodland critters, and a couple of them held real still for the longest time so we could take their photos.

Like this large dragonfly with black-mullioned wings, its bright yellow embellishments color-matched to the hawkweeds and daisies around where it landed.  Be sure to click on this photo to better see those spectacular wings.

I don't know how Sue spotted this Wood Frog,  perfectly camouflaged among the dead leaves on the forest floor.  And it sat stone still, so both of us could poke our cameras at it.  Now, that is one beautiful frog!  Its eye seems fashioned of brilliant gold leaf, encircled by jet, with a ring of soft jade green.

Here's a close-up of that eye:

Tomorrow, Sue and I plan to paddle a stretch of the Hudson.  She thinks we may find some American Chestnut in bloom.  And I bet, with those eagle eyes of hers, she'll spot other good stuff, too.  So tune in tomorrow to see what we find.