Mating Damselflies

Tammy and I came across this pair of Damselflies mating on a leaf towards the end of our hike at Ragged Mountain Natural Area. This picture isn't sharp, but it is clear enough for you to get the gist of their contortion. Quite an odd shape they make. If you are a sentimentalist, then perhaps you see a heart laying on its side. I am too logical, so all I see are two bugs on a leaf.

You would be irritable too, if you had an ant crawling on your eye

Towards the end of our hike around the reservoir at Ragged Mountain Natural Area, I noticed a Black Snake sunning itself beside the trail. I immediately seized upon the opportunity for pictures since you just do not find non-venomous snakes posing beside a trail every day.

Of course, later the next week my friend Dennis pointed out that since I was not dead sure that this was a Black Snake, my photographic tom-foolery was more of a gamble than I was admitting. Er...dammit. Mom, you should not pay any attention to Dennis. I think he is just causing trouble :-)

In trying to figure it out now, I cannot really tell whether it is a Black Rat Snake, or an Eastern Racer. Either way, it was not venomous. See Mom? Not venomous!

Anyhow, this snake was sunning itself beside the trail. As I crept closer for a lovely snake portrait, he started flicking his tongue out at me to keep track of where I was. Non-venomous or not, I did not want to get so close that he fled or decided to strike, so my big lens did all the work for me. I am not sure what is more creepy...the snake and its tongue, or the ant crawling on its eye.

Weird Building

About halfway through the hike at Ragged Mountain Natural Area, the trail crosses a dam between two sections of the reservoir. On the right side of the dam, there was this stone column with an old building sitting directly atop it. This building had windows, but they were boarded up. There was no way to get to the building unless you wanted to get wet and then climb. I poked around on the web, but could find nothing that described the purpose of this structure. It was kind of surreal, and I joked with Tammy that someone was in the building, peeking out at us through the gaps in the boards.

I did think that there might be some avian residents in that building, but the only birds I saw were two Eastern Phoebe perched in the foliage that was growing on the side of the stone column. Then one of the pair decided that I needed some good pictures, so it flew towards Tammy and I, landed on a sign that was just a few feet away and graciously waited for me to take pictures.

Deer in ferns

Two weekends back Tammy and I visited Ragged Mountain Natural Area, in Charlottesville, for a small day hike. The trails are essentially around the Charlottesville Reservoir. One thing that was unique about this park was that no pets are allowed, not even leashed dogs. The reason given was that it increased the wildlife viewing enjoyment for all visitors to the park. I can agree with that logic.

[edit: the trails are not really "in and around" the reservoir...they are really just "around" the reservoir :-)]

On the one hand, I can see how a dog owner would find that rule annoying or unfair. On the other hand, I have been at plenty of parks that allowed leashed dogs but saw dog owners that ignored the part about a leash, and let their dog run free. That can be annoying or unfair to people who are in the park and not particularly interested in interacting with the dog, or would rather the dog did not disturb whatever wildlife there was to view.

Like this deer, chilling out in the ferns.