My primary purpose of the mountain hike at Forest Falls was to find this woodpecker--not always an easy task! I had hiked quite a way up the Vivian Creek Trail without success, but on the way back I spotted this male White-headed WP at a nest hole, and later the Mrs. showed up with her beak filled with insects. My shots of her were very poor, but I was happy to see him at the nest. You can tell he is the male because of the red patch on the back of his head. 6/18/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
Ok, OK, I know this is a terrible photo, with nothing in focus, and definitely not a keeper. I took it of the lady bug migration at Forest Falls in our mountains. I had hoped that at least some lady bugs would be in focus, but no. Several of you mentioned that you hadn't seen ladybugs in flight, or at least not like this, so I decided to post it to give an idea of the migration. I hiked on the trail for a couple of hours, and the ladybugs never let up--so many of them! 6/17/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
This is a more detailed view of the lupine flowers that I posted yesterday. It wasn't the best close-up of the flowers that I got, but I am posting this one because it shows a lady bug flying over. During my hike there in the mountains, lady bugs were clearly migrating through- thousands of them flew by while I was on the trail. I looked for somewhere that they might be lighting and clustering, but I only saw them on the wing. 6/16/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com