Serendipity in the Park.

Two weeks ago, I was leaving the Nature Center after a pleasant walk.  The prairie plants in front of the nature center were already cloaked in shadow from the trees.


Fast-moving butterfly

Something was flitting among the plants, a fast and erratically moving butterfly.  I had to choose between trying to get a good look at the butterfly or taking its picture.  My camera was set at a fairly high shutter speed and a decent aperture, so I opted to shoot and decide from the image what it was I had been looking at later. 
Yes, I know this detracts from the immediacy of the experience, but it works for me because it gives me a record of what I have seen and a better handle on what it was I was looking at when I try to figure that out later.

I do not know much about butterflies, or nature for that matter.  I use photography as a learning tool.

So, I had the blurred photo of a butterfly in my computer and way in the back of my mind when I went for my morning walk three days ago. My camera was ready when I got to the NPVNC entrance.
There were the familiar enclosures in front of the Nature Center, which, by the way, includes not only offices, meeting rooms and rest rooms, but also an excellent small museum. 


Entrance to NPVNC

Welcome



Inside the mesh fence around the flowers was that black butterfly.  It took me maybe ten shots and a lot of contortions and adjustments before I could catch it between the wires.

You can see the details in the enlargement.


Eastern Black Swallowtail

 So, mystery solved.  Except for the gender.  Maybe next time.  Maybe someone will explain to me how to tell.

The excitement of a surprise discovery was not quite over.  I glanced over to my right as I walked towards the Nature Center.  Yes, I did a double-take:

Nature Center Entrance

Nature Center visitor.

This is not the first time I've seen this guy hanging out around the front of the Nature Center, just lounging in the garden waiting for rutting season to start.  Sometimes he hangs out on one of the grassy islands in the parking lot.

There are several stags hanging out around or inside the park, and a few does as well.  The does mostly still have fawns in tow. 

There are not as many fawns as there once were.  Sometimes I forget that this is an actual nature park.  Then something reminds me that nature includes predators.  On this same walk, I spotted a trail of footprints on the path near the bridge that divides the two ponds.  There had been a heavy rain the previous night, after a long dry-spell, so these were current footprints.  They were just under three inches long and they belong to a coyote.



Coyote footprint:  September, 2012

 



January, 2012 Coyote and ???

I spotted one coyote last January from a distance of 25 yards or so.  He ducked and disappeared.  I followed and found a trail footprints. 

There may be as many as three coyotes in the park.  Given the cleverness of coyotes, this number must be elastic.

The coyotes also play a role in the unhappy story of the geese inside the fence of NPVNC.  This is a story for another day.


Back to my September 4th walk in the park.

When I got west side of the park , I happened to glance up towards a bat "house".  There was a Cooper's hawk on top!  Of course he saw me.  I managed to take three quick shots before the bird flew off.

Cooper's Hawk on Bat House



Oops.

In future postings, I plan to show more of the fauna and flora of the North Park Village Nature Center.  There are interesting stories.

The best story of all in about the Staff that runs North Park Village Nature Center.  The staff and volunteers here does a remarkable job of making nature accessible to city folks.  It is hard work to keep nature looking natural.