I went for a little hike today. After walking a couple of miles and seeing seeing brown and a little dark green, it was a pleasant suprise to see a patch of bright yellow. What a welcome site on a cold wintery day. You can't tell from these photos, but these flowers were not growing in soil. They were growing on mats of floating vegetation.

Bidens laevis

I saw some that looked like that on a lake, but couldn't get close enough for a good picture, they sure are pretty.

You captured some interesting images. I have never seen those. Or if I have, wasn't sure what they were. Great wetlands plant. Thanks for the photos.

How cool!

nice pics. And yes, these kinds of things are one of the reasons why I like hiking all seasons.

robertduval14 said:nice pics. And yes, these kinds of things are one of the reasons why I like hiking all seasons.

I would love to be able to revisit some of these places to see how the variety changes, but I rarely am able to. Fortunately this place is only about 15 miles away so I'm able to go back. I was not expecting any wildflowers like this. I was mostly hope to see some new wildlife, which I did.

North end of a south bound feral hog and one of her babies. First ones I have seen wild.


First Nutria I can remember seeing since I was about 10.


My first wild Bobcat

That's amazing

Wow!! you did really well on that hike, I have never run into wild hogs or wild cats but we have them around here too, right in our city parks.

frostweed said:Wow!! you did really well on that hike, I have never run into wild hogs or wild cats but we have them around here too, right in our city parks.

Those were just the mammals. I also saw a large variety of birds, herons, egrets, vultures, ducks, sparrows, and others. I have spent the last 3 or 4 years photographing wildflowers, and wildlife, and I am amazed at all the interesting sites "right under my nose". I just needed to take the time to look.

I sure am glad those feral hogs were southbound Jay! They can be mighty fearsome & downright nasty mean.

flaflwrgrl said:I sure am glad those feral hogs were southbound Jay! They can be mighty fearsome & downright nasty mean.

Well, when she first came out of the brush and saw me, she ran back in. There was no place for her to go because it was marsh on the other side of the brush, so she ran back out facing right at me. I have heard so much about how mean feral hogs are, the first thing I thought was, "I'm about to get eaten by a momma hog". Fortunately she decided it was more prudent to go the other way and I wasn't about to argue with her decision.

Thank goodness!