Canaan Nature Walk

Aaron and I decided that his parents’ visit with us in Canaan Valley would be a perfect opportunity to try out the Aaron’s big lens for detailed nature photography. At a nearby marsh, nature cooperated beautifully, and we were inundated with goldfinches, green herons, cedar waxwings, bobolinks, bluebirds, what we believe was a northern harrier, and a variety of colorful butterflies.

Ecology lesson #1: the males are always more colorful than the females (a striking example here with the goldfinches) — Ecology lesson #1: the males are typicallyÂ more colorful than the females (a striking example here with the goldfinches)

If you’re petrified of getting old, hanging out for a day with Aaron’s parents should cure that. Â Aaron’s dad is turning 80 next May, but was totally down for the 3.5-mile hike to the Freeland Road wildlife refuge, and up for the walk to feed the ponies later in the evening. Â Aaron’s mom did a tough 4+ mile hike the next day through the Sodds with us, navigating those rocky trails with billy goat aplomb. Â When they weren’t adventuring, they were trying to sell us on joining them on upcoming winter ski tripsÂ to Colorado, Oregon, and Austria.

Aaron's notion of herons is based on the elongated Great blue heron that's common in DC. The comparatively diminutive green heron blew Aaron's notion of herons out of the water. — Aaron’sÂ notion of herons is based on the elongated Great blue heron that’s common in the DC area. The comparatively diminutive green heron blew Aaron’s conceptÂ of a heron right out of the water.

Is the cedar waxwing a badass bird or what?

As seen above with the goldfinches, the female birds are much harder to identify than the brilliantly colored males. We were utterly stumped by the female boblink and had to get a life line from expert naturalist Fred Nelson for this ID. — As seen above with the goldfinches, the female birds are much harder to identify than the brilliantly colored males. We were utterly stumped by this female boblink and had to get a life line from expert naturalist Fred Nelson for this ID.

We think this is a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly. But mainly we just wanted to say that name.

This butterflies were itty-bitty (the flowers they're on aren't much bigger than dimes). — These butterflies were much smaller than the Fritillary aboveÂ (the flowers they’re on aren’t much bigger than dimes). Â I’m afraid we’re not so good at the butterfly IDs yet.

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