+Jeep4two Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I had never seen the Dutchman's Breech wildflower (or several others witnessed without my camera in hand). These were close to home so after grabbing a close by cache I returned when the light was right for a few snaps. I kept expecting them to fly away off the stems into the air - so graceful. . . amazing things. Geocaching has opened my eyes to some great things in the past few months: Dutchman's Breeches - Zoomed Out: Dutchman's Breeches - Close up (near macro): Quote Link to comment
+89SC Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 It's finally warming up around here. After finding stage 9 of a multi, I turned around to find this guy watching me: Quote Link to comment
+Kit Fox Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 (edited) Found near my Wolf-Bird cache. I've searched for the first flower for two years. Latin name: Loeseliastrum matthewsii (A. Gray) S. Timbrook Pronunciation: lee-sel-ee-AS-trum math-yoo-see-eye Common name: Desert calico Family: Polemoniaceae (Phlox) Habitat: Sandy and gravelly areas to 5000', creosote bush scrub, joshua tree woodland, deserts Blooming period: April to June Monkey Flower (Mimulus sp.) Found a 1/2 mile from a park and grab. Hadrurus arizonensis Crotalus Scutulatus Dipldomys merriami Dipodomys microps Edited May 14, 2009 by Kit Fox Quote Link to comment
+La Fifi Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Taken at Dawlish near Side Tracked Dawlish Also nearby... ...and near Exeter the previous evening when doing Lonesome Pine Quote Link to comment
+TeamSeekAndWeShallFind Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 (edited) Ugghh. Why can't I get my photo to load ? Edited May 14, 2009 by TeamSeekAndWeShallFind Quote Link to comment
+TeamSeekAndWeShallFind Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 (edited) This is a Red Morph Northern Screech Owl we encountered in Campton Hills Park, St. Charles, Illinois. This little guy is fully mature and stands only 8"-9" tall. His roost strangely is only 8' off the ground. My camera was 2' from his face and he didn't give a HoOt ! We found him while checking one of our caches. His roost was only 10' from our cache which has since been moved. He showed absolutely no fear of us for the 2 hours we were there. We've gone back several times to find him napping in the exact spot. The park district was so thrilled with our photos they're sending their ornithologist out there along with the President of the Kane County Audubon Society and the park's Restoration Manager. To spot one these little cuties so close to the ground is very rare and even more rare, according to the ornithologist, is the fact that it shows no fear of humans ! We're wondering if it got used to seeing geocachers hunting our cache ?? Anyway, we call him our Teacup Owl and he's one of the cutest things I've ever seen in my life and by far the coolest preserve sighting to date ! I got really excited because I recently did A TON of research for our Lure of the Wilderness: The Great Horned Owl cache in this park. This little owl looks EXACTLY like a mature Great Horned so it's size really threw me as young Great Horned's look like little old Ostrich's and Northern Screech's are typically grey and black. Turns out Northern Screech's come in several different colors in this area. The Red Morph was one I'd never heard of. Above you can see how he has elongated himself. He looks a lot "fluffier," in the first photo ? This is a camouflage tactic they use and by elongating themselves they blend in more with the branches of a tree. Pretty cute huh ? In the above photo you can better tell how small this little owl is ! This is either his roosting place where he sleeps during the day and hunts at night or he may be performing his spring duties whereas he's guarding a nest and helping the mother feed her young. When we first spotted him we thought another cacher was playing a joke on us by placing a fake owl in the tree because in this park we have a big fake Crow cache container at our Lure of the Wilderness: Caw of the Crow site ! Edited May 14, 2009 by TeamSeekAndWeShallFind Quote Link to comment
+R.O.B Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Took this picture today while on some Texas back roads. Quote Link to comment
+Wooden Cyclist Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 The cache description GC1AP56 called this "a fairly old wooden bridge". Yes you do have to cross the bridge to get to the cache. It is actually pretty stable as long as you step on the logs. Quote Link to comment
tttedzeins Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 This guy wanted food I used to live here I now live here From behind our house Playing around one night I also used to live here Quote Link to comment
Dinoprophet Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 (edited) Edited June 5, 2009 by Dinoprophet Quote Link to comment
+Stripes Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Lots of great pics here. I usually always take my camera with me as sometimes it is my way of looking for a cache with muggles around. Did some crouching for close ups the other day to find one. This is a picture I took Wednesday while looking for a cache in some woods. Want to go back to this park in the fall. Quote Link to comment
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