Inside Aman Park

2012 04 23 We dug into Aman Park for about 5 hours on this day.  Many spring wildflowers were still in bloom, they will soon be gone until next spring.
We started at the south end of the park, then cut through some interior sections where no trails go.  We had fun and it was a beautiful day, here are some pictures from that day.

 Starry False Solomon's Seal (Smilacina stellata Lily family)

Starry False Solomon's Seal

 Running Strawberry Bush
 (Euonymus obovatus Bittersweet family)

Running Strawberry Bush

                 Sand Creek

   Beautiful new oak leaves

 It was rough going in some places.

Marie spied a huge snake sunning itself, I only caught the tail end of it as it fled down a huge hole.

Wild Geranium  (geranium maculatum, Geranium family) is a lovely wildflower.  Here are three different ones, notice the centers - with anthers and pistil - at various stages of development. 

Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica Borage family) were at their peak. 

Then Marie spied what looked like a hummingbird, but we realized it was a moth or butterfly?  I got a few shots but the thing was moving around fast.

So it is a Hummingbird or Hawk moth?  It was pretty neat to see.

We found a single Squawroot
(Conopholis americana, Broomrape Family).

 An interesting insect on a shiny buttercup flower...

Finally after 5 hours we came near the north bridge, then time to head home.
Great day.