After my morning kayak outing yesterday, I stopped by the prairie meadow that is just a few minutes from my home. As expected, the wildflower bloom was pretty small … a result of our recent cold temperatures. I did, however, find some cool things. As I meandered around the prairie, I found some small, but nice clumps of Rose Verbena. While I was looking over one clump, to find the best shooting angle, I noticed a unique insect on an old stem from last year’s flowers. I’ll post about that experience later, but while I was photographing it, I noticed a “feather duster” in the meadow, only about 20 feet from where I was sitting. As the wind gently blew, this duster would blow in the breeze … but then it began to move!
After just a moment, I thought I recognized what it was. But I wanted to be sure. I got up and walked around to get a better look at this interesting object (by the way, I only had my 180mm macro lens with me!). Then, as it moved about in the short grass, I got a better glimpse:
At this time, I was sure I knew what it was. Have you recognized it yet? Well, here’s another “hint”:
I have to say, the last thing I expected to run across in the prairie meadow at mid-morning, was a Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis). But you know, ya go out with only a macro (closeup) lens and you’ll see all kinds of things that you need a telephoto lens for! For example, I also just about got run over by a wild turkey, and a Red-shouldered Hawk flew right in to where I was sitting! Then there was a really nice Yellow-breasted Chat, who usually stays in the dense thicket, that flew into a small sumac sapling, not far from me. Go figure! :o)
At least I didn’t go out with a 50mm lens … that would have been cutting things a bit too close! :o)