Two of the butterflies I saw this past weekend in Tom Sawyer Park

This first one, which is one of the varieties of Black Swallowtail, had huge wings. They were larger than any of the other Black Swallowtails I had previously seen. 

This Monarch butterfly was nice enough to stay in a dark area where the light could still shine through its wings. 

Lots of energy in the sky today, over the Big Prairie..

At Lake Nevin, in Bernheim Forest, lots of birds like to alight on the cattails.

A milkweed bug checks out his new living arrangements.

Sometimes I find locations that make me feel like I've wandered into a painting...

I'm not sure what Bucky McDeerface is thinking here, but I don't think I like it!

That moment when you realize that your quarry is onto you...

Actually a lot bigger than a cabin, the Bernheim Forest Education Center sits nestled in the surrounding autumn color. Kinda makes me feel sorry for the people who don't get to live in Kentucky..

It's as if the statue by George Grey Barnard was conducting a symphony of color. Taken this morning, shortly after sunrise. The dreary gray sky helped with the saturation of the colors.

Though much of Bernheim Forest is still tending toward being green, this one small spot was exploding with color!

The extremely rare, almost mythical, Pumpkin Spice Turtle (testudo graeca cucurbita spice). They are rarely seen in the wild but a lucky few may get to see one in mid to late October when they are migrating to their winter homes...

The poor guy's arms are too short to knock that ant off of his nose!

A squirrel guards his prized possession at Bernheim Forest.

Experimenting with processing this deer photo as if it were a glamour portrait. I think she's ready for Hollywood!

You know, I swore, swore, swore that I would stick to still photography and not venture into videography. My reasons were many: too time consuming, can't use popular music due to licensing issues, don't want a second camera, editing software is too expensive and you need a master's degree in knob-twiddling to use it, files are too big, the process is slow and grueling, etc., etc., etc... Then along comes a $20 app for the iPad (and iPhone) that squashes every reason I had to stay away from videography except for the availability of popular music. Well, it turns out that nature videos don't really need popular music so, now I've gone and done it.. Dipped my toe in video.

Still very amateurish, but kinda has a Cinéma Vérité feel to it. I also have much to learn about the iPad app but, wow! talk about bang for the buck. LumaFusion, check it out on the iOS app store.

If you are not fortunate to live close to an area with forest creatures, I made this video for you...

One I have not run into before. A Gulf Fritillary with the sun shining through its wings. This is about as far north as they go.

The Passion Flower is one of the most exotic looking plants you will find in the woods, and along roadsides, in the south. “La Flor de las cinco Llagas" or the ‘The Flower With The Five Wounds,’ as it was known by seventeenth century Spanish missionaries in South America, was used by them to teach the story of the crucifixion (or Passion) of Christ to the South American indigenous peoples.

This one, like so many others, was along the path I took through Tom Sawyer Park yesterday and was being visited by an unknown bug while I was being mesmerized by it…

Classic butterfly at Bernheim Forest.

Spend enough time walking around in the woods and you eventually develop a sort of sixth sense about something that doesn't belong. This is especially true for me with colors.

Well, as I was walking along yesterday, I was struck by two brown leaves sticking up in the middle of what was very long dark green grass mixed with various green weeds. It just didn't make sense that a dried up old pair of brown leaves should be sticking up there. Well, it actually turned out to be two ears! One belonged to the little deer you see below, and the other to its sibling. They were just napping by themselves in this mass of greenery, their bodies completely invisible.

As soon as I realized what these leaves really were, the deer saw me and bolted. They stopped and turned to look at me about 50 yards away. I could only photograph one because the other was in shade that was too dark to pull anything out of. The broken tombstone you see is about 2 feet tall, so you can see how small this deer is. They must know that I will not walk inside the fence because there are thousands of people buried there. Some reports are there are as many as 5000 bodies of the dearly departed in this relatively tiny cemetery, many of them in mass graves. The deer don't seem to mind because I have frequently seen and photographed many of them there throughout the years.

I'm sure you can't see me hiding behind this tree!