A Late Summer Hike, No Mushrooms But Plenty Of Spiders And Dragonflies And A Snake.

The heat wave finally ended here in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Thursday. We got almost an inch of rain and cooler temperatures.  I decided to see if the cooler temperatures and rain would have brought out some mushrooms but didn’t find a single one on my hike yesterday.  I did find a lot of spiders and plenty of signs that Summer is just about over now.

The leaves on many of the maple and sassafras trees are beginning to change color. And the white birch leaves are turning yellow and already starting to fall and cover the ground. 

The bracken ferns have dried out and curled up and many of the other fern species are turning yellow. 

The dry weather has made for and abundance of spider webs, and , of course, spiders. I found  a number of these marbled orb spider webs in one area and had fun tossing grains of grass on them and watching the spiders run out on their webs. 

I fooled one spider into thinking he captured a meal and he began to s[pin a web around it.  I don’t particularly like them, especially when I walk into them,  but they are amazing to watch.  Here is a link to some more photographs of the spiders. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/pennsylvania-insects-bees-butterflies-dragonflies-slugs-etc/nggallery/pennsylvania-insects-bees-butterflies-dragonflies-slugs/marbled-orb-spider-9112015

And there was also a lot of dragonflies darting  about. They are remarkably beautiful creatures’

I was able to capture thiscouple spending some time together. Here is a link to some more photographs of the dragonflies I saw on my walk.https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/pennsylvania-insects-bees-butterflies-dragonflies-slugs-etc/nggallery/pennsylvania-insects-bees-butterflies-dragonflies-slugs/marbled-orb-spider-9112015

I also ran into this black snake, who gave me this nasty look before slithering into the grass.

It was sunny and mild and a nice day to be outdoors, even though I didn’t find a single mushroom. Here are some more photographs form my hike on this nice late Summer day. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-5/nggallery/blog-photos/macro-walk-september-11-2015

Go out, go out I beg of you    
And taste the beauty of the wild.    
Behold the miracle of the earth    
With all the wonder of a child.  Edna Jaques