52° and Patchy rain nearby
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Nature Close to Home and Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist Dave Woehr shares monthly naturalist stories.
LEBANON, OH -- We've finally turned the corner with winter reluctantly giving way to spring. Fellow OCVN, Rick Kneisel, and I took advantage of a warm afternoon to hike for 2-1/2 hours on the 2-mile loop trail in the Caesar Creek State Nature Preserve.
Being senior citizens, we walked slowly and took short rest breaks sitting on many of the fallen logs in the woods. We saw lots of spring ephemerals blooming and heard over a dozen species of birds calling, including two pairs of Lousiana Water Thrushes.
Blue Phlox
Zebra Swallowtail. Until now, I never realized they have orange antennae!Rick has focused much of his attention on reptiles and amphibians over the years, and on this hike brought several Red-backed Salamanders to my attention. I snapped too many pictures to post them all here, but am including some of them.
Six-spotted Tiger Beetle
Red-backed SalamanderMore News from Lebanon
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