Discoveries - New Moon & Solar Eclipse

Encounters On Which I Count

This morning I took an early morning bike ride to Meadowbrook Park. Along the path, I thought I saw another stag beetle like the one I photographed yesterday. When I hopped off the bike and stooped down, the tiny creature reared up hissing and brandished its pinchers at me. I had an encounter with a small crawfish (crawdad). It was making its way through the puddles from yesterday's rains toward the creek. I tried to reassure it, and it started grooming its antennae over and over with little feet.

Earlier in the week, I interviewed at Champaign County Forest Preserve's Homer Lake. Twin fawns were grazing at the entrance. Further into the park, I came across a deer getting a drink in the slough. Dragonflies were abundant and "fishing" on the lake surface.

Independence Day

Watercolor by Ann Johnson