The view of the lake.

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

After wintering as a chrysalis through snow and bitter cold, on April 1st, 4 swallowtails emerged and took flight in our backyard. Parsley planted in the garden encourages them to lay eggs and beautify our backyard.

Salmon River estuary near the Cascade Head trail south of Neskowin, OR.

Mushroom. Might be Amanita muscaria var. formosa, but the very yellow stem is not quite right.

Instead of heading west to the Rockies, we decided to check out Horseshoe Canyon Conservancy area for a little hike. Descending into the canyon, we did a tiny bit of elevation, and the landforms were wonderful. Recommended for an interesting short walk.

This is a pinesap - a rare cousin of the more common Indian Pipe.

Got to hike with good friends, my wonderful mother and my 22-month old son at the beautiful Falls Ridge Preserve in Ellett Valley, Virginia.

View my blog at tgaw.wordpress.com

foundationhoc.org/news/LakeJulia2011.html

Got to hike with good friends, my wonderful mother and my 22-month old son at the beautiful Falls Ridge Preserve in Ellett Valley, Virginia.

View my blog at tgaw.wordpress.com

The depth behind Nature Conservancy ad...conservation of good nature of humanity. Facing the truth vs. having fun? - www.maliwoods.com

Nachusa Grasslands near Rochelle, IL

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

Lower Table Rock, BLM, Jackson County, Oregon USA

Took my 11 month old son by the Nature Conservancy's Falls Ridge.

View my blog at tgaw.wordpress.com

The Pasque (or prairie smoke, prairie crocus, or cutleaf anemone)

I found a photo of a Pasque flower on the website for Altamont Prairie, a site managed by the Nature Conservancy. I've been there before, so I thought I'd take a drive out and see if I could find some.

I walked for close to an hour in a very zig zag pattern, up hills, and through swampy parts, in every different terrain that I could find and I saw nothing. On the final hill on the way back to my car, I FINALLY found one clump of four flowers. They were a little droopy from today's rain, but nonetheless, they made for some great photos!

Fall colors at Ramsey Canyon Preserve, part of the Nature Conservancy. Taken outside the town of Sierra Vista, located in southern Arizona.

Great blue heron, Percy Priest Lake, Nashville, TN

Kazakhstan - T. kaufmanniana-T. greigii hybrid on Mir Plateau in Aksu Dzhabagly Reserve

Tallgrass Prairie Preserve west of Bartlesville, OK

William B. Clark Conservation Area, a boardwalk through the cypress swamps of the Wolf River bottoms near Rossville, Tennessee.

2016_4_23, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

This coffee mug always makes me laugh. Someone at the Nature Conservancy has a good sense of humor. Even my little Goldfinch is trying to figure out why my coffee mug is screaming! Haha!

ANSH115: 5. Your favorite mug or teacup

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

2016_4_26, kgronostajski@gmail.com, USA LBI NJ

Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Behold! A smaller version of the larger Peachtree Rock! You can take this one home and put it on your coffee table if you want!

Okay, maybe not. The unique, gravity-defying effects of the two rocks are similar but this one is different. Not much to see around this one. No glade, no waterfall, no doodle-pad poets.

Man, it's hot. And my giardia water is running pretty low. Time to kick it for the exit...

Took my 11 month old son by the Nature Conservancy's Falls Ridge.

View my blog at tgaw.wordpress.com

Took my 11 month old son by the Nature Conservancy's Falls Ridge.

View my blog at tgaw.wordpress.com

Took my 11 month old son by the Nature Conservancy's Falls Ridge.

View my blog at tgaw.wordpress.com

White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) on sagebrush in the Beezley Hills Preserve, a Nature Conservancy-protected area preserving shrub-steppe habitat on the Columbia Plateau, Washington State, USA, May, White-crowned Sparrow-54

Fall colors at Ramsey Canyon Preserve, part of the Nature Conservancy. Taken outside the town of Sierra Vista, located in southern Arizona.

Tundra. In Maryland!

A return to see Fall colors at Ramsey Canyon Preserve, part of the Nature Conservancy. Taken outside the town of Sierra Vista, located in southern Arizona.