In between paragliding there's lots of time to wander around the Five Springs area. Some things are familiar from past trips but there's always new stuff as well. This is one of the few places where I have found cicadas. This one jumped on my wing while I was packing up.
This was the first time I've found a shed skin from a cicada here.
The first one of these butterflies I spotted wouldn't let me get close enough to photograph. I looked for a patch of the same kind of flowers and luckily found one that was more cooperative. I don't think I've seen these Juniper Hairstreak butterflies before.
Meadow Deathcamas are common but pretty. (It's poisonous, thus the name.)
Death Camas Mining Bees are one of the few insects that are immune to the poison.
Western Blue Flag (a kind of iris) and lupines are also common.
This huge Nevada Bumble Bee was enjoying the lupines.
Larkspurs are less common.
It's always nice to see Prairie Pasqueflowers and Shooting Stars up here. I associate them with the prairies, not the mountains.
In one spot there were lots of these Spring Orange Peel Fungus.
I was surprised to see this water strider blow into our van. We were a long way from any water.
Threatening weather (not great for paragliding).
One day when it was too windy to fly we went and hiked the state line trail to get a view of Big Horn canyon. And more flowers, of course.
There were tent caterpillars on the sagebrush and a spider who had found them an easy supply of food.
I liked the skeleton of this long dead tree.
We found another trail into Cottonwood Canyon. It was supposed to go to a waterfall but despite being spring it was dry. But there were still things to see (and photograph!).
On the drive out we passed this relatively cooperative Pronghorn.
I just call it Five Springs but technically it is Five Springs Falls. Here are the falls:
While I was looking at the falls a curious squirrel was looking at me.
I heard this Green-tailed Towhee first. I finally spotted it in the distance. I didn't have my big telephoto so I had to sneak close enough for the lens I had. Curiously, my notes say the last time I saw a Green-tailed Towhee was also at Five Springs.
This little bird (Dusky Flycatcher?) first tried repeatedly to get into our van. When that failed it made our side mirror its regular perch. (Which it then "decorated"!) I'm not sure what it found attractive about the van.
We always like to see the Yellow-bellied Marmots at Five Springs. They are tricky to photograph because they usually run away immediately. This one was a little more cooperative.
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