Batting Better than 1000!

There were some oung children along on this morning's nature walk, so I went out on a limb and predicted that we'd see certain flowers and bugs.  The flowers were a safe bet.  They can't run away.  I billed it as a walk to the Berry Creek oasis.  The place where Berry Creek emerges from a square culvert beneath the railroad track bed is a cool, shady, and beautiful rest spot after walking down the sun-exposed pavement for a half mile.  Along the way we saw some of the predictable beetles and persistent wildflowers like daisies, columbine, and wild sweet pea.  When we passed the large patch of Indian Hemp, there were very few insects around.  I said it was cool yet, and there would be a lot of action here on our way back.  Sure enough, the Thread-waisted Wasps were plentiful and impressive.  I spoke of my hope of finding a Goldenrod Crab Spider.  I had a good photo of one on the front seat of my car, just in case.  But when we poked around in the patch of Klamathweed near Berry Creek, I spotted a big Bumble Bee that didn't fly away when I approached.  I suspected a hidden spider had anesthetized it.  Sure enough, when I pushed a few blossoms aside, the white beauty with racing stripes was there, sucking the insides out of the bee.  The pool in Berry Creek was still surrounded by 8-foot tall blooming Leopard Lilies and was a shady respite before heading back to camp.
On yesterday's hike to Gilson Creek, I had spotted one small Plume Moth on a leaf of the Narrow-leaf Milkweed, and I didn't expect to see one of these again today.  But, on a patch of Showy Milkweed, near Berry Creek, we found a pair of them mating!  And, before hiking back to camp we let the kids mess around in the creek.  They found crawdads, trout, water striders, and the larvae of various flying insects.  Perhaps best of all were the banana slugs.  One little girl couldn't get enough of them, as the 6th photo shows.  Other flowers that were putting on a good show along the way include Spiraea, Fireweed, Dogbane, Angelica, Monkey Flower, Self-heal, Stickseed, and Purple Milkweed, although the latter had gone to seed pods.