Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 8/23/18
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| Summer Fishfly (Chauliodes pectinicornis) |
Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 8/22/18
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| Chipmunk | Same chipmunk | Same chipmunk | Eastern Wood-Pewee | Flower fly (Toxomerus genus) |
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| Great Spangled Fritillary | Same Great Spangled Fritillary | Great Spangled Fritillary | Hog Peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata) | Another Hog Peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata) flowers |
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| Hog Peanut | Northern Pearly Eye | Same Northern Pearly Eye | Little Glassywing on Oxeye Daisy |
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| Squash Bug (Anasa tristis) nymph at Johnson Farm, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, 8/22/18. ID thanks to Yurika Alexander. | Stink bug nymph | Tree fruit, perhaps once covered with orange seeds | Male Violet Dancer (Argia fumipennis violacea) |
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| Wasp with crab spider; the wasp flew away. | White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) | Mystery wildflower | Bee | Same bee |
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| Bees on Common Wingstem | Tiny beetle |
Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 8/21/18
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| Aster | Butter-and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris) | Pearl Crescent | Same Pearl Crescent | American Goldfinch |
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| Monarch | Moth | Red Clover | Spider web | White-tailed Deer looking like a kangaroo |
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| White-tailed Deer | Whitetop Aster | Yarrow |
Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 8/20/18
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| Bouncing Bet (Saponaria officinalis) | Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis) | Fish (in Abbott Lake) | Fungi | Fungus |
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| Great Blue Heron | Leafhopper, Texananus genus | Monarch | Spreading False Foxglove (Aureolaria patula) | Female Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail |
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| Mystery tree fruit, likely covered with orange seeds originally | Spider web | White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) | White-tailed Deer | Whitetop Asters (Sericocarpus asteroides) |
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| Mystery wildflower | Another mystery wildflower, might be Chicory | Male Zabulon Skipper |
Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 8/19/18
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| Male Eastern Amberwing | Fish | Another fish | Great Blue Heron with fish prey | Heal-all |
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| Least Skipper | Lobelia | Monarch | Northern Pearly Eye | Male Pipevine Swallowtail |
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| Pipevine Swallowtail on ironweed | Male Red-winged Blackbird | Same male Red-winged Blackbird | Spotted Jewelweed |
Fallingwater Cascades Trail, Bedford County, VA 6/11/16
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| Crane fly (Brachypremna dispellens). ID thanks to Seth Burgess. | Jack-in-the-Pulpit | Stonecrop | Fly | Same mystery insect |
Peaks of Otter (near Abbott Lake), Bedford County, VA 6/11/16
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| Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail on a daylily | Fledgling Red-winged Blackbird | Gray Catbird | Fish that came to the bridge | Fish eating |
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| Male Ebony Jewelwing | Same male Ebony Jewelwing |
Harkening Hill, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 6/10/16
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| Barn Swallow (actually, back at the lodge) | Bee | Another bee | Braconid wasp | Carpenter Bee |
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| Cabbage White | Click beetle | Crane fly, with parasitic mite | Drone fly | Male Ebony Jewelwing |
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| Tiny flower fly visiting a Virginia Spiderwort | Fly | Froghopper | Hangingfly | Orchard Spider |
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| Plant | Robber fly (Laphria genus) with Golden-backed Snipe Fly prey | Robber fly with wasp prey | Common Scorpion Fly | Stonefly |
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| We reached the top of Harkening Hill! But it was only about 800 feet above the Peaks of Otter valley, so it's a hill, not a mountain. | Pink Virginia Spiderwort blooms | White-tailed Deer | Same White-tailed Deer |
Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 6/9/16
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| Luna Moth | Same Luna Moth | Robber fly | Another robber fly (Laphria genus). ID thanks to John S. Ascher | White form Orange Sulphur |
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| Blue-eyed Grass | Ant tending aphids | Common Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris, also known as Butter-and-Eggs) | Gray Catbird | Clouded Sulphur |
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| Flower fly (Toxomerus marginatus) | Another flower fly (Toxomerus genus) | Mystery fly | Lauxaniid fly | Golden-backed Snipe Fly |
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| Froghopper | Inchworm, standing up. I moved it to see whether it was a twig, but it stayed put. | Spider, probably an orb weaver | Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | Wildflowers |
Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 6/8/16
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| Red-winged Blackbird stopping by to deliver a grasshopper to her fledgling offspring | Same fledgling Red-winged Blackbird | Barn Swallow | Golden-backed Snipe Fly | Froghopper |
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| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | Stilt Bug | Picture-winged Fly | Moth | Leafhopper nymph |
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| Mating Locust Leafminers, one of about 5 mating pairs on a small locust tree | Male Midge | Another male midge | Hangingfly (actually 6/9/16) | Crane fly |
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| Click beetle | Chrysopid fly | American Lady | The Big Spring |
Abbott Lake, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 7/18/12
A flock of about 25 wild turkeys came out of the woods to eat grass in a field near the lake dam.
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| One Wild Turkey, at one edge of the flock | Another Wild Turkey at the other end, trading sentinel duty | A part of the Wild Turkey flock |
Otter River environs, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 7/18/12
The Big Spring is a place where aquifer water comes up above ground, creating a creek which travels a short distance before merging with the Otter River, which flows from the Abbott Lake dam. There are a few very small channels through which this water travels, along with some brightly colored pebbles. The water coming through these channels swirls about, spraying the pebbles in all directions. You can see how the pebbles contrast with the brown soil nearby.
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| The sign giving the historical background of the spring | This is where water comes up from the underground aquifer, bringing with it small pebbles. | For those with big screens, here's a bigger view of the same. | Here's a close-up, showing the pebbles coming up with the swirling water. |
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| This is the creek created by the spring. The aquifer water comes up at the far end of this creek. | Part of the Otter River, a little downstream from the dam. The bottom of the lake colors the river with a lot of red clay. | Red-spotted Purple | Red Admiral | A Locust Leafminer Beetle working on a leaf. Adults skeletonize leaves to some extent, but most damage is done by larvae. |
Nature Trail (and various other spots), Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 7/18/12
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| Springtail | Scorpionfly | Barn Swallow (back at the lodge) | Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) outdoors near the lake | Male Pipevine Swallowtail in flight near the lake |
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| Stag with growing antlers | Tachinid fly | Monarch on Swamp Milkweed at the lake | Leafhopper (at the Visitor Center) |
Flat Top Mountain, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County 7/17/12
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| Mating netwing beetles | Red Admiral at the side of my car | The same Red Admiral at the side view mirror | Caterpillar |
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| Columbine | Fly | Fungi | Fungi |
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| Starry Campion (Silene stellata), with a crab spider | Pale Jewelweed | Indian Pipes | Turk's Cap Lily | Spirobolid millipede |
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| White Snakeroot | Mullein Foxglove (Dasistoma macrophylla) | Hairy Galinsoga (Galinsoga quadriradiata) | Scorpionfly | After about 6 miles of trudging up the side of this mountain on the long trail, seeing this sign was the reward. |
Abbott Lake, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 7/17/12
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| Common Mullein, with a Toxomerus genus flower fly | Green Frog | Barn Swallow | Tree Swallow | The lodge, from across the lake |
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| Male Ebony Jewelwing |
Johnson Farm, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 7/16/12
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| Male wedge-shaped beetle trying to mount female | Male wedge-shaped beetle | Cuckoo wasp | Black Cohosh |
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| Male Sachem on Virginia Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) | Turk's Cap Lily | Tall Bellflower | Fly |
Abbott Lake, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA 7/16/12
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| Orange Sulphur | Cabbage White | Female Ebony Jewelwing | Great Blue Heron | Spotted Jewelweed |
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| Monarch on Common Milkweed | Silver-spotted Skipper on Lavender | Male Pipevine Swallowtail | Widow Skimmer, maybe a recent metamorph male |
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| Grapevine Beetle (Pelidnota punctata) | Locust Leafminer Beetle | Silver-spotted Skipper | White-tailed Deer fawn | Male Eastern Amberwing |
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| White-tailed Deer doe | Female Sachem on Swamp Milkweed |
Sharp Top Mountain 7/10/09
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| Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia), seen at about 3700 feet in elevation. About 20 plants were seen in close proximity near a small rain forest. | Blueberries, just starting to turn ripe at about 2700 feet in elevation. | Columbine flower | Columbines, seen at about 2800 or 2900 feet. |
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| Common Plantain | Stink Bug (Mormidea lugens, Carpocorini tribe, Pentatominae subfamily), appeared near the Visitors Center. | Dogwood Twig Borer (Oberea tripunctata), a kind of flat-faced longhorn beetle. | Dogbane Beetle |
Harkening Hill 7/9/09
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| Beetle on Common Milkweed in a meadow | Common Milkweed at the Visitors Center | Common Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris, also known as Butter-and-Eggs) at Lake Abbott | Deptford Pink flower, in a meadow | Earwigs, on a Common Milkweed plant in the same meadow |
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| Great Spangled Fritillary | Sawfly | Jack-in-the-Pulpit, at Abbott Lake | Lavender |
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| Male jumping spider (Phidippus whitmani) | Leafhopper: Common Meadow Spittlebug (Philaenus spumarius). ID thanks to Andy Hamilton. This is a common coloring in this somewhat variable species. | Netwing Beetle | Bullfrogs: they leaped into Abbott Lake when they saw me coming. |
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| Bee-balm or Wild Bergamot, at the summit | Spiderwort, at about 3000 feet elevation. None on this mountain succeeded in blooming. Limited sunlight might have been at least part of the problem. | Water Hemlock |