Tuesday, October 29, 2013

365 Photo Project - Elephant Rocks State Park


A photo project plus having a friend from out of town equals many opportunities to take photos.  One of the places we visited this summer was Elephant Rock State Park in Missouri, part of the Missouri State Park system.

 The day started out rainy, which was often the M.O. of our outings, but with time the sun came out and we ended up with a beautiful day.  I took over one hundred photos that day, many of which were wildlife photos.  With the day starting out rainy it meant that wildlife would then be out actively feeding or sunning.  This led to some great photos.


The first photo is of a dragonfly that just sat for some time on the path, while we snapped away.  I have tried to identify the species of dragonfly, but have had no luck.  I had a lot of fun photographing and watching this dragonfly.  The fun part was watching it turn its head and look upward every now and then.  I tried to get a photo of this, but it happened so fast that I had no luck.


The next photo is of a Northern Water Snake.  This photo opportunity came when we were exploring a part of the Quarry Lake that was full of dragonflies.  I happened to surprise this snake and, needless to say, both snake and I moved away from each other.  It swam out just a little to the end of some underwater weeds, and then the photos began.  We took many, but this nice close up of the head is a favorite because it captured the tongue sticking out and the rings in the water.  We then walked away to make the snake more comfortable and give it time to swim away.


The last photo is of the beautiful scenery at this popular state park.  It was difficult choosing photos for this blog as there were so many favorite and interesting ones that came out of this day.

Submitted by Cathy Spahn, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

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