The Little Lyman Lake fauna

Little Lyman Lake:

A chance to saunter around and see what wildlife may likewise be sauntering about.

Butterflies, of course.

One of the butterflies decided to try a modern food.

The poor thing kept trying to get a sip of Gatorade.

It did make for a colorful picture!

His fellow orange butterflies stuck to the traditional asters that bloom so freely in August here.

While I was focusing in on the butterflies this little guy scampered up to the rock directly in front of me.

The rock was nearly touching my foot.

Cute little critter...

Butterfly duets.

And trios.

They were so intent on slurping away that they never flinched as I moved about.

I did flinch when I spotted this wicked looking thing.

Creepy.

(And yet God surely took as much pleasure making it as He did the butterflies, right?)

The butterfly didn't seem to mind have the fly as a dining companion.

The fly with the lady bug body and transparent wings was a little less dreadful to see.

A nice damsel fly rested on a rock.

(Damsel flies have wings that rest against their backs, dragonflies wings stick out to their sides.)

The male humans, another form of fauna, were quite noisy on their cycles.

Thankfully they just roared into the area and then roared out just as fast.

A cluster of females, young and old, were clustered right next to where I had plopped my camp chair.

They. Never. Shut. Up.

All talked non-stop, all at once.

Women.

I think this was a Goshawk.

Seeing it perch on the far side of the lake got me out of my chair and moving swiftly to get closer for a better photo.

Just as I was getting 3/4 of the way there Bernie called out to me from the lake and the bird winged away.

:-(

Fuzzy yellow bee...I only saw one.

The furry body of the orange butterfly that is probably a Fritillary.

The edge of the lake was alive with dozens of dragonflies that never landed.

Usually they will land repeatedly on a single point of a stick or something, but not this group.

I tried to photograph them mid flight; this was the best of that time waster.

One did land for a moment on a lily pad.

A mother Mallard and her ducklings paddled around the lake for a bit.

They stayed in the shallows mostly.

I never did see Mr. Mallard.

Perhaps he was out of pocket for the day.

 

The crown jewel of the day:

 

A White Admiral Butterfly!

It was actually the first bit of wildlife I saw.

I had put up my chair and walked down the lake, and walking the few yards back to my chair I saw it working over a small pink thistle bush.

Wow!!

The two white commas next to its head and the bands of orange and blue dots on the top of the wings were beautiful but the undersides of the wings were like stain glass.

I took so many photos of this butterfly that if I printed them all up I could probably wall paper a room with its image.

Which isn't such a bad idea, really.

Next post:

The flora.

A champagne christening on the bow....

Here I will tell of the  maiden voyage of the mighty Fish Cat 4!

(A champagne christening on the small boat's bow would definitely been way, way too much as you will soon see.)

 

Bernie had decided he was interested in trying lake fishing from a floating device.

After a bit of considering and research, he settled on something called  "Fish Cat 4".

It seem quite a proper choice give the number of cats that are part of our daily lives.

It also didn't take up much space in our garage when deflated and could easily be loaded into our car; in fact I could lift it myself if needed.

He quickly acquired the floating seat, and fins, then studied up on various Utah lakes to determine which of them where boat launch-able (as in one could drive up to the lake edge) and which of them were fairly sheltered from wind.

 Little Lake Lyman were selected for the Fish Catts maiden voyage, a lake somewhere in the Uintas mountains.

The float was blown up using a small electric air pump that plugged into our car's cigarette lighters.

Bernie shrugged in to his waders, grabbed his fishing rod and fins, and trudged to the water's edge.

He eased himself into the seat and drifted off shore.

I stood close enough that I could ask him in normal voice level how it felt.

It felt just fine.

He finned his way out to the deep, and began to fish.

Doesn't he look relaxed?

I wouldn't mind being out there myself, sans fishing rod.

I need not bother fish to enjoy being out on a lake.

He floated.

 I read, photographed flora and fauna, and walked a bit around the lake.

We could speak easily with each other but soon were fascinated with our own adventures.

He did call out when he got a hook up.

A nice rainbow trout!

(It and another catch was poached the next day, and served at home as part of breakfast and in a salad for lunch.)

Save for the pine bark beetle damage, the scene couldn't have been more delightful.

After a few hours he finned to shore while I was busy photographing some wildflowers.

Ah Fish Cat 4!

A fine first voyage you made!

(So fine that Bernie is interested in acquiring one for me to use aside his. I rather like that idea.)

A closer look at one of his freshly caught rainbows.

And of his freshly caught happy smile as well.