Jordan Lake State Park

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By JL Neighborhood Roundup, part 1, 6 photos 8/10/2018
I always have so much of Jordan Lake that I want to share!
My emphasis for my media time is usually on the bird life – in particular the raptors.
But by no means do I miss opportunities to photograph the other lives at Jordan Lake.
 
So, this is part 1 for the current catchup: critters without feathers.
 
Meet the official North Carolina Reptile: the Eastern Box Turtle
This beautiful box turtle strolled out from under my truck as I was packing up to leave one morning.
I picked him up and carried him, in the same direction he was headed, to an area in the woods off the edge of the parking lot.
 
 
The Imperial Moth was well-named: this one was wider than my hand. 
 They get to be about 4” across in their wingspan.
 
 
The Sleepy Orange butterfly.
If the photo was of this butterfly with his wings out flat, you would see the “orange” of its name.
 
 
The Swamp Cicada.
This noise maker is an annual cicada: they appear every year.  Some cicada species appear every 13 or 17 years.
I really like its brilliant green wing veins.
 
 
The Deep Yellow Euchlaena moth.
The angles in the wing structure and the curves in the color patterns make an interesting and pleasing contrast.
 
 
Skink tail bling!
Notice that I did not name the specie.
Without a clear photo of the side of the face of a skink, I have no way to know if this is a five-lined skink or an immature broad-headed skink.

By JL Ranger Cove: Osprey Family update, 1 photo, 1 slideshow 08/03/2018
Ranger Cove Osprey Family
 
I got to the cove to find Dad osprey sitting on one branch to the left of Brother Piper on the right.
They both looked at me, checked me out and then ignored me.
They sat there for more than 10 minutes.  Once in a while Piper would look hard at Dad.
Finally Piper got tired of just waiting around and he left.  Dad Osprey kept watching life flow by.
It was not until Dad Osprey took flight 12 minutes later that I realized he had been standing on a fish!
No wonder Piper kept looking hard at Dad.
As Dad took flight I heard Broken Feather. She got to the nest as Dad did with the fish.

By JL Raptor report: Bald Eagle! 1 photo, 1 slideshow 07/28/2018
Bald Eagle!!!
 
I had gone to check out Hershey and Godiva’s nest.
Hoping maybe to see one of them near the nest.
But it was an unknown adult bald eagle that caught my eye.
The eagle came streaking out of the next cove over.
There was a very angry momma osprey right on the eagle’s tail feathers.
She threatened the eagle until he left the area.
I managed to catch just a few moments of the action.
It was great to see a bald eagle again – it had been more than a week since my last sighting.