I don’t know if the katydid was eating the Water Lily petals or was looking for the bug that did. Leaves and grass are their primary food source, but they will eat small bugs.
I didn’t realize this was the same flower a half hour later when I passed back by with the same attraction for it. The katydid had moved down to the lower petals with his knees showing, just left of center.
Edge of a Rookery, Okefenokee Swamp, April 28, 2021
Just by luck there ware a wide variety of wildflowers in bloom on our day at Okefenokee Swamp, including this orchid.
Possible ID: Calopogon barbatus. Bearded Grasspink
April 28, 2021
A Cattle Egret was showing off his breeding colors and very snazzy legs. Non-breeding adults and juveniles are all white.
A Little Blue Heron was looking around the swamp first thing in the morning.
Then he ruffled himself up…
… and shook himself out.
Now, ready to roll!
An Eastern Pondhawk, I think, landing fancy using only five legs.
I wasn’t sure this was a Barred Owl at first as the color was so dark. Looking at the images closer up it was clear it was and that he was soaking wet.
A few crows were harassing him, and he Swooped to another tree.
He didn’t go far, picking another spot in the morning sun to help dry off.
Ted and I took a stupendous boat tour at Okefenokee Swamp a few days ago.
This Red-shouldered Hawk was the first bird of the day, shortly after sun rise.
He looks a little tattered, but he had no trouble with his flight skills.
The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre, peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness.
