Raccoon Creek (Week 9)

Fire pink.

At our 9th weekly hike at  Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Reserve on May 22. The periodical cicadas were beginning to make their presence felt, after 17 years of living underground. They were beginning to emerge in large numbers. But it takes them a couple weeks to begin their songs. A small patch of absolutely stunning fire pink wildflowers were flowering, and they were worth the visit. They grow only in western Pennsylvania.

"Brood 8" periodical cicada.

Cicada shell.

Nettles with leaf rust.

Some kind of mollusk eggs (snail or slug).

Slime mold. Slime mold is super weird.

I think this is a fishfly.

Fire pink.

Fire pink.

Wood sorrel.

Few-flowered valerian.

Periodical cicada.

Few-flowered valerian.

Leaf galls.

Star of Bethlehem.

Few-flowered valerian.

Trillium seed pod.

Wood sorrel with daddy long-legs.

Few-flowered valerian.

Blackberry.

Golden-backed snipe fly.

Dame's rocket.

False Solomon's seal.

Wild columbine seed pod.

Wild columbine.

Jack in the pulpit.

Bluets.

Bear corn.

Leaf rust.

Periodical cicada.

American giant millipede.