Back in Black (Part 3)

Ok, this is the final post for my outing on Mon. I left off at Keith Park at the far-southern part of the Black Hills...my last post included a photo of showy milkweed and I mentioned that we have several types of milkweed wildflowers in the Hills.....

The green milkweed isn't so easy to come across; perhaps because it blends into the grass so well...as I was snapping this shot I realized there was something red on the top right corner of the flower...

This is the 'neat find' I was talking about in my previous post...a pretty red beetle! And, Google says it's a red milkweed beetle. Of course.  :o) Funny, with all the milkweed I've seen over the past few years, I don't recall seeing the beetle before.  ?? Oh well.....

A willow flycatcher in a Rocky Mt. juniper, near the picnic area at the park...

I discovered a few pricklypear cactus flowers in bloom, always neat to see...

Keith Park is the only spot I've found the river grape growing, in the Hills, so far...the vine has really pretty, detailed leaves...this one hangs over the bridge over Cascade Creek...

I find these hanging pouch-like nests really interesting...Of the birds I've seen at the park, only the Western tanager (seen last year) makes this type of nest....Update: due to Caroline's comment about orioles making this type of nest, I re-Googled the W. tanager's nest and found that whatever the reference to the tanager was about, the photo was in fact a Bullock's oriole nest. Keith Park is like a bird sanctuary; I can hear so many different birds when I'm there but I only see a few of them. I haven't seen the oriole there but that doesn't mean it isn't.

This Eastern kingbird was watching me watch him...maybe it's a fledgling...normally I see the kingbirds around farms/ranches outside of the hills...

Another milkweed, the swamp milkweed, is found in marsh-type areas...Cascade Creek at Keith Park is very marsh-like with the water flooding beyond the small creek bed into the surround grasses...

I was shocked to find snow-on-the-mountain growing, seems early for it...and at the park no less...

I did expect to see the crested pricklypoppy growing, and it is...its fairly large, tissue papery petals fluttering in the breeze...the only other wild poppy is the bloodroot, which I have yet to find...

There are several wild mints growing in the Hills, including catnip...they all bloom at the same time of year and I enjoy seeing if I can find/photograph all 11 of them...have seen 3 so far...

Heading back home, north-bound on Hwy 79, I drove closer and closer...and into and under this giant thunderhead, a normal sight in the Hills in the summer...damaging hailstones are always a concern w/ these storms but luckily all I encountered were large raindrops.

I went for another drive Thurs., will share those photos Mon....incl. a real exciting find! Heeee!