2021 Sep 26, Day Trip to Huntsville Botanical Gardens Huntsville, Alabama

Arrived at 11 AM, just as the gardens were opening. My first stop was the Purdy Butterfly Gardens, where I saw several Gulf Fritillary Butterflies, red-spotted Admiral butterflies, Zebra Long-wing butterflies, monarch butterflies, great southern white butterflies, the white peacock butterflies, and the common buckeye butterflies. I spotted several Blue Jays and heard a woodpecker but never saw it. I also heard several other species of birds and saw a snake as I was coming out of the wooded area. I walked through the vegetable garden, where I saw just a few, including one big orange pumpkin and a few vines with fruit dangling on them.

I saw the fruit of Japanese Persimmons hanging on the trees. On the tree next to them was a thorny tree with Trifoliate orange fruit hanging on it. I also saw lying on the ground an osage orange, so you can see there was plenty of fruit for the animals. I spotted a praying mantis on a small limb. I saw several turtles swimming and lying along the bank of the pond.

I saw pink and purple blooming asters and mums of purple. I even spotted a pink rose. I spotted a gray heron and several turtles lying on the bank near the butterfly house. Uncaged: Birds, Nature & You, along with Night Blooms, still fill the gardens.

Some of the scarecrows that I saw were Santa’s Helper, Mr. Antsy Pants, Zooey the ZooKeeper, It's a Girl Scout Vibe, Frida Kahlo, The Scarecrow Dietitian, Terry Lewis “Herb’s wife:/Herb the Birdman, Papa’s Pumpkins, Mr. Crow the Birdwatcher, Dog Day Bride, Collaborative Carl, We can do the job, Snow Fairy, Betelgeuse Scary Spirit, Sir Night fo make it right, Faith, Service, Diversity, Page Turner, Autumn, Larry If I only had a spaceship, Rooted,

Mr. Morgan, Bill the birdwatcher, Johnny Apple Seed and Demeter, Find Your Space, South Huntsville Sam, Auntie Smile, Miss Mary, La Ofrenda, Rosie the Refunder, Discovery Daisy, Lady Golfer, Noah, Cedrick Crow pin, Meets the Adams Family, Tiger, and Crow, & Voting Violet. I saw several people in line to go into the park as I was leaving. I spotted a lady with a Nikon camera, so I walked up to her and told her where I had seen the heron and all the butterflies that were not inside the Purdy Butterfly House. She asked me about my camera, and I said I had been taking pictures for many years. She said she had just started with her new camera. It started out a cool morning by afternoon, it was hot. I walked back to the car, ate the bowl of nuts and the diet Sprite that I had brought, and rested a few minutes before starting the hour-and-a-half drive home. That morning, I had stopped at Wheeler Dam to see the waterfowl. There were several people fishing and more coming to fish. I asked a young man about the waterfowl, and he said there were a few, but a couple of days back, they were more than he had ever seen there. I guess I miss them. I did get a couple of shots of a heron catching a fish.