This Luna Moth was simply resting from what I can only assume was a busy night of flying about and hopefully finding a mate. Luna Moths only live for a week, a brief yet purposeful life. Luna Moths are pretty large, about four to six inches in wing span, and their coloring is a beautiful lime green with lipstick red eye markings and borders. It was my first opportunity seeing or photographing a Luna Moth: thus, it was a special opportunity for me. The Luna Moth was resting underneath a Mayapple leaf. It’s wing somehow pierced my attention and registered a “stop and pay attention” signal as I hiked along, scanning the ground for the colors and shapes of spring wildflowers. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area, however, was a Luna Moth. The neatest thing I found on my early trips to G. Several of my local books list Marsh Marigolds as “rare,” so it was neat to find them outside of the National Park. I found some Bishops Cap and some Marsh Marigolds, as well as some super thick and plush moss mats. It was very neat to stand on top of what appeared to be a dry, talus field of stones and to hear, just under the surface, the hollow bounce of flowing water, a sound similar to hearing a distant highway without actually being able to see its presence. I spent several mornings creeping around the seepage swamp around the headwaters of Wildcat Branch, letting my untrained eyes and senses adjust to the area. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area, several spring seeps on the property create these unique mountain wetlands. Seepage swamps are rare biological communities by their very nature: gently-sloping geography in the mountains is not common. I was looking for one of several central Appalachian basic seepage swamps on the property, a habitat I remain somewhat unfamiliar with. My goal, however, was not to bank images on my cards but to learn more about a specific unique habitat before the wildflower show got going in earnest. There were still small clumps of snow on the backsides of many of the trees along the high northwestern ridgeline where the Appalachian Trail hugs the property. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area in late April the property was largely bare of wildflowers and plant life. Initially, the trails were empty–a good outcome when navigating a world gripped by a highly transmissable virus. However, each spring for a one to two-week period, wildflower enthusiasts and bird watchers gather together to witness the forest habitat coming back to life for another season. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area is primarily a hunting and fishing destination, and is funded through the purchase of Virginia state licenses. Managed by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area is a roughly four-thousand acre property on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia. I paid my fees to Virginia (online), printed up a license, and off I went to see what I could find. Richard Thompson Wildlife Management Area. I only had one wildcard in my back pocket: a small Wildlife Management Area in Fauquier County that had a big reputation for spring ephemeral wildflowers: G. Travel was strongly discouraged campground gates locked. Shenandoah National Park was shuttered tight. The virus eventually shut down access to all local parks in Fairfax County.
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