Life in the wild in the Adirondacks is beautiful, but also very Hobbesian.  Surely you know Thomas Hobbes, the pessimistic political philosopher of the middle ages who seems so right for these times — he who described life as “nasty, brutish and short” and so untenable that people would seek the Leviathan to save them.  Well.  Nuff political theory for this day.  But back to the birds and bees… frogs and butterflies

Consider this tale of the frog and the butterfly.

I came upon this pensive frog not on the lillypads where he belonged but on a pavement near a lake.  Even as I got closer he didn’t budge.  Hmm.

A few minutes earlier, I had been observing these yellow butterflies not on the flowers where they belonged, but having a small convention on the beach.  Remember what those wings look like.

Back to the frog.  As I was watching him (from my car window with a long lens) out of the corner of my eye I saw a yellow flash.  And, faster than the nanosecond of my camera shutter, there was a brief and fatal skirmish, winding up with the only evidence left….

The mere crumb of a once glorious yellow wing and a bit of leg protruding from the frog’s lips.

Let it be a lesson to all of us:  one minute you’re a beautiful butterfly.  Next minute you’re a frog’s lunch.  Be careful who you flit around!

Food is the main work of most animals in the wild.  I saw this great blue heron watching for fish and as I snapped the shutter a beaver casually swam past.

The heron got the fish while the beaver munched on some reeds.

Herons love those fish!

As do eagles…

And chipmunks?  Well, let’s just say this one appears to be overdoing the nuts…

This hawk did not like being interrupted while dining on some tasty thing…

Saw a bear run across the road tonight, but she didn’t stop to wave.  Saw a coyote last night but fortunately I was too slow to stop to ask for a photo op.  Good thing, that.  I don’t want to be a coyote’s dinner.  Or a frog’s lunch.

One more to enjoy: