Crawfish chimneys

At this time of the year, farm fields and roadside ditches across West Tennessee are dotted with small mud chimneys which are laboriously created by crayfish.

As they burrow out their tunnels, they dig up mud, make it into balls, take the balls to the surface and set them in place — layer by layer.  It is interesting to observe the different architectural structures they create.

“Create your own visual style … let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.”  ~Orson Welles

Mud-puddling

Mud-puddling is a behavior seen in butterflies and other insects by which they sip moisture and nutrients from wet soil or rotting plant material.  Even though I know that puddling is part of its nature, there is still something a little disconcerting about seeing a beautiful, delicate butterfly sitting in the mud.  I never can seem to shake that unsettling feeling that it ought to be up gently floating on a breeze or drinking nectar from an alluring flower.

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“There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.”  ~Carl Sandburg