This photoset is from Natco Lake Park.  I had good intelligence suggesting that our earliest flowering orchid, the southern twayblade Listera australis might be in the park, and I was not disappointed.  This marks the twenty-first orchid I've seen in New Jersey, but they were not exactly easy to find, being both rare and inconspicuous.  We also saw an old monster of a snapping turtle a full two feet in length.  I can't really recommend the park, though, as it has neither abundant flowers nor spectacular scenery, it does boast a healthy mosquito population, and it's really too small to escape the noise from the nearby highway.

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