it’s a skink. Or more precisely, it’s a Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis,) and it’s certainly not a scorpion even though that’s what most of the folks in my Grandmother’s generation called them.
The ground skink is the smallest lizard in Missouri and occurs nearly state wide, absent only from the north central and northeast parts of the state. Tom Johnson states in “The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri” that ground skinks don’t normally climb, mentioning trees and rocks in particular. That may be so, but this one certainly climbed the wall of my shed and was quite agile going about it. He also looks like he’s lost his tail at some point, something at happens easily apparently, and is well on his way to regenerating it.
Being small and living mostly on the ground in the leaf litter has its disadvantages. Seems like nearly everything would like to make a meal of it: other lizards, snakes, armadillos, shrews, etc. Heck, even an Eastern Bluebird was documented feeding a skink to it’s nestlings.
The Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) ranges over much of North America and is a common butterfly in the Ozarks. But I had never seen its caterpillar before today. One was making his way across my driveway and since I almost always have a camera at hand, there are photos. 
These caterpillars feed at night, specializing on Viola species and hide under leaves and debris during the day. After mating in early summer, the female lays her eggs singly on a host plant in late summer/early fall and after hatching, the caterpillars overwinter before beginning to feed. Its pupa is camouflaged to look like a dead leaf. The adults feed on the nectar from a variety of flowers.
Just a few more things Steve and I found while on Skyline looking at the Serviceberry from a previous post.
Black Oak (Quercus velutina)
Post Oak (Quercus stellata)
Shorleaf Pine (Pinus echinata)
Southern Black Haw (Viburnum rufidulum)
Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens)
Cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex)
According to “The Amphibians and Reptiles of Missouri,” the Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) doesn’t occur in Carter County. Supposedly, other than an introduced population in Camden County, it’s limited to the southeast lowlands. My three year old niece Lauren would beg to differ since she found one today.
Of course I’ve never met a frog that read a field guide and it is just that, a guide. It’s about 30 or 40 miles from here to the edge of the Ozarks and the lowlands, so this little guy isn’t that far from where you’d expect him.
Everyone, I think, is familiar with the bloom of the serviceberry or shadbush tree (Amelanchier arborea.) But most probably do what I do and put them out of there mind after the bloom is gone. But, as I discovered today when I took the photo below, they really do have berries.
I wasn’t really sure what they were without the bloom, to tell you the truth. But I had a friend (Steve Orchard, a forester for the Missouri Department of Conservation) along who knew what they were. He says that they’re quite tasty, but tried these and decided they weren’t ripe yet. I wussed and wouldn’t try them. What can I say, I’m not a fruit (or vegetable) eater.
