Coming and Going

This brilliant red fruit is the last of the jack-in-the-pulpit.

This strange fungi is gone already.

The asters are beginning to bloom.

The goldenrod blooming means fall is here.

Mistflower

And best of all, the Bidens is beginning to bloom.

Changes

On my mid-morning walk the upper entrance is closed.

By afternoon the signs are gone. The upper entrance is open, but it will need a final top to be put on the road.

The stop sign comes out. We also hope to move the Foulkeways sign.

The stop sign is now at Meetinghouse Road.

This was a post office and will be a new cottage.

This will be no-mow lawn near the oak path.

Irene

Here is the outdoor dining area of the Meadow Cafe in preparation for a visit from hurricane Irene.

The tables, chairs and umbrellas were in the greenhouse.

A tree down near Perimeter Road and "P".

The bocce lagoon.

There was 9 inches of rain in my bucket from the storm, Saturday and Sunday.

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is common among dragonflies and damselfles. Males tend to be bright, showy and conspicuous, while females tend to have duller colors. They are much like many birds. But this immature whitetail male has the wing pattern of the male, but has yet to develop the white tail.

This female twelve-spotted skimmer looks more like the female white-tailed skimmer than like her male twelve-spotted. Hal White in the "Natural History of the Delmarva Dragonflies and Damselflies" discusses this interesting phenomenon at length.

Look Carefully

Easy to see a grashopper, except when it is flying.

This year it has been hard to spot a "ditch" frog.

You hear them all the time, but sometimes the cicada is hard to see.

Someone called me that there was this beautiful mushroom in "F" quad, but by this afternoon it was gone.

A Walk in the Shade

I walked in the shade on the Maris Trail, the Loop Trail and Oak Path, but the humidity was very high. Lots of fungi to see, and this is probably turkey tails.

There is a tree down on the Maris Trail, and it was too wet to climb over it today. I climb over by sitting on it, and did not want a wet seat.

This one, I think, is a Dyer's polypore. I have a beautiful field guide to Mushrooms if you need to look one up.

Here and There

Critters can be seen anywhere on campus. Here is a question mark in the Post Office Gardens.

Here is a blue dasher on a car antenna in the H-J parking lot. Here is an eastern tiger swallowtail on the butterfly bush in the herb garden.

Here is a red-banded hairstreak and a bumble bee on grass-leaved goldenrod in the meadow.

Bees are starving

Becasue of the drought, the beekeeper has been forced to feed the bees sugar water. The tray hold a gallon of sugar water.

A feeding jar holds a quart of sugar water.

Two kinds of food. Sugar water and protein patty are fed to bees.

Two in a tree. Seen on the way home.

Rails to Trails

The Chautuaqua Rails to Trails features the Ralph C. Sheldon Nature Trail. A must visit place. We saw many butterflies and dragonflies, turtles in the water, but few birds.

Viceroy

Chicory

Mating Halloween pennants

Red-spotted purple butterflies on a dead fish

Roger Tory Peterson Institute

While I was on vacation I visited the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, NY. which is a short drive from Chautauqua. This is a must every time I visit here. They have beautiful gardens, and usually have good butterflies. The displays of art work are often unique.

The butterfly garden is lovely, but the day not the best to try to see butterflies.

This is a life-size relpica of the tusks and skull of the Columbian mammoth discovered in nearby Randolph in 1934. The tusk was on display also, and a delight for the locals especially.

We thoroughly enjoyed the photography of Dave Fitzsimmons. Check out his wesite at http://www.fitzsimmonsphotography.com/

Such an inspirational quote for the photographer - me.