All in a Day

Red-wing blackbird agitated by my presence

ATTACK!!!!!!!

Eastern tailed-blue laying egg on clover

Clear-wing moth

Ebony jewelwing

Garter snake in rocks

Bath Time

The new pond presents an opportunity to take a bath on these hot days.

A soggy bluebird

Robin

A cardinal really getting into it.

Ash Trees

Someone at dinner asked about purple boxes seen hanging in trees. These are used to determine if there are Emerald ash tree borers present in the area. We have ash trees here at Foulkeways and should be concerned about ash tree borers. We should never import firewood.

The ash tree has opposite branching and compound leaves.

The ash tree has a bark that has a distinct pattern of diamond-shaped ridges. This tree is located on the far side of Perimeter Road, near the entance to "N" parking lot.

Dragonfly Sunday

A male twelve-spotted skimmer, for the female see June 15th. All these dragonflies were spotted near our new pond, adjacent to the wildflower meadow.

A female common whitetail. For the male see June 18th.

A male blue dasher, with white face and metallic green eyes.

A male widow skimmer. One of the king skimmers, the quintessential dragonflies.

Maris Trail

As I walked this flicker flew to a tree trunk from the woods' floor.

I heard some snorting, and then spied this deer in the woods.

This catbird complained that I was too near the nest.

Damselfly

This common whitetail was near the pond area at the end of my walk.

People keep asking where are the bees -- And here they are. They are all over the white clover that is blooming in the meadow paths. Would be nice if they did not mow right away down in this area, as the bees need the clover.

In the Meadow

A very poor photo, but what a find. First I have ever seen at Foulkeways. This is a Baltimore. This is a butterfly of wetlands and feeds on turtlehead.

This is a female twelve-spotted skimmer.

This is a clouded sulphur. It looked white as it flew around, but you can see the lemon yellow when it perches.

I saw this male Zabulon skipper on my way to the meadow. This is an interesting butterfly as the male maintains a perch, often for a day, or even for a week. He flies off hoping to find a female, or to drive away other males, and returns to the same perch time after time.

My Mistake

My mistake, the tree does have leaves., which you can see from this angle.

The butterfly weed is now blooming in the back meadow.

Much more yellow is beginning to appear in the meadows.

Another new species for the month - Little wood-satyr

Out and About

Here is my black swallowtail caterpillar today - It is growing fast!

The common milkweed is beginning to bloom. Watch for the Monarchs.

This little glassywing makes 12 species seen for June.

Many honey bees were foraging on the clover - was that because they wanted to be close to home in case of rain?

The new tree in the wetland has lost all its leaves.

Black Swallowtail

This morning I saw the black swallowtail laying eggs on my fennel. Later I found eggs and very small caterpillars.

2 eggs on fennell

Caterpillar with white mid-section
The caterpillars will also eat parsley and Queen Anne's lace.

Bees

We may harvest some honey from hive 2.

This is a Virola mite on a larvae, which means it will have to be treated.

Hive 1 is producing large drone cells, which means it does not have a queen.

Here is the queen cell, which was empty, which means they have a virgin queen in hive 4.

Here is the royal jelly that made the queen.

Beyond the Daisies

If you look beyond the daisies, shown here with an American Lady butterfly, you will see other things blooming in the meadow. Or join me on Friday at one, and walk thru the meadow.

This foxglove beardtongue is blooming in the back.

This beautiful spiderwort is blooming the the second meadow.

Common or Philadelphia fleabane

A red-wing blackbird might scold you for coming too close to her nest.