Vacation

I will be away from my computer for the next twelve days.  See you in July.

All around

This female black swallowtail was in my garden,.  Was she looking for the fennel?

The bluebird was bringing a big fat caterpillar to feed the babies.

The first brown-eyed Susan appeared in the back meadow.

Mrs. Mallard was seen in the wetland.

Post Office

If you haven't seen it lately you would never recognize the old "Post office".  There's only a small shell left, but a new foundation of the new apartment.

The geo-thermal has been installed.

That's all that is left.

This will be the new driveway.

Flags are everywhere to show where elctric, etc, are underground. 

Peace Valley Grosbeaks

It wasn't the best day as far as the weather went, and it past migration season, but there are always pleasant surprises to be seen "outside".  I was wearing my "think outside" T-shirt purchased some years before at Peace Valley.

My little camera had some difficulty, but here on a feeder are a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks.

Then someone spotted this baby up in the tree.

And then a second baby!  What a treat to see the whole family.

This is one beautiful bird.  And we were so lucky to see the whole family, the highlight of the day.

Peace Valley

A spur of the moment trip to Peace Valley this morning - I really did not have any expectations that we would see anything exceptional, but it would be nice to get away.

It was overcast and I only has ny back-up camera working.  This is the view from the bird blind.

Here is a nuthatch hanging on the side of one of the feeders.

A mother cardinal is feeding a rather large baby,

This great blue heron was stalking prey in the lake.

You can't tell it from the photo, but these were two very small turtles.

And smaller yet, are these flower flies on the yarrow.

Today

The debris at the end of the meadow is being cleaned up.

The is a male common whitetail seen in the wetland.

A crossline skipper was seen in the meadow.

Also this beautiful female widow skimmer.

And as ever, those wonderful singing green frogs!

Bees- Good News ad Bad News

The good news is that the honey has been harvested and yielded about 9 gallons of honey, which should yield about 108 jars of honey.
The bad news is that the hives have varroa mites, which causes the deformed wing syndrome.

We found bees without any wings at all.

All the hives were treated with "mite away quick strips".  These are pads soaked in formic acid, which kills the existing mites, even in the developing larvae.  The bees hate it, and fan their wings and spread the cure throughout the hive.  Also good news is it does not affect the honey, so we could harvest again.

Fence and Strings

There is a new fence around the wetland, which is to keep the deer out.  And strings across the top to keep the geese out.

But when you step back they are not as visible, and are intended to be temporary.

Some of the plants have their feet in the water.

There was a little wood satyr on the far edge of the wetland.

And someone showed me these frogs eggs in the water.

Planting the Wetland

Today was the day when 24 scouts and several other volunteers invaded our wetland to be and planted all sorts of vegetation.

Here they are planting some trees and shrubs.

They measured out and put in the plants at just the right locations.

Some of the volunteers looked a bit old for scouts.

There was some real muck work involved.

Overseeing the project.

This is what the completed project looked like by afternoon, but I can visualize what it will look like by next year at this time!

Meadow Sightings

We spied this flower in the front meadow.  There is only one - corn cockle.  I hope no one picks it.

Also in the front meadow is this Lespedeza.  Maybe not much to look at, but tastes yummy to some butterfly larvae.

This is a coreopsis grandiflora.

This is another coreopsis, maybe tripteris, or lanceolata.  I will call it the other coreopsis.

That grey lump is a baby mouse in residence in one of the bird boxes.

Well this rabbit wasn't in the meadow but along Perimeter Road.

And everyone marveled at the green frogs in the pond by the wetland, and their chorus and antics were wonderful to watch.

Twang

The green frogs were "singing".  The males inflate that throat sac and then the air explodes out with a twang that sounds like a rubber band being snapped.

There were honey bees on the clover that was not sprayed.

Also saw an eastern tailed-blue on this clover.

And so many least skippers - all congregated in the clover patch.

This twelve-spotted skimmer was overseeing the wetland construction.