Last but not Least for July

Tiger swallowtail on zinnia

Boltonia

Cicada

Teasel

Goldfinches in the meadow eating seeds.

I will be away until August 7th.

Metamorphosis

Black swallowtail butterfly laying eggs on bronze fennel.

One day old caterpillar

The caterpillar getting ready to pupate.

Chrysallis

HOT and DRY

The drought has dried up the clover, and the honey bees have gone elsewhere to find food.

A bee found a live one!

The honey bees are on the hyssop in the herb garden.

We planted hyssop seed in the front meadow, but where is it?

Too Darn Hot!!

There were many Peck's skippers right outside my door, but it is too hot to venture down into the meadow. Besides, everything down there is suffering from lack of rain and heat.

That's a male fluttering his pheremones around a lady.

Photography at Mt. Cuba

Today I travelled to Mt. Cuba for a photography workshop with Joshua Taylor, Jr. of Archiphoto Workshops. His enthusiam was contagious, and his motto of the moment "Let the world speak through your image." Mt. Cuba is 48 miles from Foulkeways.

The highlight of my day was this male amberwing in flight!

Josh says to photograph only the most beautiful, but who could resist a widow with a broken wing?

Photographing beautiful flowers substituted for butterflies.

My challenge - I cannot identify this dragonfly.

The butterflies were few and not very interesting, and I cannot remember how Josh told us to get rid of that annoying white line.

Variegated fritillary

My apologies. This is a variegated fritillary, which was incorectly identified as a Great Spangled fritillary. One I was not expecting!!!!!

A Lovely Summer Day

Meadow scene. The bluebirds are not in this box, but the one opposite where they first nested.

Green frog.

A green green frog.

I was not sure if this was a comma or a questions mark. The photo showed the underwing marking of a comma and a dot, which makes it a question mark. These bring my butterfly species list to 20 for the month, but the butterflies have been few and far between.

Great spangles fritillary. Proving that butterflies can still fly even after they have lost a wing or part of it to a bird.

I think this is a walnut caterpillar. Is there a walnut tree near the pond?

Nature Arond Us

Yesterday I spotted these babes in the woods. Saw a total of four deer, too many.

Green frog

Eastern pondhawk, male

Eastern pondhawk, female

Peck's skipper. The butterflies have been few and far between.

The female twelve-spotted skimmer depositing eggs by tapping the tip of the abdomen to the water at regular intervals.

Backyard Bandits

The Zinnia crime scene!

This innocent looking Mrs. Goldfinch committed the crime against the Zinnias.

She eats the seeds of the Zinnias.

She removed the petals from the Zinnias, so she could eat those seeds.

Mr. Goldfinch helped.

Here are the petals.

Happy Independence Day

What could be better than a spangled skimmer on the Fourth of July!!!!!!

Could this be a giant sunflower?

Skipper on monarda

Seen today

Wandering glider
Identification of this dragonfly took many books and a long time. This dragonfly is found throughout the world, except on Antartica. It is even found by ships at sea.

Liatris

Moth mullein