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