Late August

This is how my day started.  A resident called and said she had something to show me, and her housekeeper said she had to get rid of it before she went in the apartment.  This is a four-horned sphinx moth caterpillar.  Impressive caterpillar, but the moth is blah.

Before I could get out for lunch I had another visitor, this time with an American dagger moth caterpillar, which will turn into a brown moth.

Sad looking birds that are molting at this time.

Another sad looking cardinal.

But the Boltonia meadow is beautiful.  This is looking over the wetland at the meadow.

The Boltonia is so tall that is obscures the path.

This snout butterfly made 21 species that I have seen in August.

This very interesting photo was taken in my yard.  The male cabbage white landed several times on the dead female.  From his angle I doubt that he can see the white spider, and probably can't figure out why the female is so unresponsive.  He very soon flew off and left the spider to only a one butterfly meal.

On My Walk

Our resident fawn is getting big.

Off he goes!

The goldenrod is blooming, especially in the back meadow.

There is much flat-topped goldenrod, or grass-leaved goldenrod, which is no longer a solidago but, Euthamia grammifolia.

 Someone asked what the other purple flower was, and sent me off searching, maybe they meant this great lobelia, or lobelia siphilitica, which is blooming in the wetland.

This pearl crescent was there and then gone.  I also caught brief glimpses of some skippers.  I hope that they are there, and just disappearing into the boltonia jungle.

The sky above the meadow was magnificent, but like the butterflies it quickly disappeared.

This beautiful waterlily is dedicated to Foulkeways number one photographer and my friend, Helen.

Today in the meadow

The Boltonia meadow is reaching its prime.

The honey bees have discovered the Boltonia.

This female sachem was enjoying it also.

Flying overhead was this turkey vulture.
I counted 14 mantids in the wild senna meadow.  There may also be some in the Boltonia, but I could not find them because it is too dense and too tall.  

The goldenrod is beginning to bloom in the back meadow

Construction

l

Looks better with a new roof

Deere tractor

Buried electric cable

Wallworks

Buried pipes

And more

Mantids

Look carefully at the wild senna, because there usually is a praying mantis there.

Sometimes they are upside down.

You can even find them in the grass.

Hang on there.

A pair interested in mating.

I think this one was watching me.

Ladies Day

Today in the meadow I was lucky to see this black saddlebags female.

This is the first one of these I have seen this year.

I also saw a female wild indigo duskywing.

Yesterday it was a female blue dasher, which certainly does not look like the male.

This is the female twelve-spotted dragonfly.

And everyone knows that all those worker bees are females.

Something New

This morning there was a huge truck in front of Abington House.  When I returned later with my camera, there was another truck loading boxes and packing material.

There inside were new dining room chairs.

This indeed makes for a festive dining room.  I understand the residents help to select the pattern for the chairs.  They look lovely.

Some August Beauties

This pretty Waved Sphinx moth was on the wall by H-8.

This is a magnificent show of white phlox.

A male monarch was seen two days on the swamp milkweed in the wetland.

A black swallowtail seen in the vicinity of the bronze fennel, perhaps there will be some eggs and caterpillars.

A beautiful crape myrtle outside the Meadow Cafe.

How many honey bees can you see on this helenium?

The Joe-Pye weed is magnificent along the Oak Path toward the lawn.

Green Herons

One of the delights of my vacation was watching the green herons on a nearby pond.

Here is one eating something.

A green heron on the stair steps.

On a wire fence.  Like to see you try that.

This must have been one of the youngsters - out on a limb.

I often saw two together.

These two I decided were parent and youngster, with the parent giving a fishing lesson, and the immature watching closely.

This is the way it's is done, kid.

These two are mama and papa, who have started a second nest.  I disturbed them and they were anxious to return to the nest.  I was able to get this photo by hiding behind a thistle and holding the camera over my head. 

Here is the mother on the nest.