Today I found this Monarch caterpillar on one of the common milkweed plants.
Our tadpoles are growing.
Also on the milkweed, a red milkweed beetle, or milkweed longhorn.
I liked the patterns made by the shadow of this common whitetail.
I was walking along Perimeter Road when this tree came crashing down.
There wasn't just one crack, but many, and the trunk looks twisted. I was not aware that the winds were that strong yesterday.
Saw this lovely black butterfly in the meadow and knew right away that it wasn't a black swallowtail, which has two rows of dots on the underwing. It wasn't until I looked at the photo that I saw it wasn't a spicebush swallowtail, nor a pipevine swallowtail. It is a female tiger swallowtail.
Another big and beautiful butterfly is this great spangled fritillary.
Another view of this beauty.
The bluebird has been hanging around and singing.
This rudbeckia is usually a biennial.
This small milkweed bug is seen often on the common milkweed.
Just as beautiful, but much smaller is this pearl crescent.
The coreopsis is beginning to bloom.
Sorry for the poor photo, but the tadpoles are almost frogs. Listen for the frogs in the wetland.
If you start walking the Maris Trail from the "P" section you will encounter some dead branches over the trail, which are really no problem.
Now there is a dead tree over the trail, but I can get under that.
A live tree snapped in high winds.
The trail is blocked!
In the meadow on the butterfly weed, was this lovely banded hairstreak. Notice the orange color of the flower reflected in the butterfly's wing.
The bird blind nears completion.
An ebony jewelwing damselfly which can be found in a sunny glade on the Loop Trail.
In the meadow a mated pair of pearl crescents.
A butterfly and a bee share a milkweed blossom.
If you haven't had enough orange, there is a daylily blooming by the bench.
Finally some wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, which is now blooming, about a week late.
Our beekeepers were in the meadow the other day, looking for a queen. To do this you have to take the whole hive apart.
Finally found, she is there somewhere, or maybe she has slipped onto the other side.
The queen is finally captured and will be marked with a blue dot, this year's color.
The latest - a mini hive! I also learned today that they will be harvesting honey over the Fourth of July weekend.
There he is, the male red-winged blackbird.
And singing his kon-ka-reeee.
But have you seen his lady love? Here is the female close to her nest in the cattails.
The common milkweed, Asclepias syrica, is blooming in the back meadow, and the scent is heavenly!
As you can see the little skipper butterflies have discovered the milkweed.
Here is a blossom with three skippers.
The skippers all appeared to be little glassywings.
Here is the orange milkweed or butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, with an orange sulphur butterfly.
This charming little brown butterfly is the little wood satyr. This butterfly has but one brood, and is only seen during the last two weeks of June. But today I think I saw 8 or 10 of them.
The dragonflies were represented by this female eastern pondhawk.
The pickerel weed is blooming in the wetland, but is still hard to see with all the competition.
A charming clump of yarrow is much easier to see up on the bank.
And a walk in the meadow wouldn't be complete without a deer or two or five.
There isn't a day when you don't hear the song sparrow singing near the wetland.
In a sunny spot on the Loop Trail is where you are likely to spot this beautiful ebony jewelwing damselfly.
Today I saw this male common white-tail dragonfly in a puddle on Perimeter Road.
While the female common white-tail was in the meadow.
Almost hidden in the grass was the common buckeye butterfly.
A lover of clover is this female eastern tailed-blue butterfly. She lays her eggs on clover.
A very small butterfly is this least skipper.
These forget-me-nots were growing in the stream.
The catalpa can be seen on the edge of the meadow as well as other places on the campus.
This sighting was where the Loop Trail joins Perimeter Road, and from the looks of that tail I would say it was a snapping turtle.
