A Week in Review...

   It's been quite a while since I posted last, and I feel bad about it. Time has flown by so quick, I hate that. Wednesday we went to a concert (Gillian Welch, awesome!) and Thursday was a certain 12 year old's birthday. I don't even remember Monday and Tuesday. I've been so busy, I haven't even looked at any of the photos I've taken this week, which is unusual for me. When I sat down to start typing, I was unsure of what today's topic would be. I checked my photo card to remind myself what I had seen this week and decided to share some of my best finds.

I saw several Monarchs in our yard this week, the first ones since spring. I haven't found any eggs yet though.

This one was quite worn, I can only imagine how far it has travelled.

This is a video Jeff took with his iPhone, unfortunately the actual incident of note was not captured, he got there too late. The story goes like this...Jeff heard a couple of Tufted Titmice and a Nuthatch making a fuss, looked out the window, and saw them circling over something on the ground. Turns out it was a baby green snake, and one of the Titmice proceeded to GRAB IT AND LIFT IT OFF THE GROUND! I so wish I was there to see it, they eventually flew off and Jeff could only get video of the snake as it retreated. 

 Writing Spiders (Argiope sp.) are one of my favorite spiders. I hadn't seen any in our yard in several years, but this year we've found four already. Maybe we're doing something right! The center for most insect activity is a patch of Agastache along our front sidewalk, and these two smart spiders built their web right in the middle. Needless to say they are dining well and often. The large one is the female, the smaller one is the male.

I love Joe-Pye, and so do the insects...

Just down from the Agastache is a patch of Eupatorium "Little Joe" in full bloom that's literally covered in skippers of various types. We seem to have had a skipper explosion, I've never seen so many at once.

Six skippers plus half a dozen or so different bees.

That's all for now, don't forget to click on the pictures above to view larger.