Butterflies from this Week

   With summer beginning to heat up, we've been seeing many more butterflies lately. Skippers are by far the most numerous, but photographing them has proved to be more challenging than even the larger butterflies. Here's a few of the highlights...

   This is a Northern Cloudywing, the first one I've seen and identified. It spent all day going back and forth between my catnip plants, apparently the tiny nepeta blossoms were just the right size for this diminutive butterfly. Considering the size and dark color of the Northern Cloudywing, they'd be easy to miss if you weren't paying close attention.

   This is a Red Banded Hairstreak, another uncommon visitor. However, it's so small, around 3/4 inch, maybe I just miss them. Sumac, their host plant, is quite common around here so we probably have more than we realize. They pack a lot of beauty into a tiny package.

   We don't like dill, but these guys sure do. I planted two tiny dill plants back in the spring for the butterflies, but I hadn't paid them much attention since then. I stressed way too much over the monarchs and promised myself I'd adopt a laissez-faire attitude next time. I'd seen some black swallowtails lately, and obviously they found my dill.

   Despite having monarch caterpillars this spring, this is the first monarch butterfly I've seen. Here it's enjoying the anise hyssop. I freaked out when I saw it and ran for the camera, this the best I could do. After not seeing one for so long, it looked so exotic!

   I hope they keep coming!

Introducing...A 6 Inch Long Wasp!

   This is the beautiful and bizarre Ichneumon Wasp. For the second year in a row, Jeff has found one over at Dean, this time he was able to photograph it. It's body is only about 1.5 inches long, which is not unusual, however females can have tails (ovipositor) up to 5 inches. This particular individual was approximately 6 inches long, the Felco folding saw in the picture below is 6 inches. They can be quite variable in their coloration and appearance, but the female is quite unmistakable. Dean has quite a few dead trees on the property which undoubtedly play host to numerous species, this one included.

From an article titled The Amazing Ichneumon by Connie Hjelmeng-Johnson:

Ichneumon wasps are truly a study in contradictions. They look frightening, but they are harmless to people. They are highly numerous, but seldom seen. They are great allies against insect pests, yet few people know about them. Females penetrate wood with tiny ovipositors, but scientists don't fully understand how. And while they are common in the world of insects, they are certainly "uncommon" to those of us who have observed their amazing behavior first hand.

Phoebe Fledgelings

  
   The Phoebe chicks fledged yesterday afternoon. It was quite stressful for Jeff, who was keeping an eye on them, for safety. Just the night before, the weakest one fell out of the nest, but since Jeff had placed some old patio furniture and cushions underneath just in case (it's happened in previous years) he was able to quickly rescue it and place it back in the nest where it remained until fledge time. He had observed them earlier in the day standing on the rim of the nest cup, getting frisky, but they seemed too small to be considering fledging. We estimated it had been about 14 days since they hatched. I guess they know what they're doing! After making the jump, the parents called them up into the woods, and we have no idea where they are now, but Jeff's seen the parents hunting and heard them calling. There are 3 chicks in this picture, 2 are obvious and the 3rd is under a leaf on the left-middle of the photo. Good luck little ones!

A close up of the hiding chick

Critter Cam Update

   Our night-time critter visitations slowed down in June, but they've picked back up here in July. The skunk family seems to have moved on, we haven't seen them in the past couple of weeks. However the fox has returned and has been making regular visits again. We have a "mommy" deer visiting regularly also (she has teats), but we haven't seen her fawn(s) yet. The highlight of them all occurred on the 4th of July, when a deer and a raccoon were both feeding within view of the camera, and I'm guessing they weren't enjoying each others company. It's blurry but it appears they charged at each other. You be the judge...

Here's a "best of" collection from the past couple of weeks...

 Our regular fox

 Zombie!

 They're getting along fine here...

 Still ok...

 "Who invited you?"

 "You'd better back off, I have thumbs and I know how to use them!"

 "Did you hear what he said to me?"

 What the heck! Patience wore off I guess...

Two bucks playing nice

Eastern Phoebe Nest

   Jeff's patience finally paid off, he was able to capture some excellent shots of the phoebe nest over at Dean. They've used this same location off and on for several years, they build it on an old hanging light fixture up under a covered patio where they're protected from rain, wind, and climbing predators.

Mud and moss perfection

Look at those fuzzy little heads!

Looks like there's 3 chicks

 "I'm next, I'm next!"

   ***Elsewhere over at Dean the blueberry bushes I planted about a month ago aren't attracting any birds yet despite the fruit being ripe. However, they are attracting little neices who like blueberries! Also good for attracting little neices is dill, which I planted for the Black Swallowtail butterflies, of which I've seen zero. I hope you enjoyed them Olie! Next year I'll plant more, enough for everybody. Don't worry, I'm not mad, I'm just glad somebody's enjoying them!

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

                                    Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!
                                               By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.
                                                         ~John Dickinson

   I hope all of you out there have a wonderful day! Wear sunscreen, drink responsibly, and be careful with those illegal fireworks!

   Here's a little red, white, and blue from my yard...

 Serviceberries (from May)

Monarda "Raspberry Wine" (not red, but close)

 Skunk! (with lots of white)

 Shasta Daisy

 Salvia "Black and Blue"

Catmint

   *I tried to get pictures of a Cardinal, a White Breasted Nuthatch, and our daddy Bluebird, but they wouldn't play nice this morning.

Dragonfly Rescues and the Skunk Family Returns

   Over at Dean, there's an old leaky swimming pool with a disintigrating cover. Obviously it's dangerous to have a cover with holes in it, it will have to wait until winter because if we get it fixed now we'll trap who knows how many dragonflies. Every day Jeff saves countless dragonflies trying to emerge from the water, ready to fly away after their metamorphosis. It usually takes them a few minutes to warm up and dry off, then off they go. They are truly beautiful creatures, we hardly ever see any at home but Dean has a very healthy population of both dragons and damsels.



   The skunks came back a few nights ago, little black and white whirling dervishes. We haven't seen them out before dark ever since. Although we miss seeing them, it is much safer for them to wait until nightfall.

*All of todays photos were contributed by Jeff*