A GREAT DAY FOR NATURING

Eastern Blue Bird (Sialia sialis)




Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)



Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae)



Brown Headed Cow Bird - male (Mlotbrus ater)





Dragonflies (can you help me with identity?)


Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata)


Spice Bush Shallowtail (Papilio trailus)



Turtle (painted?)


Water Lily



Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)


Over an inch of rain fell on most of Lancaster County last weekend and it is raining this evening. Thank you Jesus!!!

The timing could not have been better for the corn crop - another week or two of dry would have really "put a hurt on it".

We had to make a trip to Mt Gretna so we wandered over to Middle Creek and had a great 2 hours of nature - the above pictures were all taken there today.

The Common Yellowthroat is a first sight and first photo for me. A bid confusing to a dummy like me; in that the Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) it is a "Wood Warbler" (Parulidae) but not to be confused with the Yellow-throated Warbler (Dendroica dominica) also a "Wood Warbler".
"Ours is not to question why...."

AN HOUR AT MIDDLECREEK

Saturday June 26, 2010 - God's fingerprints are everywhere. See what beauty can be found in just one hour in the field. I wasn't feeling the best all week and Florence had to talk me into going out (usually the other way around). I only got out of the car twice. In spite of that, it was another inspirational experience and I felt better because of it. For the folks who can not walk well you can take them for a "nature drive". Below are some pics from the trip - only part of what we saw.



Bird's Foot Trefoil (close up)


Bird's Foot Trefoil


Cabbage White Butterflies (female on ground - male in flight)


Evening Primerose


Question Mark Butterfly (can you see the ? ?)


Tree Swallow


White Throated Sparrow


Barn Swallow

RED BANDED HAIR STREAK

Hello again to my thousands of devoted blog followers(HA HA)

As a member of the Lancaster Entomology Club I enjoy learning from the speakers and other members. Recently one of the members brought in some larva and pupa of the Red Banded Hairstreak (a common butterfly but often unnoticed because of it's size - less than 3/4 inch long). He gave two of the pupa to me. I showed them to the visitors at root's one Tuesday and them gave them to Ken Miller to babysit while I went to KY and DE. One of them failed but the other produced a beautiful adult which I photographed and released. Here are pics of the pupa and adult. (The pupa pic is by Ken Miller and it is laying on the leaf of a Virgina creeper just for an attractive background - the preferred host plant would be sumac.

BIRDING IN DELAWARE

Black Crowned Night Heron














Red Winged Black Bird













Glossy Ibis










Blue
Grosbeak






I was blessed to return to Delaware last week. These pics are from Bombay Hook and Prime Hook. I consider the Glossy Ibis pic as a trophy.

Nature Club is less than a month away - starting July 8 - for more info call us at 717-684-2849 or email donbsr@gmail.com

GREAT DAY FOR BIRDING

Bright blue skies make me want to get out and see what God is doing - these pics are from Sunday 5/30 at Middle Creek. The Bluebirds were everywhere. I got my second look at a Cedar Wax Wing and a fairly good picture to prove it.




"hurry up - I am hungry"



"that tastes good"




"good-bye"



"come back soon!"




Cedar Waxwing

BEAUTIFUL KENTUCKY

Spider Wort (weed)



Mountain Laurel (white)



Mountain Laurel (pink)


We just returned from another trip to the mountains of East KY - Pine mountain was just starting to sing with the beauty of mountain laurel (red-pink singing bass and white singing tenor) - warming up in the background was rhododendron - the course will be loud and beautiful in several weeks. Spider wort was "singing" also.

To our friends in PA we will be returning to a stand every week at Root's market begining June 1. Please stop for a visit any Tuesday.

LADY SLIPPERS

pink lady slipper
Cypripedium acaule










the only thing better than a lady slipper
is multiple lady slippers














pink azalea or pinxter flower
Rhododendron periclymenoides



Just as the spring blossoming starts to slow it's pace comes one of the most beautiful of flowers; the lady slipper - it comes in yellow and pink around here - white and mixed or painted in other states. yellow is relatively rare and while the pink are more frequent but not easily found. I was privileged to see dozens of these pink beauties recently. I owe a friend a payback for taking me to see them. We also saw some pink wild azaleas. I am happy to share them with you now.