YEAR OF THE TIGER (SWALLOWTAIL)

Jim to the rescue


wounded cormorant at dam


monarch


great egret


viceroy


painted turtles


great blue with fish


female tiger swallowtail


male tiger swallowtail


goldfinch = woods edge park Centerville


Last year was a bad year for the butterfly population as a whole so I assumed it would it would take a few years to recover - not so! Everyone I know is seeing more butterflies this year. I have seen a half dozen snouts this year and only one in the last ten years. The numbers of Tiger swallowtails is amazing. We saw at least 50 each time at middle creek in the last month. In addition we are seeing zebra swallowtails, spice bush swallowtails, viceroys. monarchs and silver spotted skippers to name a few. I hope you enjoy the pics.

8/18/10 at Middle Creek we saw an injured bird at the foot of the dam. I thought it was a great blue but it proved to be a cormorant. Jim (the manager of middle creek retrieved it - although it was still alive it was beyond saving. He had a compound fracture of the wing and it must have been that way for some time as he was very malnourished. I included pics of this bird also.

Speaking of birds I have included pics of a great blue heron with a small fish in his mouth. He caught three while we watched him for about 15 minutes.

Also included are pics of a great egret and two sun basking painted turtles.

I almost forgot - I saw and shot a clear wing moth and observed him fighting with a tiger swallowtail for a position on a flower - the fight lasted several minutes and the tiger won.

CORRECTION & A WONDERFUL TREE

wow! what a tree The oldest Sycamore I have ever seen.

Ken "inside" the tree


Don "inside" the tree (I look skinny here)


GRASSHOPPER Sparrow

It pays to have friends who know more than you do. Jim Smith and Randy Miller were kind enough to point out a mistake in my blog of 6/28/10. I labeled a sparrow as a white throat but it is a grasshopper sparrow - I must have seen the yellow above the eyes and ignored the other obvious differences. I like making mistakes because it is a good way to learn lessons you seldom forget. I have copied the pic here with proper id. Thank you Randy and Jim - never hesitate to correct me when I make mistake.

I have passed Old Sycamore road (off Centerville Road in West Hempfield Twp Lancaster Co)many times without thinking of the reason for the name. Ken and Dorthy Miller told me about the old tree that the road is named for. Dorthy played on the tree in her aunt and uncles lawn when she was a child (no dates or ages mentioned here, Dorthy!) It was a very old tree when she played on it . Today the old tree is worth a visit for two reasons. 1- it is a magnificant sight to see and 2- it will not be there much longer. The poor old lady is as hollow as a pipe - see the pics the Ken took on our 8/16/10 visit. See pics above.

NATURE CLUB

Don with Charles Darwin the Garter Snake


Beautiful Birds


Don enjoyed these meetings as much as anyone


Issac Scott enjoys the camera person more than the "lecture"



Dear Friends

The first annual (Lord willing) Creation Appreciation Nature Club was a success - we had almost 40 people at our first 3 meetings and 54 at the last one. Here are some pictures courtesy of the Stricker Family.

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