The Butterflies of Summer

I spent the summer chasing butterflies, in the garden and roadside wild spots.

There was an eruption of American Painted Ladies, I have never seen so many.

On roadside Spotted Knapweed, Centaurea maculosa, (non-native).

On Leadwort Plumbago in the garden.

Peek -a- Boo 

Another view (American Painted Lady),
on garden Cone Flower.

The ubiquitous Cabbage Butterfly.
Not any the less beautiful, for being common.
(On Monarda in the garden)

The gorgeous Swallowtails

Black Swallowtail
on roadside Japanese Honeysuckle,
Lonicera japonica, (non-native).

Diving in to garden Zinnia.

Tiger Swallowtail on garden Dahlia..

and  Joe Pye Weed..

On Zinnia..

Up and away.

Some Skippers..which often elude my ID patience..

Dreamy Dusky Wing on Coneflower.

Delaware Skipper on Invasive Japanese Stilt Grass,
(unfortunately in my garden).

Silver Spotted Skipper
on roadside Perennial Pea,  Lathyrus latifolius, (garden escapee).

Hairstreaks..those tiny blue darters of wonderful variety.

Gray Hairstreak on roadside Common Smartweed,
Polygonum hydropiper (native).

Dusky Blue Hairstreak on Garden Golden Rod.

And another tiny beauty

Little Copper on roadside Pokeweed,
 Phytoloca americana (native).

.

On roadside Early Goldenrod solidago juncea (native)

Another view

Alfalfa butterflies

On Red Clover Trifolium pratense,
European,  naturalized, in the garden.

On Leadwort Plumbago

Slurp

How many butterflies can dance on the head of a flower?
Northern Pearly Crescent on Small White Aster,
Symphotrichium racemosa (native, in the garden).

Last, but never least, everyone's favorite..

the Monarch..

Having now migrated and left us to the Autumn..

Mid-Summer on Butterfly Weed , Asclepias tuberosa, native, in the garden.

Ablaze on roadside Bull Thistle.
 Cirisum vulgare (non-native)

Summer is fleeting, now it has passed, the beauty of butterflies vanished too fast...

Butterflies in Love

There is a field at the end of the street, parallel to mine, that by some miracle has not been farmed, nor mown nor sold for years. It is my "Field of Dreams" where mostly native plants, birds, bugs and butterflies thrive. Every time I visit, nature lifts my spirits..Yesterday it was butterflies in love, pairs of mating Northern Pearly Crescents fluttering in the grass..

What is that in the grass?

Love is a mirror image!

Another pair!

Should we get a room?

Pearly Crescents or Northern Pearly Crescents?
Northern! Their antennae clubs are orange!

The first video I have taken with this camera..

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! It is an ever-fixed mark

That looks upon tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending  sickles compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks

But bears it out even to the edge of doom:

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved

Shakespeare Sonnet 116

Stalking the Wild Dragonflies

It's not that I haven't noticed nor appreciated them before..but I have not actively studied them, stalked them, photographed them nor tried to ID them..Now, camera, binoculars & ID books on standby, I stalk the wild dragonflies.. (please feel free to correct ID!!)

                                                    

                                                   Indian Island County Park

Female Painted Skimmer..ain't she sweet..
a Salt Marsh treat!

Dragonflies belong to the insect class: Odonata  from the Greek "odonto-", tooth, refering to the strong teeth found on the mandibles of most adults. These little beauties are predators, feeding on large numbers of smaller, flying insects..yum..mosquitoes!

The lifespan of an adult dragonfly is short, they live just long enough to mate and reproduce..several months at the most, and are more likely to die of predation than old age.

                                                              Hubbard County Park

Seaside Dragonlet, this is a female in "male form"
..a cross-dresser I guess

This is a female properly attired..
these little beauties swarmed the salt marsh

Seaside Dragonlets are the only dragonflies in the
Western Hemisphere that can breed in undiluted seawater

From the seaside to a pond..found deep within the newly opened Brookhaven State Park

Calico Pennant..enjoying the sedges pondside

They perch facing away from the water,
to search for mates..after all..there isn't much time..

Eastern Pondhawks..

Shared the ponds edge

As did a Damselfly.. Atlantic Bluet, I think

Damselflies are a different suborder of Odonata, (Zygoptera) with a more slender abdomen and wings held close to the body.

Today I saw the dragon-fly

Come from the well where he did lie...

Thro' crofts and pasteurs wet with dew..

A living flash of light he flew ~ Tennyson  (More will surely flit thro' this blog!)

How to Wash Windows..

First, gather all your equipment..point & shoot, DSLR, binoculars..Since you're on the deck to wash upstairs windows, might as well take a shot of the vegetable garden from the deck..

Those are self-planted Asian Raspberries on fence, left..I had thought they were native 'til a year ago. They're for the birds. Rubus odoratus (native Thimble Berry)  will eventually replace them..


Wait, what is that in the woods...??

A young Baltimore Oriole in the rose bush..

waiting for a chance at the berries...

 And look at the butterflies in the flowers...Camera in hand,  down to the garden..

 

Pink Edged Sulphur



Monarch in for a landing



Dreamy Dusky Wing (Skipper)





Northern Pearl Crescent, opened

And shut

Oh right, the windows..back up onto the deck, wax on, wax off..but look, young robins are searcing for berries!

They crouch, then fling themselves into the berries

A fledgling waiting on the fence



Makes it into the berries..

The window does get washed..one, one window..but this morning I don't even pretend..

 

Breakfast with a Bluejay

And a Robin

A Tiger Swallowtail drops by to say hi



American Painted Lady, case opened

And shut..the windows can wait!

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else ~Emily Dickinson