Near Pond

That really isn't it's name. This pond doesn't have one. It may be a sump for surrounding apartments, I always thought that's all it was. I drove by it for 30 yrs..literally. The trees hid most of it from view. I knew there was water there, but had never explored..until last summer...And so I have learned that natural beauty lurks right under your nose, in the darndest of places, where you would never expect..you just have to look..

The path around the pond, can you see the water in the distance?

Here was a miniature Eden..home to cattails instead of the invasive Phragmites.

Cattails, Greene's Rush (Juncus greeniei) and the glow of Golden hedge Hyssop (Gratiola auria), one of the few places this native flower survives on Long Island

Golden Hedge Hyssop (Gratiola aurea)

Dragonflies and Damselflies cavorted along the shore 

and soared over the water.

A Blue Dasher in no rush.

  A twelve spotted skimmer in Gratiola glow.

Atlantic Bluets enjoying a bonding experience.

                                             Calico Pennant hanging out.

Eastern Pondhawk on the shore

   

                            Widow Skimmer

There were many other native wildflowers!

Sickle Leaved Golden Aster (Chrysopsias falcata)

                                   

Hairy Bush Clover (Lespedeza hirta)

Northern Pearly Crescents enjoying a roll in the clover

The white flowers in the grass are Boneset

 Eupatorium hyssopifolium 

Pink Wild Bean (Strophosyles umbellata)

Some plants tho' beautiful, were not so native..Backyard pond-plant escapees

Sunset in a flower (Nymphaea pubescens)

Wildly invasive Water Hyacinth  (Eichornia crassipes)
I pulled these out, as soon as I had identified them.

And other denizens..

Delaware Skipper

A toad stool (sorry, no ID)

And a Fowler's toad.

So much life in a small space, with Ospreys and hawks often circling overhead.. I took the "Road not Taken" and this made all the difference..Go out, explore!

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