Only three of us walked the transit. Ruth, our leader, the person in our group who is most knowledgeable about butterflies, was not able to come. Phil and Nancy told her they would be responsible for the week's report.
The day was beautiful, in the eighties (Fahrenheit) , with a light come and go breeze that grew stronger as we walked.
Photo by Pauline Persing
The three of us know some butterflies but we are still learning.
For instance, we don't know the little dark skippers. Perhaps someone reading this blog will recognize the two below. This one holds it wings differently than a lot of skippers.
Here is a skipper in the more usual skipper resting position.
At Cattail Pond, we were surprised to see a snapping turtle swimming along. We knew one or two lived in the pond but it's been years since I have seen one there.
Nancy and I lagged behind Phil, looking at flowers as well as butterflies. When we caught up with Phil, he told us we had missed seeing a Red-Spotted Purple.
This is a photo Tom took a few years ago showing the underside of the Red-Spotted Purple.
As we walked beside the meadow toward the woods we saw a large beautiful black butterfly with yellow bands, a Giant Swallowtail. Because the day was warm, the butterfly was flying fast, rarely stopping for more than a moment, so neither Phil nor I snapped its picture. The photo below of a somewhat tattered Giant Swallowtail is one Tom took a few years ago.
Just past the meadow Nancy spotted this. The cicada is on the left side of the stem and the shell it emerged from is on the right.
Plants that are blooming are recorded on the Butterfly Transit weekly record, too.
As always, click on the photos to enlarge them. Have a good day.
Lovely photos all! :)
ReplyDeleteAMAZING PHOTOS!!!
ReplyDelete