7-31

7-31
Today Sessile-fruited Arrowhead is gracing shallow waters.
Milk Purslane and Doorweed are flowering on road shoulders and similar waste places.
And Round-leaved Sundews - nutrient poor soil specialists - hold their insect trapping leaves ready. In a few days they will open their one-sided racemes of tiny white flowers.
John

Round-leaved Sundew

Doorweed

Milk Purslane

Arrowhead

7-29

7-29
Along the banks of the West River, Field Milkwort is in flower.
John

Field Milkwort

7-28

7-28
Today Ditch Stonecrop and Virgin's Bower are both in flower.
And a large showy beetle called an Emerald Euphoria turned up in my flower garden.
John

Ditch Stonecrop

Virgin's Bower

Emerald Euphoria

7-25

7-25
Today a Nessus Sphinx moth visited the Phlox in my garden.
On Black Mountain the orchid commonly called Three-Birds, Triphora Trianthaphora, began to flower.
Pinesaps pushed up through the pine needles.
And Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain held up spikes of small fuzzy white flowers.

Three-Birds Orchid

Nessus Sphinx moth

Checkered Rattlesnake Plantain

Pinesaps

7-23

7-23
Today Wild Mint and Pale Touch-Me-Not are in flower. Pale Touch-Me-Not likes sweeter soils than the more common Spotted Touch-Me-Not.
Black and Yellow Lichen moths are flying as are Charming Underwing moths.

Black and Yellow Lichen moth

Charming Underwing moth

Wild Mint

Pale Touch-Me-Not 

7-22

7-22
Today, Catnip is in flower and Clymene moths are flying.
John

Clymene moth

Catnip

7-21

7-21
Along the West River, Canadian Burnet's showy flower spikes are open.
On gravel bars Spotted Sandpipers are leading broods of well grown yet still down-flecked young.
And on the still waters of ponds Water Shield adds its faint blush.
John

Water Shield

Canadian Burnet

7-18

7-18
Today the world was rife with Katydids!
John

Katydid

7-17

7-17
Agrimony is in bloom.
And a Virgin Tiger moth was flashing its hind wings in preparation for takeoff.
John

Virgin Tiger moth

Agrimony

I was quite startled the other morning to hear someone in the kitchen making breakfast. It turned out to be this little red squirrel who, even after being persuaded to outside, decided to pose for photos.

This young fawn with help from a twin has been helping keep the grass down in the backyard.

7-16

7-16
Today Spotted Knapweed is in flower. And a Caddisfly - one of the 1,000 Caddisfly species in North America - was flying last night.
John

A Caddisfly

Spotted Knapweed

7-15

7-15
Today White Turtlehead are in flower.
The nymphal husks of Dogday Harvest flies (Cicadas) hang hollow on the trunks of trees, while the adult flies shrill from the tree tops.
And a moth called - for obvious reasons - the Ferguson's Scallopshell was flying last night.
John

Ferguson's Scallopshell moth

Dogday Harvest fly husk

Turtlehead

7-14

7-14
A White-lipped Forest snail - so called because of the white edge on its shell opening - finds today's wet conditions to its liking.
Thorn mimicking Locust Tree-hoppers are active.
A Greater Grapevine Looper moth strikes a strange pose as it roosts for the day.
And Ram's Horn snails graze algae off from submerged rocks in an abandoned beaver pond.
John

Ram's Horn snail

Greater Grapevine Looper moth

Locust Treehopper

White-lipped Forest snail

7-13

7-13
Today Spotted Wintergreen is in flower as is Evening Primrose shown here with Primrose moths.
And last night this Locust Underwing moth was flying.
John

Locust Underwing

Evening Primrose and Primrose moths

Spotted Wintergreen

Spotted Wintergreen

7-12

7-12
Swamp Rose is at its flowering peak.
A Northern Pearly Eye butterfly - a shade tolerant species - was flying along woodland edges.
And an extremely long bodied moth known only by its scientific name of Herpetogramma thestialis was flying last night.
John

Swamp Rose

Northern Pearly Eye

Herpetogramma thestialis

7-10

7-10
Today Dogbane leaf beetle in all its iridescent splendor dotted the fields.
And last night a nicely figured Basswood Leafroller moth was flying.
John

Dogbane Leaf beetle

Basswood Leafroller moth

7-9

7-9
Today in Marlboro these Ragged Fringed Orchids were in flower.
And last night 4 raccoon kits accompanied their mother through my yard.
John

Raccoon kits

Ragged Fringed Orchid

7-8

7-8
Orangegrass - a tiny little member of the Saint John'swort family - is flowering.
Blinded Sphinx moths are flying.
And this salamander, delivered to me by a four year old, defies classification. Probably it's a common Red-spotted Newt with an uncommon color scheme … but?
John

Blinded Sphinx

Orangegrass

Salamander

7-6

7-6
Today, Red Milkweed Beetles added a festive element to the flat green milkweed leaves.
A Fishfly rested on a roadside weed.
Wild Mint's clusters of tiny lilac flowers graced wet ditches.
And a cluster of bats spent their day clinging to the ridgepole of my barn.
John

Red Milkweed Beetle

Fishfly

Wild Mint

Bat colony