Thursday

It turned out to be a rather warm day with the temps in the 80's, and that was the perfect recipe for an evening thunder storm. It only lasted about 20 minutes but we got very heavy rain, with lots of hail and a drop of 15 deg. in temp.

Showing up this morning were several White-crowned sparrows. They are so cute and very fast.

Yesterday I checked the blue bird house and found a partially built nest mostly of green mosses. I don't remember ever seeing a bird nest like this, but later in the morning the Tree swallows have arrived, and were checking out the house. I'm thinking maybe a mouse is in there. I'll keep a close eye on it.

A couple more shots of the White-crowned sparrows.

There are a few Chipping sparrows too hanging around.

Now this scary guy was crawling up the wall of the garage. I'm sure this is some kind of jumping spider.

Last but not least I saw literally hundreds of Red Admiral butterflies today just everyplace. I've never seen so many before. Good to get pictures. I have more shots of them, and will post more in the coming days.

Another day that can't make up it's mind. One minute sun, then clouds, then rain. I actually hung up my clothes and then took them down as the sky got darker 3 times . Each time the sun came out again. and finally they did get dry.
This insect was crawling up the barn wall. I'm wondering if it might be a young Katydid.? ? It has 2 "growths" on it's body that might be underdeveloped wings. What do you think Joan? A Daddy Long legs on the side of the house. No butterflies yet, but plenty of other insects.

We saw this beautiful flower along the side of a dirt road last week. On the outskirts of the woods. I've looked through my wild flower book twice and can't find it. Any ideas out there ? It stands about 3-4 ft. high.

This one in the same area but in a field. growing close to the ground. No idea...what it is.

Black-Eyed Susan

Just can't get enough of the Mourning Doves.

We did manage to mow the grass today. That means we didn't have to bale it. LOL. It was getting too long, but with all the rain it's difficult to know when to cut it. Gary mowed with the lawn tractor and I did all the trimming , and tomorrow afternoon IF it doesn't rain, I'll do the weed eating.

Between raindrops

This shot although not very good is a Bald Eagle in the field next to our son and daughter-in-law's house. He was on the ground eating at something, maybe a dead groundhog. He was about 150 yards away, and stayed there for about 20 minutes, then he flew down the creek. It's the first one I've seen around here since early spring. It rained most of the day again with thunder and lightening. Later the sun came out and I did manage a few pictures.
These are Oregano flowers.

Chicory and a yellow Touch-me-not flower on a log.

A tendril of a wild Grape vine.

I have seen lots of these Moths, but I don't know what they are.

The leaves of the Meadow Rue are turning color already.

An orange Touch-me-Not flower.

This spider is my friend. It looks like he had caught a Mosquito.

As I sit here typing it is after 11:00 PM, and there are 3 skunks under my feeders. There are apparently 2 males and one female. The males are arguing with each other with their tails held high, and the female could care less. She is just here to eat. At any rate the air doesn't smell all that great right now either. I hope they all come to an agreement otherwise it's going to be a stinky night!