Backyard Summer Daze

As we slide into August, it's hard to believe we've been in summer at all. This is the first July that we have not exceeded 90 degrees even once all month! When I was a kid, we had the entire month of August as vacation from school. Someone said our children in Jefferson County, KY, start back to school in only two weeks. How time flies! What's happening in the Dennis backyard? Take a look.....

The Cooper's Hawks nesting in the pine tree next door are doing well. Their two babies are just about ready to fledge. They have most of their primary feathers, and jump from branch to branch, flapping their wings actively. When Mom flies in with a bite to eat, they whistle, so I know to take a look. Their nest is situated for privacy, and can only be seen from my driveway, with the scope pointing straight up in the air for a good view! Sometimes they look down at me, wondering what in the world that strange being is doing down there. Can you see two young birds in the first picture? I hope I get to see them fly before they leave the neighborhood.

The butterfly garden is at its peak. A Red Admiral came by this week, for a butterfly lifer.

Monarch butterflies are supposed to like milkweed in particular. We have three different varieties, but I seem them most often on the butterfly bushes. I'll keep an eye on the milkweed for eggs or caterpillars though.

Butterfly gardens attract insects other than butterflies in great numbers. This large bee-like insect is actually a Nessus moth. I saw Clearwing moths last summer, a similar looking insect. These moths flap their wings to hover, like bees, and they resemble huge bees more than anything.

I never realized that bees come in so many sizes and varieties. I think this is a Carpenter bee - one of the bumble bee species. It's at least an inch long with a shiny black abdomen. Large bees, small bees, wasps that look like bees...maybe next year I will invest some time becoming more familiar with them since so many come to visit our garden.

The grass that grows in the yard gets chopped off before it can reproduce, but this dwarf Fountain Grass is going to seed now. How delicate the seed heads are! I'll have to look for any birds that might eat the seeds.

I never know if we have one hummer, or more than one little female coming to sip from the Cardinal flower. I have not seen a single male all summer though.

You'll just have to imagine the Gold Finches on these Black-eyed Susans. By the time I get the camera, they fly away. I guess this is called "virtual birding."

I love sitting on our screened porch. It protects me from mosquitos, while I keep an eye on anything that flies in the yard. And, yes, the creek we installed is still babbling away!

It's June, June, June

Omigosh! How did it get to be June already! Today we explored a new trail sponsored by Papa John, the pizza king here in Louisville, and decided we'll have to go back soon. When I tried to identify some of the wildflowers we found, I had to go to the Summer section of the wildflower field guides!

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

Remember that old song? "Let me tell you 'bout the birds, and the bees, and the flowers and the trees..." The Anchorage Trail winds among houses of the affluent, behind an orphanage, and along a creek leading into Willow Lake, which has no willow trees, by the way. But the trail leads to many birds, flowers, bees, and other insects.

Hackberry Butterfly

The birds and the bugs paid no attention to the economic status of their neighbors. I, however, was surprised to see soy beans planted in fields along the path.

Cedar Waxwing

Some of my favorite birds came close enough for good photos, and I thank them for starting my summer birding off right!

Baltimore Oriole

Gray Catbird

At Willow Lake, the fish were not jumping, but swam quietly in the shallow water. Yes, the water really is this clear.

As we approached the edge of the water, a loud splashing drew our attention, and we just glimpsed Mama Wood Duck as she herded her brood behind some bushes, to protect them from these humans. Most of the humans we saw on the path were gossiping with a co-walker, or just talking on cell phones. They would have been just as happy at the YMCA, rather than in the bright sunshine and the cooling breeze. Mama, I don't think you really have much to be concerned about when it comes to humans. They don't care. Geese know they have nothing to fear from people, and just took their time.

Dick likes to sample berries he finds in the wild, a practice I refrain from doing. "Is this a wild strawberry?" he asks? "Maybe so, or maybe it's one of those partridge berries. Squish it and see how soft it is," I advise. So he plucks the berry and puts it in his mouth. Some day he's likely to come home with a stomach ache from something like this. These blackberries will be nice and ripe before too long though. Yum!

Tomorrow I'm going on a field trip to collect and learn about dragonflies and damselflies. I visualize the damsel(fly) wearing a tall hat and flowing scarf, leaning out of a tower calling for some knight to rescue her from the dragon(fly). I know that's just being weird, but it makes me laugh, as I whirl in circles trying to find one of these creatures willing to land and be still for a few seconds while I take its picture! Wish me luck that I come home with lots of good photos and leave all the chiggers and ticks behind.