Wildflower - Scarlet Beebalm

I was doing some work along the small creek behind our house when I noticed some bright red color in the dark green foliage along the creek. It was a patch of Scarlet Beebalm (Monarda didyma). Also known as Red Bergamot, it should not be confused Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) which is in the same mint family and also shares the common name of Beebalm. Both Scarlet Beebalm and Wild Bergamot are also known as Oswego Tea which refers to the use of the leaves for a tea by early colonists.



The flowers of both Scarlet Beebalm and Wild Bergamot are similar in shape while the colors are very different. Scarlet Beebalm also prefers damper soil and shade, where as Wild Bergamot can tolerate drier soil and full sun.

Turkeys

I had just got into my truck after picking some blueberries behind our barn when this turkey popped out of the brush. I waited in the truck to see what the turkey would do.



After a quick dust bath in the road, the turkey walked to the edge of my newly planted food plot and started preening its feathers in front of my game camera.



The turkey then started feeding in the food plot, until it must had detected my movement in the truck and it then returned to the brush.



A couple of hours later we had a few more turkeys in our back lawn with their young poults.

Wildflower - Yellow Toadflax

A wildflower with a common name of Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) may bring negative connotations related to its appearance, but I find another common name,Butter-and-Eggs, more descriptive for this wildflower.

Butter-and-Eggs is native to most of Europe and northern Asia, and has been introduced to flower gardens, escaped and is now common in North America. Butter-and-Eggs is classified as an invasive plant and these flowers seeded themselves along a stone wall in front of our barn. While it is listed as an invasive plant I find it easy to control and easy to look at.



Butter-and-Eggs derives its name from the two-toned color of the flower, with the yellow representing butter and the orange relating to the color of an egg yoke. It is a member of the Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) and the Butter-and-Eggs flowers are similar to those of the snapdragon.



Butter-and-Eggs has a preference for full sun, dry conditions, and barren soil that is gravelly or sandy. I mostly find this flower growing along the edge of roads.

Monarch Butterflies

I'm starting to see a few more (not a lot) of Monarch Butterflies in the neighborhood.



I was able to get this Monarch to pose on an Orange Milkweed flower (Asclepias tuberosa) which is also known as Butterfly Weed because of the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color and its nectar.



A frontal shot of a Monarch gathering nectar from the Orange Milkweed flower using its long tongue called a proboscis.

Bat #4 Found

A couple of days ago I found 4 bats trapped in our garage, but was only able to catch and release 3 of the 4 bats. I had assumed the 4th bat had escaped the same way it got in the garage, until this evening when I found the bat motionless on the garage floor.



The bat didn't respond much to nudges with a net handle so I figured that after a couple of days trapped in the garage it might be dehydrated. I got a coffee can lid with water and took the bat outside to a wall. After splashing the bat in the face with water it soon started drinking.



The bat soon started to show more signs of life and more of its teeth.



After about 5 to 10 minutes on the wall the bat was on its wingtips and moving. After some wobbly attempts to fly the bat made a successful takeoff and headed for the nearby woods.

Fawns

I was doing my daily evening drive around our cabin property and was able to sneak up on this pair of fawns.

Bats

When I entered our garage this evening I heard a flutter of wings pass by me and I thought a bird was trapped in the garage. I soon realized I had a bat in the garage, to be precise, 4 bats. I used a small net to catch and release 3 of the bats but the fourth bat eluded capture and is either still hiding in the garage or escaped the same way they got in.



That's not a smile on this little guy. He wasn't happy with my removal technique and soon applied those teeth into my welding glove. My job for tomorrow is to find out how they got into the garage.

Very Hungry Caterpillars

I was pruning some low hanging walnut limbs today when I found one branch covered with small (less than 1 inch) reddish caterpillars. The caterpillars had defoliated the leaves at the end of the branch.



These are the caterpillar stage of the Datana integerrima moth, also known as the Walnut Caterpillar Moth. As the name implies, walnut caterpillars favor walnut trees, but they will also feed on hickory and pecan trees and will occasionally infest apple, birch, honeylocust, oak, and willow.



These caterpillars have the interesting habit of rearing their front and tail ends in unison to ward off offenders.

Wildflower - Wild Bergamot

The Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), also known as Wild Bee Balm, Oswego Tea and Horsemint, is blooming throughout the neighborhood.



This member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) is native to much of North America. Like other members of the mint family, Wild Bergamot is a perennial that grows from slender creeping rhizomes, thus commonly occurring in large clumps. This large patch of Wild Bergamot is located on our barn property.



The large showy flowers are solid pink or lavender and bloom from late June to September.



The nectar of the flowers attracts honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies, skippers, and hummingbird moths.

Wildflower - Allegheny Monkeyflower

Another interesting wildflower with a strange name. The Allegheny Monkeyflower gets its name from looking something like a monkeys face. (Maybe some people see the resemblance but I don't)



These small, 1/2 inch, flowers are not as showy as other wildflowers since the small flowers are overwhelmed by its foliage. The Allegheny Monkeyflower prefers rich loamy soil. I found these Monkeyflowers in the wetlands behind our barn.

Potato Bug Invasion

I went to my garden today to plant some late season cabbage and found an invasion of Colorado potato beetle larva snacking on my fingerling potatoes.



I manually removed these intruders from the potato plants and will be watching for the next onslaught.

Deer Under Deck

The deer in our neighborhood are moving in closer. This deer has taken up residence under the deck at our house. The deer returned to this spot a short time later.

Found along the road

I drive up to our cabin property almost daily and many times I encounter the local wildlife along the road. This young deer didn't want to play or get too close to this snapping turtle.



You just don't play with snapping turtles!



I found this deer jumping and twesting along the cabin road. The recent warm weather has brought out the flies and the deer was trying to remove the flies. It soon made a quick dash into the thick brush to avoid the flies.

Honeybees and Milkweed

One of my favorite times to photograph flowers and insects is when the milkweed is in bloom. Normally I would find all kinds of bees, butterflies and other insects on the milkweed flowers and plants, but this year is different ...



Instead of finding hundreds of honeybees in patches of milkweed, I'm lucky to find a dozen honeybees and one, maybe two butterflies ...



I have seen almost none of the other milkweed insects on the plants, just a few honeybees ...



I'm not sure if last year's extremely wet weather caused a decline in insects. We're starting to see warmer/drier weather and I'll keep looking for the return of insect subjects (bee, butterflies, bugs ...) to photograph.



I did notice something strange this year when the milkweed first started to bloom, several honeybee (and some flies) would get their legs caught in the milkweed blossoms. On one evening I found 4 or 5 honeybees with their legs caught in the newly opened milkweed blossoms. I helped free the leg this honeybee and another one from milkweed blossoms.

Exploring the Neighborhood

I am seeing more of this year's fawns out in the daytime exploring the neighborhood.



I found this pair of fawns in Wysox Creek.

Wildflower - Black-Eyed Susan

The Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is native to Eastern and Central North America. This member of the sunflower family has naturalized to the Western part of North America.

The Black-Eyed Susan is a biennial or short-lived perennial plant. The Black-Eyed Susan is often planted in a wildflower garden, as it may bloom during the first year from seed and then aggressively reseed itself.



Other common names for this plant include: brown-eyed Susan, brown betty, gloriosa daisy, golden Jerusalem, English bull's eye, poor-land daisy, yellow daisy, and yellow ox-eye daisy.

Wildflower - Deptford Pink

I'm finding Deptford Pinks blooming along the roads and fields at our cabin property. The Deptford Pink has attractive flowers, but they are quite small and can be overlooked around much larger and showier wildflower. Yet another native of Eurasia that escaped from gardens and now naturalized throughout the Northeast. It is listed as an invasive plant that will over take roadsides, ditches and fields, but I haven't seen any problems with this plant on our property.




Each flower is about 1/3 in. across.

Wildflower - Timothy

Timothy? Wildflower?

Timothy is a common source of hay for farmers and not the first thing you think of as a wildflower, but if you suffer from hay fever this flower is one of your worst enemies.



The Timothy seed heads are now flowering and I see clouds of grass pollen dislodge from the seed heads as I mow the fields.



A close-up of a flowering Timothy seed head (the head of a hover fly in the upper left).



Once the seed head is pollinated the purple stamens and stigmas will fall off and some will collect in the radiator screen on my tractor (which I had to clean again today).

Baby Geese Update

It was just 2 months ago that these 6 little Canada Geese moved to the pond at our cabin ...




The little yellow baby geese are now almost as big as their parents. The whole family of geese will now come running to me for corn.



I can get very close to the geese (when I have corn).