June 26th. Dekay's Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi dekayi). Another first sighting at Raymond Brook Marsh.

 

Roughly 9" long.

 

 

 

 

 

Puffball (Lycoperdon sp.).

 

June 27th. Clouds gathering for late afternoon thunder storms; a milder repeat of yesterday's storms that brought golfball sized hail.

 

 

 

Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus).

 

There's a baby Kingbird in the shrubs below.

 

 

 

Barely visible, this is the bird I moved into the shrubs from the ground yesterday. (See Summer, Part 1.)

 

A female (and perhaps juvenile?) Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus).

 

 

 

 

 

Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) has started to bloom.

 

 

 

Day-lily (Hemerocallis fulva).

 

Red Baneberry (Actaea rubra).

 

A Rove Beetle (Family Staphylinidae). These vaguely wasp-mimetic beetles feed on carrion as larvae; maggots and mites as adults. Here shown with blue-black wings extended...

 

...and here with the wings tucked neatly under its short elytra.

 

Large Lace-Border moth (Scopula limboundata).

 

June 28th. Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) perched on its nest.

 

June 30th. Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta).
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Head partially retracted...

 

...and completely retracted behind folds of neck skin.

 

The Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) has at least one chick now.

 

 

 

Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) blossoms close up. The black spots are the tips of winged pollinia.

 

 

 

Indian Pipes (Monotropa uniflora).

 

July 1st. Tough to see, but the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) has two chicks.