July 10th.  A late morning walk from Cook Hill Road to Village Hill Road in Lebanon.  Lots of butterflies!  This is a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa).

 

 

 

Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma).

 

Note the silver comma mark on the otherwise cryptic underside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

 

The underside is also a credible dead leaf.

 

Appalachian Brown (Satyrodes appalachia).

 

The first Harvester (Feniseca tarquinius) I've ever seen!  Uncommon in Connecticut, this butterfly's caterpillar is carnivorous, feeding on Wooly Alder aphids!

 

A male Eastern Tailed Blue (Everes comyntas).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A grasshopper nymph on Red Clover.

 

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) on Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).

 

 

 

 

 

A Net-winged Beetle (Family Lycidae).

 

Rabbit's-foot Clover (Trifolium arvense).

 

 

 

 

 

Blue or Old-field Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis).

 

 

 

Smartweed (Polygonum sp.).

 

A Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) leaf that turned early.

 

July 11th.  One of four White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) feeding far across the marsh.

 

Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria).

 

Coreid bug nymphs, probably the Helmeted Squash Bug (Euthochtha galeator).

 

 

 

First Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) of the year to bloom.

 

The Milkweed Tussock Moth (Euchaetes egle) caterpillars have dispersed to other nearby milkweed plants after completely stripping the original plant.  They've also grown to look more like mature caterpillars.

 

An afternoon return to the Lebanon section I visited yesterday.  This is invasive Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).  Thankfully only a couple of stalks of it so far.

 

Lots of activity on Milkweed there.  This is a Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele); there were lots of them along with various skippers, bees, and a hawk moth.

 

Appalachian Brown (Satyrodes appalachia).

 

Mulberry Wing skipper (Poanes massasoit) on Common Vetch (Vicia cracca).

 

I went back to the Lebanon section hoping for better pictures of yesterday's Harvester.  (I think I saw one flying, but it never rested.)  But this Wooly Alder Aphid (Prociphilus tessellatus) is the reason the butterfly was there - the caterpillars feed on them.

 

Ants tend the young aphids.

 

 

 

Adults are very, very wooly.

 

A Common Sawfly (Family Tenthredinidae; Dolerus sp.).

 

A Leaf Beetle (Family Chrysomelidae; Calligrapha sp.).

 

 

 

Perhaps a Least Skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor).  Skippers are generally hard to identify: there are a lot of species and coloration is variable.  Please don't take my identifications too seriously.

 

 

 

An unidentified Skipper  (Family Hesperididae).

 

A skipper that had fallen prey to a Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia).

 

 

 

 

 

A Thick-headed Fly (Physoconops sp.).  A pretty good wasp mimic.

 

July 12th.  Back at Raymond Brook Marsh.  Appalachian Brown (Satyrodes appalachia).

 

Later, a quick visit to the Lebanon site.  Today, I managed a photo of a Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis).

 

Again, a nice variety of skippers.

 

Yesterday's spider meal unceremoniously dropped onto a leaf below.

 

I turned it over to get a look at the upper side.  I still won't attempt an ID.

 

Meanwhile, the same Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) had captured another skipper.

 

I'll guess that this is a female Crossline Skipper (Polites origenes).

 

Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan).

 

Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan).

 

Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos).  Never would stay still.