July 13th.  White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

 

 

 

 

 

Some snorts...

 

 

 

...and she's off.

 

Young male Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) are getting their adult eclipse colors.

 

 

 

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius).

 

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis).

 

 

 

 

 

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) eating a bug.

 

 

 

Sumac (Rhus sp.) in flower.  Bumblebees love it.

 

Black-eyes Susan (Rudbeckia hirta).

 

Bouncing Bet (Saponaria officinalis).

 

 

 

July 14th.  A humid afternoon with showers threatening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) young have hatched.  Cute at this age; as adults, not so much.

 

Including the tail, this one was roughly 3.5 inches long.

 

A dead male "Dog -day" Cicada (Tibicen canicularis) posed on a dead branch.

 

The underside.  Note the two large semi-circular plates between the thorax and abdomen.  They cover the sound-producing organs.

 

Underside of the head.  The washboard-like structure houses muscles of a feeding pump.  (Does anyone remember washboards?)

 

Three red simple eyes (ocelli) complement the large compound eyes at thje side of the head.

 

Another triple Day-lily (Hemerocallis fulva) flower, demonstrating that it has some reproductive parts but they are abnormally adherent to petals.

 

July 15th.  Chicory (Cichorium intybus).

 

 

 

A Sweat Bee (Family Halictidae; probably Agapostemon virescens).

 

Probably another Halictid Bee, possibly an Andrenid.

 

 

 

A Flower Fly (Family Syrphidae; Toxomerus marginatus).

 

 

 

 

 

July 16th. The first of two Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodius) on the marsh this morning.

 

 

 

The second one was just across the trail from the first.

 

Territorial male butterflies this morning.  Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele).

 

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).  (I also saw but was unable to photograph an Eastern Comma.)

 

I think these are Hygrophorus Milky mushrooms (Lactarius hygrophoridea).  (Mycophile Terry Stoleson confirmed the ID.  She says, "There are a lot of this species out now. Edible - and a lot of people love them. Poles like to brine them.")

 

Note the widely spaced gills...

 

...and the milky white latex when damaged.

 

Showy Tick-Trefoil (Desmodium canadense) seeds have developed.  The slightest touch and they'll attach to clothing of passers-by.

 

Note the sticky hairs that make the seeds nearly impossible to remove.

 

As a reminder, the flowers look like this - in tall spikes that will gradually lean over into the trail.

 

Sumac (Rhus sp.) flowers up close.

 

July 17th.  A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius) with a breakfast catfish.

 

 

 

About to place it back down and give it a few more "tenderizing" stabs...

 

...then pick it up...

 

 

 

...and send it down the hatch.

 

 

 

An overhead reminder of the world away from the trail.

 

American Hazel or Filbert (Corylus americana) fruits are developing.

 

Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris).

 

I'm guessing a juvenile American Robin (Turdus migratorius).