May 30th.   Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) at Cranberry Bog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar vareigatum).

 

Look at all the flies sheltering inside the blossom.  (And what an odd shaped flower it is.)

 

May 31st.  Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius) sauntering across the trail.

 

 

 

Rarely seen (by me at least) on the trail, a Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus).

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of Larger Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor) blooming.

 

 

 

 

 

Bonus Braconid or Ichneumon parasitic wasp on this one.

 

 

 

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense).

 

White Clover (Trifolium repens).

 

 

 

Hop Clover (Trifolium agrarium).

 

 

 

One of the Hawkweeds (Hieracium sp.)

 

Northern Arrowwood (Viburnum recognitum).

 

 

 

Lots of activity in and near the Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) nest.

 

Birds going in and out.

 

June 1st.  A distant Green Heron (Butorides virescens).

 

 

 

 

 

A second Green Heron flew in and perched closer to the trail.

 

The first bird gave it a look.  Both birds soon departed, separately.

 

A Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) perched near where the herons were earlier.

 

A Common Musk Turtle or "Stinkpot" (Sternothaerus odoratus).

 

A female Common Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis).

 

June 3rd.  Larger Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor).

 

An afternoon walk at Cranberry Bog.  First Ox-eye Daisies (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) I've seen this year.

 

 

 

A couple of pictures from the little farm yard just east of the bog.

 

 

 

Looks a lot like a firefly but it's a Soldier Beetle (Family Cantharidae, probably Podabrus sp.)

 

And this looks an awful lot like a Bumble Bee but it's a Robber Fly (Family Asilidae, Laphria sp.).  They capture and feed on on Bumble Bees and other insects.

 

An Assassin Bug (Zelus luridus).

 

A larva of an Imported Willow Leaf Beetle (Plagiodera versicolora) preparing to pupate.

 

Another had just pupated.  You can see the cast off larval skin at the left and what will become the wings on the side near the right of the photo.

 

Ants caring for and defending aphids (who reward them with sugary honeydew).  The plant is Curly Dock (Rumex crispus).

 

June 4th.  Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus).

 

 

 

The invasive Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) has just begun to bloom.

 

A Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon).

 

Sadly, the snake had probably been attacked by a dog.  It had a large patch of missing skin on its side.  (Not visible in the photo.)