July 16th.  Young male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa).

 

First time I've been given the raspberry by a bunny (Eastern Cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus).

 

 

 

 

 

Buttonbush or "Honey-balls" (Cephalanthus occidentalis).

 

An afternoon walk west of Grayville Road and down a side trail to what was a meadow years ago.  Almost impenetrable now.  Still, a few things blooming like this Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum).

 

 

 

Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) has started to bloom.

 

 

 

A few Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

 

 

 

A Lobelia (Lobelia sp.).

 

Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris); this blossom head showing its age.

 

Can you guess?

 

Now?

 

 

 

Ah, Pasture Thistle (Cirsium pumilum) flower heads not quite ready to open.  The hairy, versus spiny, stem is a key distinguishing feature.

 

Best guess is a Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan), but it would help to see the upper wing surfaces.

 

A man-made swimming hole on the Jeremy River, along with nearby evidence of former camping presumably by teens: beer cans, fire pits, trash.

 

 

 

Two Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar) females and their egg masses.  Not the massive infestation other areas saw last year.  The outbreak here seemes to be waning.

 

July 17th.  A fraction of the Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) gathered this morning.

 

 

 

July 18th.  An afternoon walk east from Route 207 in Hebron to the power line crossing in Lebanon. Virginia Meadow-beauty.  (Family Melostomatidae, Rhexia virginica).

 

 

 

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria); pretty, but invasive.

 

Banded Longhorn beetle (Typocerus velutinus)

 

Red-Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax)

 

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum).

 

July 19th.  Looks like a young Walnut Sphinx Moth (Amorpha juglandis) caterpillar.  Not on a host plant when I found it but it feeds feeds on several more common trees along the trail, including hickory.

 

 

 

An afternoon walk east of Cook Hill Road in Lebanon, ending at the power lines where the access road has a fresh crushed rock surface.  Digger Wasp (Family Crabronidae; Cerceris sp.).

 

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) was everywhere.

 

A Flower Fly (Family Syrphidae; probably Toxomerus sp.) hovering...

 

...before landing.

 

Make that a male Toxomerus geminatus.

 

Teeny Beetle (no idea of species) on Queen Anne's Lace.

 

Probably a Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta) but this species is a member of a complex of near identical species.

 

 

 

Lots of Red-spotted Purples (Limenitis arthemis astyanax).

 

 

 

 

 

The underside shows the red spots of its common name.

 

A great year for Eastern Cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus).

 

 

 

Milkweed Longhorn Beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus).

 

A Red-banded Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea).  Leafhoppers are also called Sharpshooters: They extract what nutrients they can from the very dilute plant juices they imbibe, then shoot the leftover liquid out their butts in a series of fast moving, pulsed droplets.

 

Cabbage White (Pieris rapae).

 

 

 

Square-stemmed Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens).

 

A Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus), the Monarch butterfly mimic.  They're territorial and I see them every year under the power lines.

 

I saw a few Monarchs (Danaus plexippus).  This is a female.  Check this and the next three photos as she coils up her proboscis.

 

 

 

 

 

And then she flew.