Thursday, April 21, 2016

Today's Nature Sightings

I went in search of Henry's Elfins at lunchtime.  I had good luck, and I also ran into Gary and Mike from the Mass Butterfly Club in the same location!  It's a small world!

When I first spotted them, they were flying low to the ground and occasionally land on leaves, where they blended in quite beautifully.

Henry's Elfin (life butterfly)
What a beauty!

I continued up the path, where I found a highbush blueberry, probably about 7 feet tall, that was attracting lots of Henry's Elfins and Spring Azures.  They were dogfighting and swirling up into the sky if they crossed each other's paths.  It was a great "butterfly bush"!  I really had trouble getting photos of these butterflies.  They were not cooperative subjects but lots of fun to see anyway.




Shadbush blossom

After work, I met Freddie for a walk at Breakneck Hill Conservation Land.  We ran into Annette and Alan, walking their puppy.  

Freddie had hopes of seeing an American Kestrel.  I wondered if they would still be hanging around, and happily, at least one was.

American Kestrel


The meadows are greening up, but there isn't much in bloom just yet.  Besides budded phlox and crabapple trees that will soon burst into bloom, we found some small patches of dwarf cinquefoil, wild strawberries, bugleweed and purple violets.






In the woods area with the picnic table, we enjoyed watching a beautiful warbler in the treetop.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Black-Capped Chickadee

Northern Mockingbird



Yet another beautiful spring evening....

PS.  Pretty sure I saw my FOY Common Ringlets flying across the meadows tonight (4) but will wait for a better sighting to confirm.




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