Eastern Bluebird (juvenile)
White Campion
Pearl Crescent
Black Swallowtails enjoying the thistle
Spotted Knapweed
Common Ringlet
Eastern Tailed Blue
Eastern Tailed Blue
Common Wood Nymph
Black Raspberries ripening!
Downy Woodpecker
Field Bindweed or Common Morning Glory?
Gray Hairstreak (my old favorite - what a beauty!)
Eastern Tailed Blue
(another with open wings - was it because it was early morning after 2 days of rain?
I don't know, but I love seeing the blue!)
Fruit in the orchard
Spicebush Swallowtail
Common Raven
(hanging out near the parking lot and making a really neat knocking sound)
Northern Broken Dash
Halloween Pennant
Peck's Skipper
Next, I checked in at Ashland Community Gardens in Ashland, MA.
Cabbage White
Sunflowers
From here, I moved on to Stearns Farm in Framingham to check the Pick-Your-Own Flower field.
Common Sootywing
Black Swallowtail
Snowberry Clearwing Moth (actually at rest)
American Goldfinch enjoying fresh sunflower seeds
On the way home, I stopped to photograph a couple of things that caught my eye.
A patch of Large Yellow Loosestrife
at the side of the road near the Framingham/Southboro line
Closeup
American Lady
And sometimes nectaring on a beautiful flower can be hazardous to your health. These two (in my home garden) certainly are.
Around 5PM, I went back to Breakneck Hill for a 2nd, shorter hike.
Wild Indigo Duskywing on Cow Vetch
Suppertime for a fledgling Chipping Sparrow
Common Ringlet
Sometimes, the most common, plain-colored butterfly can be a thing of beauty. In the evening light and against the muted grasses of the meadow, this Common Ringlet looked just beautiful!
Ditto
One of three rabbits seen on this evening hike
Blue Dasher
Bobolink (male)
my first sighting of this species at this location!
just a few House Sparrows
(near the parking lot)
All in all, a great nature day. Thank you for returning, Mr. Sun! Hope to see you again tomorrow!
P.S. I did stop at Farm Pond in Framingham and was disgusted to find that not only had they mowed the trail next to the pond, they mowed the banks and the butterfly habitat was completely destroyed. They had beautiful blooming milkweed all along the water there. Very sad.
Also, the morning hike at BHCL was the first time I actually kept a written count of what butterflies I was seeing. Here is the official list that I provided to Mass Butterfly Club:
P.S. I did stop at Farm Pond in Framingham and was disgusted to find that not only had they mowed the trail next to the pond, they mowed the banks and the butterfly habitat was completely destroyed. They had beautiful blooming milkweed all along the water there. Very sad.
Also, the morning hike at BHCL was the first time I actually kept a written count of what butterflies I was seeing. Here is the official list that I provided to Mass Butterfly Club:
Common Ringlet 32
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Common Wood Nymph 10
Cabbage White 10
Peck Skipper 5
Eastern Tailed Blue 11
Black Swallowtail 9
Great Spangled Fritillary 1
Orange Sulphur 4
Pearl Crescent 7
Gray Hairstreak 1
Clouded Sulphur 6
Northern Broken Dash Skipper 2
Little Glassywing 1
Silver Spotted Skipper 1
Wild Indigo Duskywing 1
And for bird species (although not numbers):
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Bobolink
Barn Swallow
Black-Capped Chickadee
Chipping Sparrow
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
House Finch
House Sparrow
House Wren
Northern Flicker
Northern Mockingbird
Red-Tailed Hawk
Red-Winged Blackbird
Song Sparrow
Tufted Titmouse
No comments:
Post a Comment