More Butterflies in Meadow

My butterfly yard life list continues to grow, with the addition of the following:

Pearl crescent, Summer Azure, Wild Indigo Duskywing and Spicebush swallowtail.

It seems the warmer weather and the meadow in my yard have attracted more than I expected. The list keep growing..I expect it will soon begin to decline at the flowers begin to fade ad the weather starts to cool. I will keep posting any new finds.

My butterfly life yard list now stands at 15 species.

Pearl Crescent

Note the beautiful bright orange colors  

Wild Indigo Duskywing

 Note the 4 white spots in the forewing area and overall color

Summer Azure

Spicebush Swallowtail - female (top) & male (below)

Until Next time - good birding.

 

Glossy Ibis at Middle Creek Wildlife Area 

Yesterday, July 6, I decided to visit Middle Creek Wildlife Area to do some birding. As I drove into the area, I noticed a taller darker looking bird moving thru the high grass in the now 'flooded' pond - from last night thunderstorm's.

I pulled over, and glassed the bird - it turned out to be a Juvenile Glossy Ibis (see picture below from M Shull). As several more people arrived after I posted the find, there was some discussion of this being a Juvenile White Faced Ibis - those discussions remain indeterminant and are still ongoing - if this changes I will update this post..as this would be a mega rare bird for our area.

Until next time - Good Birding

Juvenile Glossy Ibis 

A few more Butterfly to the list

I have observed many butterflies in the meadow by my home, and have on occasion tried to obtain photo's of them. Not being the very best photographer, I was a challenges - as butterflies are seldom very still for very long...seems they are always moving.

Since I re-started my list listing of Butterflies, I has become more of a challenge - as I like to have photo's of any butterflies on my list.  With that being said, the last few days I have been watching a Black swallowtail butterfly appear and then disappear in and around the meadow..never staying (or sitting still)  long enough for me to get a descent photo opportunity. 

On July 2, as I was walking around the meadow I observed the Black Swallowtail again, I watched it for a short time and was lucky enough to see it land on a tree near the meadow. I slowly moved forward and snapped a photo - not the best but enough to get a positive id (see below)..so as of today I have #2 on my list Butterfly list - a Black Swallowtail.

 eastern black swallowtail

The best way to id is there is a conspicuous red spot with a black bulls-eye on the inner hind margin of the hind wings and an isolated yellow spot on the costa of the front wings - you can see both of these features in the photo. 

Black Swallowtail - #2 on life Butterfly list

And I just saw a Silver spotted Skipper and added that to the list....my list Butterfly list has grown to 3.

Silver Spotted Skipper on Burning bush

Until next time good birding and butterfly hunting.

Butterflies - 2018

Since I have a meadow on my property with lots of wildflowers, it attracts a lot of pollinators - including Butterflies. I have recently acquired a series of books on ID'ing Butterflies and have decided to post some of the species ID'ed in my blog for everyone to observe and enjoy.

Great Spangled Fritillary link

Since this is a new venture for me, I except that it may take some time to verify the species and or get proficient at identification of the varies species for butterfly.

So with field guide, binoculars, and camera in hand I walked to the meadow yesterday to start my 'life' list of butterfly observations.

In retrospect, it was probably not the best time to my observations on a very hot summer end of June day with temps in the low 90's..but I gave it a shot.

While the meadow was very active with bees, insects and birds - I only observed one (1) species of butterfly: a Great Spangled Fritillary (see the attached photo's. 

So as of today, my Butterfly Life list stands at 1...with more to come I am sure.

Great Spangled Fritillary - #1 re-started life list.

Great Spangled Fritillary in meadow 

   

Until next time - good birding and butterfly observations.

Snowy Owl 

In May I traveled to the Magee Marsh area in Ohio for the annual warbler migration festival called the Biggest week in American Birding (see link below) .

biggest week in american birding

Our group had a wonderful week and we observed 165 species of birds during our weeks stay in the area.

 Perhaps the highlight of the week we the observation of a Snowy Owl in May in Ohio. Needless to say - it was quite a surprise see to see a Snowy Owl and much less in Ohio in early May.

It was nearing sunset and not the best lighting - but here are a few photo's.

 

Snowy Owl - Oak Harbor, Ohio - May 15, 2018

Until Nest time - Good Birding

Red Throated Loon at Middle Creek

Today I decided to make a trip to Middle Creek WMA and see if any new species have arrived since my last visit - almost a week ago. As it was very windy and cold (about 40 F), I really wasn't expecting to see a lot...boy was I surprised.

As I scanned the lake from the boat launch area, I noticed a Loon. As the lake is fairly swallow, loons are very seldom seen here. I got out my scope for a better look and too determine the species...and sure enough it turned out to be a Red Throated Loon in winter plumage. This is the first Loon I have observed at Middle Creek in almost 4 years. I tried to get some photo's with my IPhone...mostly for rare ebird report..see below - not the best - but they are diagnostic enough to determine species. 

Also, at the stop 1 pond where - Coots, Green Winged Teal, Buffleheads, Ring Billed Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shovelers, Canadian Goose and Snow Geese

I ended my visit with a total of 51 species - not a bad day after all.   

Until next time

Not all that wander are lost.

Horned Grebe, Palm Warblers and Winter Wren at Middle Creek

As it was a rather mild day (no strong winds like we have been having) today, I decided to go birding at my favorite location - Middle Creek.

I arrived at stop 1 ands began glassing the visitors center pond...there where the usually Coots, Mallards, Black Ducks, Ring Necked Ducks, and Green Winged Teal. But there was also a surprise - a breeding plumage Horned Grebe - see below.

There was also a non-breeding plumage Horned and a Pie Billed Grebe as well.

After, watching the Grebe for quite some time and talking to several other birders, I decided it was time to move on. I decided to make a quick trip around the tour road...I no sooner entered and saw some borders moving around the edge of the road...looking thur my bins...they turned out to be Palm Warblers...the FOY warblers for me and surprise #2.

Palm Warbler

 After watching the warblers, I continued on the tour road until the end...making the turn unto the main road..i noticed some movement...I pulled the car over and checked it out - it was a Winter Wren...surprise #3 for the day.

Winter Wren

 I ended my 3 hour visit with a total of 38 species....and several first of year (FOY) species.

Until next time

Good Birding

Short Eared Owls at Middle Creek

Thursday March 29 was a rather warm spring day with temps in the upper 60's, so I decided to go to Middle Creek in the late afternoon to check and see if I could see the Short Eared Owls and them to my 2018 year list.

I arrived at the Middle Creek tour road stop 3 around 6:45pm as the sun was setting and the wait began. as I waited I observed several thousand Snow Geese, a female Northern Harrier, Eastern Meadowlarks, Ring Necked Pheasant, Bald eagles, Northern shovelers and a first of the year Osprey... to name a few.

As the sun continued it decent, I was getting anxious to see the Owls. My patience was rewarded around 7:50pm when not only one Short Eared Owl appeared but three. I watched them for about 15 minutes until it was to dark to see and then left for the day with my goal accomplished and a total species count of 36 - a good day. Below is a short recap of the Short Eared owl and a link to the all about birds ID site.

allaboutbirds

Until next time - good birding.

Not all that wander are lost.

Short-eared owl

Species

The short-eared owl is a species of typical owl. Owls belonging to genus Asio are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or may not be visible. Asio flammeus will display its tufts when in a defensive pose, although its very short tufts are usually not visible. The short-eared owl is found in open country and grasslands. The scientific name is from Latin. The genus name Asio is a type of eared owl, and flammeus means "flame-coloured".

Short Eared Owl - stock photos

Yellowstone Natl Park - Day 6 - Sept 22

After another hearty breakfast, we packed our gear and headed for the park for the last time. We arrived to find some of the roads closed again - but that was ok - as we where headed to the Lamar Valley again in search of elusive wolves.

We not sooner entered the park area when we encountered our first surprise of the day..a bull Elk laying in the grass near the Visitors Center.

We next encountered a yearly Big Horn Sheep walking down the road....quite a unique site!!

The day was starting off quite nicely. As we traveled the Lamar Valley road we again saw many Buffalo and Pronghorns - but no wolves. Not discouraged, we continued driving toward the Pebble Creek campgrounds area we came upon what we thought was a Buffalo jam..but after asking a few questions about what was spotted - it  turned out to a Bull Moose jam. The Moose was standing in the field about 150 yards off the road..and as luck would have it - it came trotting toward the road and right in front of us...quite the sight - they are indeed huge!!!

Moose

After  the Moose encounter, we drove toward the Northeast entrance, and again observed some people looking at a rock face wall....and decided to stop and see what they where looking at..turned out to be several Mountain Goats standing on the rock face.after watching them a some time, we proceeded to exit the park and enter Cooke City for some late lunch.

As we re-entered the park for our return trip thru the Lamar Valley our hopes of seeing the wolves was renewed by all the other species we had seen already. A few miles after we passed the Pebble Creek area (where we saw the Moose) we saw a lot of cars parked along the road - again we stopped to see what everyone was looking at and where told a pack of wolves was bedded down in the field below us.

Quite excited, I immediately got out my scope and started looking for them...we no luck...but then several of them stood up and started walking toward to pine tree line...giving everyone excellent (if not distant) views. There was not chance to get any photo's and I and everyone in our party just enjoyed viewing the wolves as they faded into the mountains. Having seen them on NatGeo specials - needless to stay I was quite excited when I (and everyone else in the group) finally got to see them.

Some stock photo's of wolves from the NPS.

 

After some time of continuing to watch the area in hope they would re-appear, we continued our return trip and eventually with much regret, exited Yellowstone Natl Park for the last time on this trip. We ended up seeing every major species in the park - with the highlight begin the wolves and the moose.

As we returned to the rental home, we saw this Mule Deer walking along the roadway.....a fitting end to our day of wildlife viewing....and we where all looking forward to dinner and a good night's sleep before heading to the Bozeman airport and the flight home in the morning.

We are already planning another trip sometime in 2019..and I can't wait to return to Yellowstone...it truly is a national treasure.

Until next time - good birding

Not all that wander are lost

Middle Creek visit after Spring snow - March 23

I decided to make a visit to Middle Creek today - the 2 days after the first day of Spring nor-easter. As expected the tour road was closed as well as the boat launch area..but otherwise everything was operational. The roads where clear, and the snow is melting away.

I started my visit by stopping at the visitors center to see if and when the tour road would be opened again...typical of the game commission - they had no idea or at least would no commit to anything. The feeders where active and I tallied 11 species before I left....and proceeded to stop 1 and the lake.

White Throated Sparrow

On the lake where Common Merganser's, Ruddy Ducks, Coot and Black Ducks. On the pond across the road from the lake where mostly Ring Necked Ducks and a single Bufflehead.

Bufflehead

 

Also sitting near the edge of the pond was a Red Shouldered Hawk.

Red Shouldered Hawk

As I moved to my next location, I looked out over the lake and saw about 20,000 Snow Geese still there....the numbers have dropped but it was still an impressive site. I pulled over to the side of the roadway, near a flooded area, that had held Wilson's Snipe in the pass. I scanned the area...and sure enough...caught some movement....as it turned out there where 5 Wilson's snipe foraging along the 'shoreline'. I watched them for quite a while..as I don't get to see them very often a Middle Creek or elsewhere for that matter..a real treat.

Wilson's Snipe - look at center near edge of weeds.

2 Wilson's Snipe..look at center edge of weeds near the water line.

I left with a species count of 36 for the 2 1/2 hour visit.

Until next time - good birding

Not all the wander are lost

Yellowstone Natl Park - Day 5 - Sept 21

We awoke to a very cloudy day and snow - are we proceeded to the park entrance we where not hopeful that the roads would be open and sure enough - all roads except the road to Manmouth Springs and the Lamar valley where indeed closed. And as it was still snowing there was no time when it it was expected they would be opened.

As it turned out, this worked out just fine. We had not visited the Hot springs are yet...so what better time then in a snow storm. It did provide a rather spectacular setting to observe the hot spring. ass you can see from the photo below.

mammoth hot springs view looking down at parking area.

Overflow from hot springs...no snow here.

There is boardwalk that you can walk around the entire hot springs area, and although it was snow covered, it proved rather easy to navigate.

Mammouth Springs in the snow - wife and I

Mammouth Springs boardwalk entrance sign

After exploring the area, it was once again a quick drive along the Lamar Valley Raod in search of wildlife - and as usual we where not disappointed. we saw Pronghorn. Elk, Buffalo, Moose, Coyoto, Mule Deer and Bighorn Sheep.

Elk - a big bull in the middle of the photo

Sunshine on the mountain tops

 We did have one surprise

....a coyote in the parking lot as we where looking at Buffalo.

Another surprise as we where leaving for the day...some Black Tail deer...the first we had seen/

We exited the park about 7pm and returned to our rental for dinner and a good nights rest..tomorrow would be our last day in the park..how quickly time flies.

Snow Goose & Tundra Swan at Middle Creek Wildlife Area

It's March and that can only mean the annual Snow Goose show at Middle Creek Wildlife area has begun.....and as in years past..this year did not disappoint. As in the past few years, the Snow Geese arrived early this year - around mid February as the weather was quite warm (global warming???). There where an estimated 200,000 snows at the MCWMA the weekend of February 24th....however, that numbers have declined steadily since then.

Currently, there are about 3,000 Snows and about 400 Tundra swans at Middle Creek.

Snow Geese looking toward willow Point

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

Snow Geese looking from Willow Point

With the ice cover gone from the lake and ponds - there are also several other species of waterfowl showing up: Ring Necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Common Mergansers, Bufflehead, Amer Wigeon, Black Duck and Mallard.

There was also several Redheads (only seen they here once before by me) seen a week ago..and that was very nice surprise.

Ring Necked Duck

Great Blue Heron

Amer Wigeon

RedHeads

Looking forward to a year of good birding and more posting.

Not all that wander are lost.