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