After an odder-than-usual Summer thus far, August is turning out to be the usual August. It's hot, hazy, and humid, piling up the cumulonimbus clouds over the mountains and threatening thunderstorms in the afternoon. Not that those will cool things off; the ground is hot and all the rain will do is make things even steamier. But what this atmosphere does more than anything else is push out the late Summer flowers, and the butterfly population explodes. The Joe Pye bushes in the wetland and the Red Clover and Queen Anne's Lace in the meadow has attracted a cloud of butterflies to the Dykeman Spring Nature Park - the usual Cabbage Whites, Clouded Sulphurs, and Silver-Spotted Skippers are practically swarming, and now the Swallowtails and the Monarchs have arrived on the scene as well. The air is busy with wings, and I managed to capture some with the camera on my weekly Sunday walk.
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| This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was nearly as big as my hand and seemed to be enjoying the Joe Pye Weed |
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| A Long Dash skipper butterfly was taking a breather by the side of the north duck pond |
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| The Silver-spotted Skippers were dashing about like crazy, but this one seemed content to sit still and have its portrait taken |
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| A Monarch up on the meadow |
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| This Spicebush Swallowtail fluttered by me just as I was leaving the park at the east end of the meadow |
© 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger
Being a lover of (almost) all things black, I really like the Spicebush Swallowtail!
ReplyDeleteI'm not bothered by "hot, hazy, and humid," nor "threaten[ed] thunderstorms." I got a front-row seat to the tornado my town had on Saturday!