Although the plan had been to look for Swamp Metalmarks on Saturday afternoon and Prairie Warblers and Henslow’s Sparrows on Sunday, it didn’t work out that way. I see my family only a few times per year and like to spend time socializing with them when I’m in the Ozarks for visists that are always too short.
Dan and I did drive the perimeter of the hay field on Sunday morning looking for birds and butterflies. His son-in-law hadn’t yet hayed, and Purple Coneflower and Common, Purple, and Butterfly Milkweed were blooming. We saw Orange Sulphur, Great Spangled Frittilary, Common Wood Nymph (a life species for me), Spicebush Swallowtail, Eastern Tailed Blue, and Silver-spotted Skipper. There were Wild Turkeys along the hedgerows, and we were thrilled to see five immature (birds that surely would have been killed by the haying, had it been done on schedule) fly from the field into the bushes.
There were more Pearl Crescents around the houses and gardens than I’ve seen anywhere.