There was a Checkered White in the yard late this morning. I almost missed it. Chuck and I were listening to “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” when I saw a white butterfly come into the yard. I always pick up the binoculars to check what always turns out to be a Cabbage White, and I thought “another Cabbage White—do I really need to use the binoculars on this one?” But I used them, it wasn’t what I thought, and here it is:
Last night roughly 40 Chimney Swifts were flying over 11th Street, a nice sight! On the 21st and the 23rd there was a dragonfly in the yard that I’m almost certain is a teneral Blue Dasher, but one feature perplexes me: a shimmery, red cast in the wing in some light. I’m too new at dragonflies to make the kind of knee-jerk identification I made of a Common Whitetail—I didn’t look closely enough to be sure it wasn’t a Widow Skimmer. Sigh. I’m learning. Also in the yard were two Fragile Forktails and a bluet. There was what looked like a sheetweaver web in the Golden Alexander, but no sign of the spiders. Several years ago I gave my grand-niece Tatyanna the game Bird Bingo (either for Christmas or her birthday—I don’t remember which). She’s since played it many times with me, her grandparents, and her great-grandmother. My brother called me two days ago to tell me he had seen what he was sure was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on Highway 5 in Laclede County. It was perched on a wire, so he got a good look at it, and when he got home he looked up “Scissor-tailed Flycatcher” in the field guide (Kaufman)—it was a match. My brother isn’t a birder and doesn’t peruse the guides, memorizing every field mark as some of us do, so I was curious how he knew to look up that species, as it’s not an everyday bird: he knew of it from Bird Bingo. Ah, educational toys. [Butterflies and In bloom updated below] A hummingbird visited the yard and nectared her way through various species, finishing with the single remaining Buttonbush bloom. While I was wandering around the backyard late in the evening (around 7:45) a spreadwing flew in front of me and perched on a Swamp Milkweed leaf of the plant just northeast of the wild plum. Just as the one a few weeks ago did, this one had blue on S9. I tried to get a photo, a stupid thing to do, as it spooked the damselfly when it seemed it was ready to roost for the evening. The usual so far this morning. I’ve put the favored nectar feeder back up, so I expect to see more hummingbirds, or at least to have more frequent visits. The Citrine didn’t let me get a photo of it. It seems to like the low vegetation. One lone, battered Summer Azure was out early. This has been another bad year for yard butterflies. UPDATE: Assorted flies and bees, which I’m not yet up to identifying. It looks as though the Black-tailed Red Sheetweavers [that were in the Golden Alexander on the north side of the plum] were washed away by the rain on July 18. Various tiny orb weavers are scattered throughout the backyard—some are so small they’re nearly invisible. [Updated to include Switchgrass (how could I forget?), Butterfly Weed, 2 Coreopsis sp., Mexican Hat Flower, Joe Pye Weed, Petunia, Russian Sage, Nicotiana sp.] Once again the summer bloomers have gotten out of hand, but it’s too late to do much about it without destroying tiny webs and eggs.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Yard
Yesterday’s (7.23.2010) yard
Dragons and Damsels
Spiders
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in Laclede County (and the value of the game Bird Bingo)
Morning roundup, 7.22.2010
First, sightings from yesterday morning and evening
Morning
Evening
Birds
Odonates
Butterflies and Moths
Shortly after I complained about the lack of butterflies in the yard a Little Yellow, a skipper (very bright, probably a Fiery), and a dark swallowtail flew in.Others
In bloom