On our last trip to the wetlands, I could see how the plants were changing and taking on the look of late summer and fall.
This Morning Glory was one of the few non-yellow flowers in the meadow area. The bee was a bonus :-)
I wish these little morning glories around this yellow flower had been open...would have been a pretty combination. This is one of the several different types of yellow daisy like flowers in the meadow right now.
A larger type...
....another type....
....the small yellow butterflies like all this yellow color :-)
These little purple flowers were few and far between.
One thistle still looking good and a nice Painted Lady to grace its beauty.
Most of the thistles were going to seed now.
Never sure how to photograph grasses, but I liked these reddish ones and wanted a close-up.
Other types of grass look better as a large clump blowing in the breeze.
Looks like something laid here in the grass for a rest.
An interesting plant.....Mike is holding it over so I can take the photo, but it really stands tall and straight.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Birds at the Zoo......
No squirrel today, so I will go back to my zoo report. We drove to Tacoma to go to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.....very nice place. It is part of a 5 mile loop that besides leading to the zoo, leads to parks, a rose garden, a rhododendron garden, Fort Nisqually, a logging museum and logging train ride, and a beach. Really nice area with a lot for families to do.
I promised the Tacoma view of Mt. Rainier....less snow in view and you can see the volcano crater lip to the right. Hard to believe this is actually a volcano. I'm thankful it is snowcovered and not spewing lava!
There are many birds and animals that I will never see in the wild, so I like zoos. Especially ones that are as nice and modern as this one. Here are a few of the birds I saw while there.
I liked this little Western Screech Owl. So small. It is wounded in some way that makes it impossible to live in the wild.
Seem to very content with its handler. Such pretty feathers it has.
Magellanic Penguins.....
Looks ready to slide down a hill into the water.
Taking a bow
Puffins.....I'll probably never see them in the wild.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Studying my "Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America".....
I'm too old to learn. My brain is tired. I really wanted to learn more about the butterflies and skippers I see, but after getting this wonderful butterfly book (more than 2,300 images) I feel more confused than I was when I just tried Googling things like "orange butterfly" and looking at the images. My usual trip the Harman Arboretum on Thursday offered me several subjects to test my mental skills on.....hmmmmmm.....
Clouded Sulphur! I had to start with something easy so I would not feel totally stupid by the time I was done.
There was a beautiful Painted Lady flitting around. I had heard that there were two different "Lady" butterflies.....the American Lady and the Painted Lady, so which did I have and had I ever seen the other one.
This view is not much help, but butterflies do not like to cooperate.
According to my new Kaufman book this is a Painted Lady due to the 4 small eye spots on the hindwing.
I hunted through earlier butterfly visits and found this one that is an American Lady! It has 2 large eye spots on the hindwing. Ah, ha! I can see the difference! Maybe I'm learning something after all!
I should have quit while I was ahead.
I see lots of Skippers at this garden. This little beauty appears to be a Peck's Skipper! I learned that the ones that sit in the "jet plane" position are "grass skippers". I've seen that and wondered about it. Will have to look back at some old posts now that I know that.
Well, when I looked in Kaufman at the hundreds of photos of skippers I knew I was in trouble. I've looked at dozens of photos and still don't know what this one is......Clouded Skipper? some sort of Duskywing??
It actually opened up for me and I still don't know what it is. Sigh. I think I'll just call it "Medium Brown Skipper With Dark Spots and a Few White Spots". Works for me!
And this one??.....Brown....definitely brown.....definitely a skipper.
Here are a lovely pair(?) I was going to say the dark one on the right was a Swarthy Skipper but maybe that is the one on the left? Or not? I do notice the sort of "cropped" look the body has...whatever that means.
My brain just froze up, and my eyes are crossing.........
OK.....lets look at flowers instead!
My brain just froze up, and my eyes are crossing.........
OK.....lets look at flowers instead!
Friday, August 28, 2009
SkyWatch Friday.....vacation skies
(Nature post below this one)
It's SkyWatch Friday time! We just got back from Seattle a week ago, so here are a few sky shots from vacation. I love looking at clouds from airplanes, even when I'm over the wing.
Clouds with mountain tops sticking through are a bit scary :-)
Lovely fluffy clouds everywhere. It always looks like you should be able to walk through them or on them or something.
Looking backward.
Mike took this nice sky shot over Mt. Rainier while we were at the lookout at Sunrise Point.
Mike also took this one.....he's slow to get his photos downloaded, so I'm just discovering his shots :-)
For more skies all over the world click on the SkyWatch icon on my sidebar. Thanks to all who help make it a wonderful site each week!
(New Nature post below this one)
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Mike got a photo that shows how it looks like it is "flying" underwater.