Cliff Swallows.....

I've really become curious about swallows, so after seeing the Barn Swallows in Henderson, KY Thursday we went to New Harmony, IN where I knew the Cliff Swallows nest under the bridge that crosses the Wabash River to Illinois.They were very busy, but I'm not sure what activity they were engaging in. Some would hang on the opening of the nests like these or go inside.
Are the protecting the opening? Are they working on the nest?
Others would fly up and then fly away again. Back and forth. Sometimes one would go inside.
They swooped back and forth under the bridge and the neighboring area constantly.

Trying to catch their motion became my goal.

Up and down, back and forth! Such busy birds!

I watched this clump most of the time because there were several nests there and the most activity. Standing there looking up under the bridge was getting rather tiresome, but I didn't want to leave. Wish I had brought a chair with me :-)

Love the graceful way they arch and maneuver.

Looking in?

Friends or enemies?

Not a very informative post because I didn't really know what they were doing.....but I sure like watching them!

Orange and blue and pink and green.....

It's that glorious time of year when the ditches are lined with Day Lilies! I just love all that orange color along the roadsides!I wonder how many lilies there are in this photo?? Millions? This is just one area along this highway that is lined with them.
A little different view

A "sea of orange".....love it!

Later, out in the countryside, we saw this little cemetery with lilies along the fence.

We were actually headed for Hartman Arboretum when I took the day lily photos. There aren't many flowers blooming there yet, but Mike wanted to see if the blueberries were ripe for picking yet (not quite) and I figured I could find a butterfly or two.

I just love the big fat bees on the purple flowers.

More orange (among the pink)......they had a large patch of Milkweed and I chased this Fritillary butterfly around for about a half hour and never did get a really clear shot of it with the wings open. It always had a leaf or two in front of it. One of those times I would like to be taller so I could shoot over the top a bit more!

Almost open...with leaf.

Head on....had lots of that type of shot.

Open....but too high for me to shoot well! There were actually two of them part of the time and it was fun to watch them spiral around together.

The bees are bit more cooperative, but I was actually just looking at the flower. There is another bug of some sort on it as well.

They have a lot of types of Hydrangeas and I love all of them! This type is one of my favorites.

.....or these

....or maybe these! I would like to have a bush of each at my house.

The bees seem to prefer the blue one.....look at how full his pollen sacs are!

A female Red-Wing Blackbird that didn't like us hanging around the milkweed patch. Wonder if she had a nest down in it.

On the way in we passed a house with this bunny "frozen" at the base of a tree.....

.....and on the other side was a squirrel!

Herons and swallows and driving new roads....

Any trip to the Henderson Slough area is bound to turn up something at one of the many units of this conservation area.We saw Great Blue Heron stalking in several spots. I like this one with the corn in the background. If you could see beyond the corn, the Ohio River is just a few yards away.
Oops.....must have spooked him!

Another flooded field. I can't help but wonder how much they find in these flooded fields to eat?

Almost invisible here, but I liked all the colors and patterns.

We have searched for over a year trying to find where the Jenny Hole Unit is and finally on this trip, they had put up a sign! So off we went on a new road to....????

The roads are all gravel and weave in and out of farm fields and forest and water very close to the road and often over it. We got lucky on this road and only drove through water once. We need a truck or 4-wheel drive!

Past their prime, but I thought these roses along the road were still pretty.

From the window of the car crossing a very narrow bridge. There were a few spots where the "swamp" was right there next to the gravel road. Good thing it hadn't rained for a few days. They don't call this area the "river bottoms" without reason!

Finally!....Jenny Hole (I assume)!

Mike and Curt taking photos of the rather large expanse of water. This is one of the areas closed off during the water fowl migration season.

I like the Cypress trees with their broad bases standing in the water.

Had to hand the camera to Mike very quickly, so he didn't get a very good angle.

This photo is a barn that we saw last March. We have discovered that it is where the barn swallows that I keep seeing are living.....

...so of course I had to explore! They were sitting in the road and up on the wires over head as we approached.

I went inside with swallows flitting everywhere around me. Aren't these two cute?
There were numerous nests and some seemed to be of another type....popular place!

It took me a bit to realize that bit of "fuzz" has a wide baby beak :-) Very young ones in this nest!

Sheer accident that I got a dragonfly as well as the swallows here!

Sitting on the barn beams.

Swallows everywhere!

Federer got beat in the French Open, so I guess I have to take photos again.....

Mike's brother was in town over the weekend, so today we drove him over to Henderson to see the Heronry. The first thing that I saw were a couple of deer out in the water....something we haven't seen there before! I had just taken a photo when....
....3 kittens came running out of the weeds.....obviously friendly....obviously dumped at the side of the road to fend for themselves. Poor things were much too young for that. So that ended the Heronry visit, and we had to drive into Henderson and find out where the Humane Society was located. I had a box in the trunk of the car, so we loaded them up and stopped to buy a can of food on the way. They attacked it with great gusto, so I would say they had not eaten for awhile. One was so anxious to get to the food that he bit my finger while I was trying to dish it out for them. I hate when people do stuff like abandon kittens....sigh.
We were headed for the "butterfly road" next, so at least it was on the way.

I was hoping to see some of these Ebony Jewel Wings and found them in the same place as last year. That is good to know! This pair were down below a little bridge over a creek and the female was laying her eggs.

I love their bright metallic looking green color! So pretty with the black wings.

She fluttered her wings and I could see some sort of marking, which is a white patch at the tip of each wing.

Saw the two kinds of blue Dragonflies that I see most often and have finally learned to tell apart without looking them up in the book each time. This is the Eastern Pondhawk male.

I still have to look up the females at least once a year to remember which is the green one and which is the yellow one! The green one shown above is the Eastern Pondhawk female.

Everywhere we went I saw Blue Dasher males, also.
The wings blend in, but I like the "ready for take-off" pose.

A side view of one.....I hadn't noticed the yellow patch on the body before.

I liked this one more for the green leaves than the Blue Dasher.

The Blue Dasher female seen at a different location.

I was hoping to see some Zebra Swallowtails....having seen one on this road last year, and did see a couple....even found a dead one to bring home. Didn't get very good shots. They were really moving around.

This is too light, but I wasn't able to improve it much on the computer. I had one shot that was out of focus but that showed that it was in "summer form" with red on the sides.

Side view of the Hackberry Emperor.

Open view of the Hackberry Emperor. They are pretty cooperative and even friendly.

A grasshopper hanging sort of upside down.

Some more stuff tomorrow.