Squirrel Sunday.....

I'm not sure what this squirrel was doing, but it sure seemed to be having fun!

Wandering around at Hartman Arboreteum......

A couple weeks ago we stopped at Hartman Arboretum to see if the flowers were blooming and attracting butterflies for me to photograph yet.  Not too much blooming yet that they like, but Mike also got to check on their blueberry plants and went back this week and picked a couple pounds of them.

I love these hydrangeas.

Part of the "butterfly garden".

They have a woods where they are trying to grow some ferns and such in hollowed out logs and along the trails.  I enjoyed wandering around there taking photos of the plants and fungi.

I like this log.

A pretty fern.

There was an interesting assortment of fungi growing on the logs.  I don't know names but will just post the photos I like.

This one was down inside one of the hollow logs and I thought it looked the most interesting.

Back up in the meadow I kept chasing Red-Wing Blackbirds that must have their nests hidden deep in the grasses.  This female had a mouth full of bugs.

Milkweed flowers and bugs.

I also have a few photos from Mouteau Park......a Silvery Checkerspot

Damselfly....don't know name

Comma butterfly deep in the weeds.

Wrenovations........

We seem to have a lot of "wrenovations" going on at our house at the moment.  I have seen House Wrens going in and out of two of the gourds.  This gourd is hanging right outside a window upstairs so I have gotten better photos of it than any other.

"Bring more soft stuff!"

At first I thought it was just one House Wren stuffing the gourd with sticks to keep other birds out, but today I saw two of them going in and out.

"Is there room for me in there?"

This one made me laugh!  Side-stuffed wren. 

"Honey......I have the strangest feeling that someone is watching us."

"Maybe if I get real quiet she will go away."

Then two days ago I saw a pair of Carolina Wrens carrying leaves and grass into the garage.  Why do they always pick the garage??  They choose the worst possible places.  I thought maybe they hadn't made up their minds yet, because they also keep putting grass in the newspaper box....on top of the paper each morning.

A bit of grass for the nest.

......pine needles.....

"Oops....she spotted us.....I'll hide over here until she goes away."

"How about this big leaf?"

This is the location they have selected......on top of the brush for washing the car, behind a cabinet right inside the door of the garage.    

OK, Mike.....I'll buy you another brush if you let them stay!

I'm getting behind again......

Well, it's almost summer and we've been busy with company, watching the French Open Tennis, and trying to shape up our very overgrown bushes and trees (too hot for this work!), and fix the leak of water into our basement that showed up with the spring rains.  Just seems like I don't get out much to take photos right now!

I took my first couple dragonfly photos of the year......a nice Eastern Pondhawk male.

The Eastern Pondhawk male in the back and the Blue Dasher male in the front.  These are the two dragonflies that I see the most often.  I don't see the females very often, but see the males gliding over the wetlands anytime I go.

Some sort of moth clinging to a chip of bark on the path.

The last time we were at the wetlands there was just this one Canada Goose by itself.  I wondered if it had a mate on a nest nearby, but didn't see it.

A close-up of the head and "chin strap".

One wing looked a bit "ruffled".....I hope it doesn't have a wing injury.

Walking the boardwalk through the woods we saw this skink on the rail, but I couldn't get close enough for a very good shot.

I was so surprised by this squirrel that has lost its tail, that at first I didn't realize what it was when it bounded by.  So funny looking!

Duck moms and babes......

(I accidentally put this whole post in my quilt blog but was able to move it by copy and paste, which really surprised me!)

When leaving the wetlands on Tuesday, we suddenly saw a little group of 2 female Mallards and 2 babes come waddling over to us.  They were so friendly that I assumed they were being fed or that someone partly hand raised them and turned them lose in the wetlands.  They sure didn't act wild like they should have.  They came right towards us and obviously wanted food......which I didn't have.

Very pretty and it made me want to feed them, even though I knew I shouldn't.

Stalking through the grasses in a dry area.

The babes were almost as big as the females.  I can see the blue wing patch, so I assumed they were Mallards even though they seemed small to me.

"Why didn't you bring us food?"

They were so cute, but so close it was hard to get photos.

The babes alone.

One female and two babes.