Little bandits in the night....

Every year we can count on a new crop of raccoons coming up on the deck at night looking for left over bird seed.  This pair have been showing up pretty regularly lately.  They don't even wait until it gets dark, which makes picture taking easy.

 "I think she sees us....time to get out of here!"

They get real comfortable in the feeder and don't understand why I want them to leave. 

 "I think she is serious this time....she just picked up a broom. 

 I'm getting out of here now!"

"But I'm still hungry!!!!!!"

Three is always something to see at the wetlands....

We decided we needed some exercise and the heat wasn't too bad, so we went to Howell wetlands to see what might be about.  We ended up seeing more mammals then anything else which is unusual.  My favorite find were the 2 fawns.  Only rarely do we see deer there, so these two were a great bonus for the day.

Fawn #1 lying in the grass when we first saw them. 

 Looks like it would like to take a nice nap in the sun.

Finally got up and walked over to join its sibling. 

Fawn #2 giving up the eye.  We tried not to disturb them, but they knew we were there.  We didn't see an adult with them, but mom may have been hiding deeper in the grass and bushes.

A big woodchuck was grazing in the same patch of grass.

 And later a bunny in the meadow.  I saw a gray squirrel in the woods, but didn't get a good photo, so we saw plenty of mammals!

 A Blue Dasher dragonfly on the rail....I think it was eating something.

 A Great Blue Heron along the side of the pond area.

This is a dragonfly I don't usually see......a Great Blue Skimmer.

  I noticed it because it was larger then any of the normal dragons we see.  Then when looking at the photos I saw the white face which none of the other local dragons have. 

 Pearl Crescent

Question Mark 

One of the Skippers, but I don't know which one. 

A perfect Monarch on the Swamp Milkweed, which they love.

And of course there were turtles.....not a lot, but a few!

Back at home they delivered the shingles for our roof and if it doesn't rain they start tomorrow on it!  I dread the mess and noise but can't wait to have a secure roof again! 

 A young Cardinal at the feeder.

And my House Wren finally managed to get a family started in one of the bird houses, so I hope the roofers and their noise don't disrupt it.  It didn't like having me hang around even at a distance hoping to get a photo of it going in and out with food.  It sat in a nearby bush and made low sounds either to warn its mate or distract me.

Odds and ends...

When I do take some photos, I don't seem to get them posted.  So here are a bunch that I have taken over the past month all jumbled together.  We took a drive over to Henderson, KY to the "butterfly road".  In July, this gravel road seems to attract butterflies, so as Mike drives along, I get out and walk along and take photos.

 A couple of Hackberry Emperors.

There is a creek where we usually see some Jewelwing Damselflies.  This trip we only found the females which are not as deeply colored as the males.  The one above with wings partly open and below just sitting. 

A Silvery Checkerspot...I think. 

 Above, the closed view of the Question Mark and below with its wings open.  Quite a difference.

 A fairly ragged looking Red Admiral above and below another one.

The Red-spotted Purple Admiral .  Saw several of these, some in good shape and some very ragged. I guess that is the downside to hanging around on gravel roads. 

An American Snout.  I never seems to see them open.

 On a trip to Bluegrass FWA I admired the acres of Sunflowers and wished I could pick a few heads to take home with me.

I hope to get back out here soon and look for finches on the flowers. 

 In my own yard, I noticed that the tall Phlox was attracting a bunch of Tiger Swallowtail butterflies.

 I think these black swallowtails are the black female version of the Tiger.

A skink on the side of my house.   We are about to have a new roof put on....groan....and since my house is mostly shingles, that is a major undertaking.  Will probably make the skinks very unhappy with all the activity.

 At the wetlands we saw a large frog....

....and several little tiny ones. 

This muskrat was on the bank where he chomped this long piece of grass and then dragged it into the water to sit and eat it.  They also like to eat the duckweed on the water. 

At a local park a Sulphur butterfly 

 Some ducks on the lake.

 Eastern Tailed Blue

Widow Skimmer male.

I guess I had better stop....this is getting long.  I'll try not to take so long before posting more photos.