Odds and Ends from the wetlands...

These were the rest of my photos from two trips to the wetlands.  A little bit of everything, but nothing really spectacular.

 I'm seeing a few butterflies, but they are not being very cooperative for photos.  A couple shots of the Red Admiral.

 I think this is a Spicebush Swallowtail

 Pearl Crescent

 Question Mark, probably.

 The tiny frogs were all over the duckweed.  These look big in the photos, but are about the size of my little fingernail.

 These two Goldfinch shots are at my house, but I wanted to post them.  All of their favorite yellow flowers are blooming right now.  They will be feeding off the Black-eyed Susan's, if the neighbor's cat will leave them alone.

Back at the wetlands.....a very nice Great Blue Heron posed for some photos. 

And as I was leaving this Mockingbird let me know that the whole place belongs to him! 

 Right!

A squirrel in the woods....not my usual Fox squirrel....a grey squirrel.

Hawk at the wetlands.....

I went to the wetlands Saturday for a quick walk around and saw this beautiful hawk sitting up on a dead tree limb.

 I think it is a Red-shouldered Hawk and I thought it looked young.

 Look at all the fluffy white feathers on the front.

 It was doing a lot of preening

It would pull those white feathers out and they would slowly float to the water below. 

 It turned around for one brief minute....I got 3 shots....and it turned its back to me again.

 Looking at me, but didn't seem to mind me being there.  I wasn't real close.

 Pulling out feathers again.

Wistful looking

My computer monitor quit on me and I am using an old one that makes everything look light and stretched.  I hope these photos look better on your computers then they do on mine at the moment!  

Took other photos from the wetlands....will post them another day.

Squirrel Sunday.....a new "Star" is born?.....

It has been a long time since I had a really curious squirrel worthy of a Squirrel Sunday post, but I do believe I have a new descendant of my former "Star" who may earn the crown!  This little squirrel spent a long time working at how to "crack" this feeder.....(designed for hanging birds only).....but it finally managed it!

"Hmmmmm.....My great-grandpa, Star, says there is no such thing as a "squirrel-proof" feeder!" 

 "First problem....how do I reach that thing???"

 "Well....it's a bit of a stretch, but I think I got it"

( I will save his pride by not showing you all the times he slipped and missed, but it sure was funny to watch :-)

"Does the lid come off???" 

 "Maybe the bottom comes off..."

"If she can get the seeds in, I can get the seeds out!" 

 "Sigh.....maybe I'll rest my toes a bit"

"This is good exercise, but I'm getting hungry!" 

"OK......let's think about this some more!" 

 "Other side doesn't open either....dang!"

 "Hey....I think I can get some seeds this way without getting it open!"

"Not my favorite way to eat, but it works!" 

"This is REALLY hard on the toes!" 

"Ymmmmmmmmm" 

"Got it figured out now!" 

"Are you going to make me work this hard to get in your blog all the time??????"

(Yes, I am!  If you are really a descendant of Star, I'm sure he told you all about me")

"Yep"

Butterflies and birds from Bluegrass.....

I never finished posting my photos from Bluegrass.  Here are some more shots from that day.

 There were lots of Sulphur butterflies on the milkweed growing along the roadside.

Three on this flower!

 The "edge" shot :-)

 Dancing :-)
Actually it was lifting off, I believe.

Male and female Clouded Sulphur

Just a large field of thistles.

 The bees like the thistles, too.

Dickcissel

Mourning Dove sitting on a stop sign riddled with bullet holes (if I hadn't cropped it).  I assume she wasn't there when the shooting took place :-)

 Fleabane

 Horned Lark that would not hold still and turn around for me.

 Indigo Bunting

 Kingbird in hiding

Lift off!

The back view of another Kingbird.

This may be a new bird for me.
 I think it is the Willow Flycatcher.  Very cute little bird hiding in the willow tree along the lake edge.

 Robin with a mouthful of .....something?

The male Robin with a huge mouthful of worms for the family!

Brown Thrasher with something that it ate after I snapped a photo.

 A tree full of turtles

And one last butterfly to end the day!

Cabbage White