"The quiet August noon has come,
A slumberous silence fills the sky,
The fields are still, the woods are dumb,
In glassy sleep the waters lie."
from A Summer Ramble by Wiilliam Cullen Bryant
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| The weather is too hot and humid for me right now, but the insects don't mind -- like this cabbage white butterfly hard at work in the noon day sun. Click to enlarge. |
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| This hummingbird moth hovered for a rare split second as I watched through the camera lens; I usually photograph hummingbird-moth-blurs as the fast-moving things fly away. Note the detail of this one's lovely long curled proboscis. That thing can snake out and retract like a birthday party noisemaker. Click to enlarge. |
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| People often mistake this big insect for a small hummingbird and it's easy to see why from the body shape, posture, and rapidly beating wings. But on closer inspection you will see that the moth has a pair of antennae, two pairs of wings, and six legs. And that proboscis. To me, seeing one of these is just as exciting as spotting a hummingbird. |
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| The hummingbird moth belongs to a larger group called sphinx moths or hawk moths that mostly fly by day and hover in front of flowers to feed. This one is in the sphinx moth genus, Hemaris, sometimes called clearwing moths because they have scale-free transparent areas on their wings. Look at the pictures again -- you can see right through their wings. Now that's a cool moth! |
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| This is a good time of year to take a walk in a community garden. The zinnias are lovely around here right now. Click to enlarge. |
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| You might see cantaloupes growing on the vine, not like we usually see them in the supermarket. |
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| Or pretty grapes on a weathered wood fence. |
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| Or trendy veggies like this Tuscan kale. It's called dinosaur kale, too, for its presumed resemblance to bumpy dinosaur skin. |
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| Sometimes there are interesting insets to see like this harlequin bug. |
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| Here's a closer look. The name harlequin comes from a character in 16th century Italian comedy who always wore a multicolored costume. Apt, except that this colorful bug is no joke in the garden where it can be very destructive. |
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| Harlequin bugs were having a big party on the kale the day I was there. |
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| And look at all the Japanese beetles on this zinnia flower! |
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| Yet the gardeners seemed to be holding there own against the insets, producing an abundance of lovely summer plants. Good job, gardeners. |
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| I saw this northern water snake lounging on a tangle of branches on the shore of a pond in a park in Evesham Township, New Jersey. It was about four feet long. Big! The northern water snake feeds on fish and amphibians, which it swallows alive. These snakes are supposed to be common in the eastern United States, especially in the north -- but I rarely see them. I think it's draped nicely over the branches, like the pose of a snake on a caduceus. Click to enlarge the photo and follow its long twining tail through the twigs. Blends in, doesn't it? |
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| And a nice zinnia for color. Zinnias are having their moment right now. |
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| One of the great things about summer -- golden northern bumblebees on red zinnias. |
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| This is my favorite bee: so fluffy, so pretty, so eye-catchingly yellow-all-over. The golden northern bumblebee is an American native, found mainly in the northern states and particularly in the northeast. |
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| Click to enlarge. |
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| It's just as pretty on pink zinnias. |
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| Sometimes all I have to do it sit still outside and a blog subject lands next to me. Like this eastern eyed click beetle. It's about an inch and a half long. It has spots on top that look like eyes. They aren't, although they might fool a would-be predator into thinking the beetle is much larger, like proportionate to the big eye spots. (Which are just spots.) This is known as "self mimicry' wherein a body part mimics another. And the click? That part of the beetle's common name comes from its trick of snapping itself upright with an audible clicking sound if it has been turned on its back or just needs to get away fast. The click and the snap can startle -- long enough for a beetle in danger to escape. Click to enlarge. |
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| With a pink zinnia for color. |
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| No blog today, just some holiday-appropriate red, white, and blue local birds. Like this perky northern cardinal gathering a gift of grapes. Click to enlarge. |
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| A great egret in a sultry summer pond. |
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| And a handsome insouciant blue jay. Have a great holiday! Click to enlarge. |
