My Yard ~ Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

I've been seeing male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds multiple times a day around my yard but today, I finally saw a female hummingbird. The male wasn't happy to be sharing "his" nectar and kept chasing her away.

 

Visit to Wolf's Hollow County Park

 Yesterday, I decided to take a ride over to Wolf's Hollow County park to see what might be happening in relations to their plants and the fields where I saw so many butterflies last summer.  I have been over several times since April but hadn't seen much. This time the Common Milkweed down the path was blooming so there were some butterflies and also some bugs.  Next, I walked for about 2 hours on several paths. There was a little stream where there were some cool dragonflies named Ebony Jewelwing.  I was able to take a good amount of pictures and uploaded about 50 of them to iNaturalist.

Eastern-tailed Blue

Little Glassywing

Little Glassywing ~ Dorsal View

Pearl Crescent

Meadow Fritillary

Gray Hairstreak

Silver-spotted Skipper

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwings Mating

Ebony Jewelwing

My Yard ~ American Goldfinches

 

Home ~ More plants for the Gardens

Oh my gosh, these plants followed me home yesterday. It must have been Jenny's fault or maybe Bernie's. I know it couldn't have been Les's. All, I was going to get was a Hosta or two and some Coral Bells. Then, I heard a voice in my head saying you can NEVER have too many plants....LOL

 

National Pollinator Week ~ Nottingham County Park

 Both yesterday and then, again, this afternoon, I went over to Nottingham County Park to look for pollinators.  I was thrilled yesterday afternoon to see more Great Spangled Fritillaries than I had seen earlier in the day at Peacedale Preserve.  Then, today there were at least 30-50 Great Spangled Fritillaries right near the parking lot on the common milkweed.  It was exciting for me. Also, there were skippers, bumble bees and other pollinators there.  I will return multiple times this summer to see the wildlife including the birds.

Monarch ~ First of Year

Great Spangled Fritillary on Common Milkweed

Great Spangled Fritillary

Tawny-edged Skipper

Little Glassywing

Bumble Bee

Large Milkweed Bug

Red Milkweed Bug

Brown-belted Bumble Bee

Red Milkweed Bug

Chipping Sparrows bring food back to the nest.

Chipping Sparrows bring food back to the nest.

"Peacedale Preserve" Natural Lands

Thanks to KM on Butterflies & Moths of PA for sending me in the right direction to find Great Spangled Fritillary's. I went chasing butterflies late this afternoon after working most of the day in the garden. Lifer ~ Great Spangled Fritillary. It was my first visit to Peacedale Preserve which is about 20 minutes from my home It's a place that I would go back to later in the summer to look for more butterflies.

Lifer ~ Great Spangled Fritillary

 

Northern Broken Dash

Eastern-tailed Blue

American Cooper

Tree Swallow

Male Pileated Woodpecker

Though, I don't necessarily want to have a Pileated Woodpecker living in my yard, they are always welcome to visit.

 

Gardens

After a week away, I came back to lots of growth in the gardens.  Now, we need more butterflies to nectar on the flowers that are growing. We have already had 8 species in the yard prior to me going away on June 2nd.  I am looking forward to finish up planting those plants that didn't get into the ground before I left for Turks and Caicos Island.