5 August 2020 An Evening at the Rookery

It was like any other evening walk at the rookery with frogs, turtles, and cardinals in bloom 

Except there was a little green heron on the wetlands.  We rarely spot these in Ohio.  It was a treat.

31 July 2020 Walking Through The Yellow Flowers

 It had been a wet day, but we both wanted a walk.  We made our way to Gully Brook and the longer loop.  The walk was filled with a variety of yellow wildflowers.

26 July 2020 Butterflies at Rogers Field

 We were headed to pick up the dogs from camp and stopped for a brief walk at Rogers Field.  It was a good evening for butterflies and wildflowers.  Cleveland Metroparks' efforts to maintain this as a wildflower field creates a great summer home for a variety of wildlife.

25 July 2020 Visiting Knox County

 We visited Knox County in 2019 to start their geotrail while returning from our praries trip.  This year we planned to spend time on the trails hunting the 2020 Knox County series.  We had our nature nuts eyes on the lookout foro the day's journey.

Largemouth bass

We spotted our first tussock moth of the season.

Buckeyes are more plentiful as one travels south in Ohio.  These were beside a stream bed.

A ghost sign in Mount Vernon

We stopped for a detour at a ag center for Kenyon College.  The fields of wildflowers and a wooded trail made for a nice break in our day.

24 July 2020 Prairie Wildflowers

We visit the Ohio prairie cemeteries each summer to see the wildflowers and hopfully a few hummingbirds.  With COVID we stopped to consider the risk for a visit this year.  In the end we decided we would make the trip as the chance of seeing other people at the prairies is extremely rare.  We knew a favorite dinner option was available as takeout.  Our first stop was at Bigelow Cemetary.  This year royal catchfly was prolific and blooming.  We only spotted a couple hummingbirds during our visit.  I didn't capture any images, but was happy with nice shots of a song sparrow.

Smith Cemetary is lower-key with blossoms.  The flowers were past their peek leaving few blossoms to spot.

We made a final stop at a Dublin park.  The pond was busy with dragonfly activity and we were able to spot a group of ducklings out for a walk.

23 July 2020 Business Calls

 I stopped outdoors to walk and take a call at the office.  A heron was visiting the far side of the pond.  While standing at the water's edge I looked down and saw a number of different dragonflies moving about.

22 July 2020 Another Buckeye Bush Visitor

The buckeye bush attracted a new visitor this evening.  A swallowtail stopped by while I was in the yard. 

Our yard has also added a couple new wildflowers.  A couple blue vervain plants were growing and blossoming.

We also now have a few pale-spiked lobelia growing in a wildflower area that is slowly expanding.