More than just birds .......

TBM Avenger 3E

There were more than just birds and butterflies flying around over the trail this week.  This TBM Avenger flew right over me and I definitely heard it before I saw it.  The engine made a very distinct sound. This,  the heaviest single engine Torpedo Bomber of World War 2 came into view. What a sight to see!  This plane was used at the battle of Midway. 

Giant Swallow Tail

 Back to the trail. Thistle was the food source this week. Every group of plants I came to had butterflies on them. I got real close to this Giant as it feed. They are the largest of the Swallow tails, hence the name Giant Swallow Tail. I also saw the two color phases of the Tiger Swallow Tail.  Notice the  faint stripes of the dark phase on the inside wing, below the beautiful Tiger Swallow Tail ( Light Phase).

There are two phases of the Tiger Swallow Tail here is the dark.  This is the first time I have been able to witness the two phases in the field. 
 

Tiger  Swallow Tail ( dark phase)

Tiger Swallow Tail

 So it goes to show...you never know what you are going to see on the trail!

What have we here...

Grass Spider

 While walking the trails this week I saw this interesting fellow on the Kay Romanin Bridge.  It looked rather large and I estimated very carefully that it wouldn't have fit in the  palm of my hand. I believe this is a Grass spider.

Male Pileated

Here is a sketch of a Male Pileated.
Being out on the trail I haven't herd or seen them yet. I have seen possible cavity nest sites but their young are most likely fledged by now. I will  be out there on the trails and keeping my eyes open for  a glance at the magnificent bird.

Meow meow

Catbird

I heard the familiar call of the Cat bird out on the trail.
It seemed to be curios of my presence .
I  like the  rust color under tail covert feathers, other wise the Cat bird is a mostly gray bird.

I watched this bird for  fifteen minutes . It seemed to want to hang there with me and call at me . It wasn't afraid at all curious....

Catbird

 This is a thumbnail sketch of a possible painting for the final piece . Last December I watched the male wood pecker
  on downed old dead trees,  looking for insect larvae maybe.

On the way to the lake...Butterfly photos

Tiger Swallow Tail

On the way to explore the lake I came across several different Butterflies. Some will hold still, some zoom off. These are the Butterflies that didn't zoom off on me. It is fun to be out and hunt for Butterflies. I try and find a food source and slowly walk up and take Photos . They are super sensitive to movement , so you have to move very slowly and be patient and take your time. The food for this Nice Tiger Swallowtail  of course was the Wild Bergmont.

Gray Comma

This Comma was rather beat up , but the light through his wings was cool to see and he held so I could  get a shot .

Red Spotted Purple

The Red Spotted Purple wasn't camera shy at all,  I think it new he was looking good and wanted it's photo taken. This is one of my favorites the Red Spotted Purple.

Great Spangled Fritillary

 This beautiful Great Spangled Fritillary below left was a good get for me. I haven't seen many of these , and a nice add to my butterfly photo collection.










 Here are the studies I did from the lake on the reserve. This Bull Frog sat very still in the water, he had an hungry eye on a Dragonfly that was trying to land on his head. The lakes edge was buzzing with Dragonfly wings . This study was of a Twelve Spotted Skimmer.

Bull Frog

Twelve Spotted Skimmer

 This final study this week is the Great Spangled Fritillary.
The weather is going to get cooler this coming week and I'm looking forward to hitting the trail to see what will be  my next inspiration,  just a study or a full blown painting...

Insects of the Week

Whitetail Dragonfly

  This week there were some interesting insects that I saw on the trail.  Upper right is a white tail dragon fly. At the  lower left these are studies of Scarab, I believe.

Popillia Japonica ( Scarab)

I don't know much about these beetle type insects even if I have ID them correctly , if some one can fill me in I would love some information about them. They were mostly a metallic green in color.

I caught this monarch in mid flight. The Hartman Reserve has all kinds of Butterflies. I will be posting  more species.

This study is of a Damselfly. Their wings are an exact duplicate of the other not like a Dragonfly 's wings which are different from each other

blue bird in a cavity nest

Here is the female  Bluebird at her natural cavity ,she was bringing food to her young. The Male Bluebird is close by he was a little camera shy.