Groundhog sighting

I prefer to call them woodchucks.  My motion-detector (Russ) started barking at something out the window and I caught a glance of a woodchuck ducking into the tall grass behind my back fence.  I haven't seen him come out again.  He may be wandering far from home or I have something else to keep an eye out for.  So no picture, just reporting what I saw.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Since I will never have a nectar feeder hanging off my house, I won't get incredible close-up pictures.  So I have to pay attention and have my camera ready and sneak up on these speedy creatures.  I'm trying to get a picture of one hovering in front of me because they do that quite often.  But here is one perched next door.  At least I got the throat in the picture...

More Monarchs

Still seeing Monarchs flying around.  This is the same butterfly on two different plants. 

1st Plant

 

2nd Plant

 

Closer...

Milkweed sighting!

I had given up on this season for milkweed.  My coffee can effort didn't save those plants.  I have seen Monarchs fluttering around so I was content to let it grow somewhere else.  So to my surprise, I see a smallish plant this morning among the tall grass and weeds.  It's a small plant but the tallest I've had.  And I don't remember planting seeds there.  I did sow some last fall in hopes something would happen and I believe this is one of those seeds.

Here are some pictures that likely explain the trouble I've had this year (seem like record numbers this year)...

 

Here is the plant...

 

 

Sitting pretty

With a better camera, this is the type of shot you might see in a bird book.  American Goldfinch perched...

Here's what I saw while mowing the lawn yesterday...

I put out a new thistle sock.  And I already had a visitor...

 

And I have to be careful with the weed trimmer against the house...

 

A Little Help From My Friend(s)

Yes, another Beatles tune.  And another rescue effort.  I believe this is a leopard frog which is the most familiar frog in Iowa.  This was out of my deep egress window well...

Before

 

 

After

 

Here Comes The Sun

Sticking with song titles (The Beatles), I like the way the sun shines through the trees in the morning.  I know a photo doesn't do it justice, but here is one from this morning...

Hummingbird Don't Fly Away

Yes, that's a song title from Seals and Crofts.  But it was also my hope for this Ruby-throated hummingbird on my fence yesterday.  My neighbor has feeders right up by her house so I'm sure she gets a nice view.  But they fly through my yard to get there and I see them hovering in front of me at times.  And I follow their flight into the trees and you can see them perch for a moment.

This one was sitting on my fence so I quickly took a few snaps because they don't stay for long.  Look close...

It's a bee! It's a fly! No, it's a Bee-fly!

I was pumping up the tires for our bike ride and this flying something landed in the garage.  It caught my eye for two reasons...I had never seen anything like it before and it appeared to be hovering just above the ground. 

So I took a few pictures of it so I could Google what I had seen.  And it wasn't until I looked at the pictures that I realized it was not hovering but rather the wings keep moving even with its legs on the ground.

These pictures are mine (one with my phone and one with my camera)





The is a Bee-fly (possibly a Large Bee-fly).  It's a bee mimic from what I read.  Here is more from Wikipedia...

The eggs are flicked by the adult female toward the entrance of the underground nests of solitary bees and wasps. After hatching, the larvae find their way into the nests to feed on the grubs.

The very long proboscis is used to feed on the nectar of many species of flower, especially primroses. While its wings continue to beat its front legs grip the flower and its long rigid beak is inserted to collect the nectar.  Despite its fearsome appearance, the beak is quite harmless.

Bearing a resemblance to bees their body is stout and furry, with the top of the thorax being black and shiny and the pile either brown, yellow, or white. They have long spindly legs as well as a long rigid proboscis found in the front of the head. In the field they will be seen hovering and darting above bare ground or flowers, in an up-and-down movement, accompanied by a high-pitched buzz.

 

Here are some pictures from the internet that helped me identity this interesting creature...

 

Monarch caterpillar at work

I took this on my walk this morning.  These are the "host" plants that I get my seeds from so I thought I would see what's going.

Here is a larva (caterpillar)...

A great day for a bike ride (Jake and I went exploring on Thursday)

Earlier in the week we had really good weather so took off work a little early on Thursday and Jake and I hit the trail.  We followed our bike trail down to the Des Moines River and crossed the old railroad bridge (more on that later).  We also tried venturing on a mountain bike trail (more on that as well).

The trail behind out house is the Trestle to Trestle Trail (not to be confused with the High Trestle Trail).  It follows the old Inter-Urban Railway that stretched at one point from Colfax to Perry.

 

This is how you cross the Des Moines River

 

 

This is what it looks like on the other side

 

 

 

 

Having some fun while checked things out

 

 

 

More of the bridge

 

 

Looking down the river

 

 

This is looking from the bridge toward Euclid Ave

 

 

On the way back, we tried the Sycamore Trail which is for mountain bikes.  It starts right by the river and if you followed it far enough, you would end up behind the gravel pits where the Snells go boating.

 

Here is the beginning...

 

Here is the trail.  Jake and I were fighting the mosquitoes...

We had to stop and turn back due to the trail being flooded.  We agreed we would have to come back when it was dry.  This next picture shows this trail coming out of the woods and joining the regular bike trail by the pond...

Here is an aerial photo to show what we were up to.  The red is the regular bike trail behind our house.  The blue traces the Sycamore Trail for mountain bikes.  It's pretty rugged.  The yellow is about where we had to turn back so we have much more to do...

Here's a picture to to give you perspective on where we were.  This is a picture from 1965.  Look for the railroad bridge...

 

 

This is what the rails used to be used for...(1949 Des Moines Railway streetcar heading for then Harding Rd).

 

 



Back on the trail and heading home...

Caterpillar rescue...

Taking a break.  Someone put together a bench.  On our way down, we encountered a biker taking a dip in the pond...

 

 

Home at last and time to enjoy a float!