Misty Morning

Not exactly what I was expecting.

Misty Morning

Leatherberry Flats

American Avocets

American Avocet

Loadsa Egrets and Stuff

Eastern Kingbird

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Great Egret

Laughing Gull

Osprey

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

Ruby- throated Hummingbird

Not a Hummingbird Moth, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This what I presume is a juvenile Hummingbird was perched on the power line into the house. I dashed down stairs to get my camera and very carefully opened the sliding window. He flew off at one point but came back to nearly the same place.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Just don't ask!

 Bad Kitten #1, bad kittens  #2, #3 and #4 wouldn't stand still long enough. 

Bad Kitten #1

Insects with very long names.

 Still very hot and humid and I've been a tad busy today with a visit from the A/C guy to investigate an occasional thump from the outside unit the other night. As it was well over 70F all night and the A/C was working overtime I'm not surprised it moaned and groaned a bit. Still better to have it checked out rather than have it take a dump in nasty hot weather. Anyway, I took a few pictures yesterday evening which I edited this afternoon. Using my iPhone app Seek I identified a bee and a bug both with very long names. 

Brown-belted Bumble Bee

Brown-belted Bumble Bee

Brown-belted Bumble Bee

Monarch 

New York Ironweed

North American Tarnished Plant Bug

A few shots from the last few days

 It's that time of year when I don't take many shots of anything really. As its nasty humid outside I decided I'd do a bit of editing today of some recent shots.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Giant Swallowtail

It's a bit beat up but as I normally only get 2 or 3 a year I included it.

New York Ironweed

Red Cardinal Flower

Spicebush Swallowtail

Thunderstorm went to the North of me.

Swatara State Park and Bordner's Cabin

 Yesterday I popped over to Middle Creek to see what waders were about. Lots of Killdeer, Semi-P's and Least but distant. I then did the tour route hoping to find a Meadow Lark posing on a post. Instead I came across a bird that I had no idea what it was until I got much closer and got my bin's on it. It was a male Bluebird moulting. So basically I've given up on birds for a bit and the butterflies are really worn so Plan B was put into effect.

As it was a nice morning I took myself off to Swatara State Park to take some shots of Bordner's Cabin. I parked at the Swopes Valley Trailhead and biked down Bear Hole Trail to get to the cabin which is built right beside Acriggs Falls.

I just used my iPhone instead of my normal Nikon's to take the following shots.

Bordner's Cabin

Bordner's Cabin
Acriggs Falls through the window

Acriggs Falls

currently just a trickle

Bordner's Cabin

Outside the cabin

Acriggs Falls

Bordner's Cabin

Bear Hole Trail

Bear Hole Trail ferns and invasive Japanese Stilt Grass

More about Bordner's Cabin. Bordner's Cabin

A couple from Middle Creek.

 The second ever Wood Stork for Lebanon County showed up at Middle Creek on Thursday, the last one was in 1996! As there were also 6 Little Blue Herons there I decided to go and see if they were close enough to photograph. They weren't so I didn't. It was mid afternoon on a 87F day so the heat distortion was pretty bad so I didn't even try. Saturday morning I took myself over there early and got the following shot of the Wood Stork. Very distant so this was taken with an 800mm lens + a 1.4X teleconverter making 1120mm in all. Still very distant so this is a heavy crop.

On the tour route a group of young Barn Swallows looked cute on the wire.

Immature Wood Stork

Juv Barn Swallow

Dragonfly and Butterfly

Some from an enjoyable afternoon with friends.😁 

Blue Dasher

Spicebush Swallowtail

Spicebush Swallowtail

Flowers in the yard

It was promising to be a pretty laid back day yesterday and it was until early afternoon when I went out the front door intending to photograph some butterflies. It wasn't to be. I ended up hurling my very large wonderfully stacked firewood logs on the front porch out onto the lawn; for the second bloody time! Just don't ask!

Before that however I did take some shots of flowers in the yard. 

Sunflowers

Red Cardinal Flower

Black-eyed Susan