Theda Morning Glory

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #136.

Vines can be a pain, but morning glories are so pretty.

It's getting really spooking around here!

How about a bee?

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Trumpet Vines and Little Box Turtle

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #127.
Here is a trumpet vine fence along the W. and O.D. trail:

Just to the right of the trumpet flowers is this vine, which is similar (but has smooth leaves). I think it is Trumpet honeysuckle:


A little further down the trail near the Luck Stone quarry, there's a yellow trumpet vine:

The quarry:

And here's a little box turtle:

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Teasels and Tiger Swallowtails

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #126.
My sister's crepe myrtle is still blossoming nicely along the fence line (as are the neighbors'):

Here's Amelia, always on the wrong side of the door:

I'm also linking to Carmi's Thematic Photographic 380 - Hidden: Can you spot the WIDE LOAD hidden in this picture?

I misidentified these as white thistles. They are actually teasels, a thistle relative.

You can find many critters hidden in the teasels, if you try. For instance, this Tiger Swallowtail.

Here is another. Note the teasel has spikes on top of the flower, unlike a thistle.

Update: Gilly and Bob both posted frog pics for the theme. Since one was hopping around the spa this morning, I'm joining suit.


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Enjoy The Sounds and Sniff The Flowers

My contribution to Michelle's Nature Notes (#378)~ Enjoy the sounds of insects.

Here is one of the sources of the summer sounds Michelle refers to, a cicada. It had recently emerged from its larval shell, so the wings are still slightly greenish (and it couldn't fly away from me...yet).

This is a Silver-spotted Skipper, Epargyreus clarus, on a white thistle flower.

Always remember to sniff the flowers!


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Campsis Radicans Fence

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #125. This is a Campsis radicans, aka hummingbird vine.

One day, a flock of mockingbirds lined up along the construction fence at my old elementary school. Here are two of them:

Here's the Streambank Mock Orange. Note that the giant bin being used for the neighbors' 10 month long reconstruction project is finally gone. Not gone: the bazillion mosquitoes that grew up in that bin.

And here's an Ashburn dragonfly (female Eastern Pondhawk - Erythemis simplicicollis).

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Myrtles and Grackles

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #123.

The local crepe myrtles are so photogenic right now, I have to keep indulging.

One of the Common Grackles wants to know what everyone is looking at?

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1st Tiger Swallowtail Of 2016

My contribution to Michelle's Nature Notes (# 372).

This is the first Tiger Swallowtail I've been able to snap pictures of this year. Generally I have tons of pics of them by June. Same with the Monarchs (btw, I have zero Monarch pics this year).


Speaking of my old elementary school, I was walking Theda and spotted this chipmunk on a stump next to the path. Theda was looking ahead and never saw it.

The local crepe myrtles are strutting their stuff:

Here's an article about pruning them. I see people around here that cut theirs back to post stumps every year.

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Kwanzo Daylily and Mockingbird

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #121. Here's Theda with a worn daylily fence.

These are Hemerocallis 'Kwanzo' – a triple-flowered triploid cultivar that seems to be all the rage in D.C. (I think it's them...there's also a Flore Pleno.)

This looks like it has four flowers in one:

This mockingbird held still and posed for me. It's a bit overexposed (I tried to fix them up a little):


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Back In The Woods With Tiny Toads

My contribution to TexWiscGirl's Good Fences #119.
We're back in the woods!

Here's a nice tiger lily fence from D.C.:

There's a fence under the clematis, etc.

I'm also contributing to Carmi's Thematic Photographic 375 - Time.
Of course when we got to W.V., all the clocks were off, because the power is always going out around here due to falling trees and such as. This is the old microwave and the even older microwave.
Furthermore:

TWG posted a Tiny Toad With Tiny Toes pic on June 18th.
They are here, too! SO CUTE!

P.S. Today is my sister's birthday. Happy B-DAY!!!

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Squid Pro Quo

My contribution to Michelle's Nature Notes (#369)

Here are a couple more pictures my brother-in-law took in St. John. These squid won't let you get much closer without squirting black ink and jetting away:


Here's a couple of my own from the backyard. I thought chippie was getting most of the seeds. Wondered how he or she could eat that many. The other day, I saw that there are two of them (at least).


I have some flower pics, too. These Ashburn tiger lilies are growing wild on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.

But they don't have triple blossoms, like several patches I walk by in D.C.


How about a bee?

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