Competition

     It's that time of year again - Cicadas are flying and Hudson is crunching.  He has plenty of competition, though.  

     I am not especially fond of House Sparrows (mostly because they eat my house and nest under my roof tiles), but it is really quite amazing to see them chase and capture a Cicada.

     Cicada Killer Wasps take their share of Cicadas as well.  Yesterday, while monitoring, we saw a veritable colony on the Girdham Road Dunes at Oak Openings Metropark.  Above is a female with a paralyzed Cicada (upside down, under her) trying to decide where she left the entrance to her nest.  She will lay her eggs in the Cicada, which will provide food.

     It was impressive to see how much dirt these large wasps can remove.  The entrance to the holes are up to two inches in diameter and the excavated sand trails off eight to ten inches.  

     I have never seen so many at the dunes.  There must have been over 100 nests.  Perhaps the dry summer has made the dunes especially tempting. 

     The males have no stinger and the females were seemingly oblivious to our traipsing around.

Flowering Spurge - one of my favorite natives

Eight Spotted Forester

     Google this name and you will find I am one of many bloggers who felt this moth merited a post.  In addition to it's striking appearance, it is an example of the fuzzy line between butterflies and moths because it feeds during the daytime.  I love the orange socks on the fore-legs. 

The caterpillar of this species feeds on grape plants and Virginia creeper. 

This adult was visiting my lavender.

Playing hooky

     This is a slow time for monitoring, so we decided to take the morning off and visit Kitty Todd Nature Preserve.  Kitty Todd is a Nature Conservancy property and is in the Oak Openings region.  It's the only place I know of with Orange Fringed Orchids. 
     Orchids are finicky plants who rely on separate specific fungi at different points in their lifecycle.  This makes it impossible to transplant them.  The seeds contain no energy source and rely on fungi.  It can take years for a seed to produce a flowering plant.  

     While there we saw our first Buckeye butterfly of the season.  He was so brilliant, and slow moving, we suspect he had recently emerged from his cocoon.

We also stopped by one of the recently acquired Metroparks properties to check on a wet area where we had counted violets this spring.  We're a pretty subdued crew, but we were all quite alarmed when a turkey flushed just a few feet away.  I've never seen such a heavy bird take flight so quickly.

Perhaps we had disturbed his berry breakfast.

Cape Cod

Kettle Pond in Cape Cod National Seashore

On the pier in Provincetown

Fishing boats off the Chatham pier

Holiday Hot Dog

Hudson and I headed to Side Cut Park early this morning for a walk along the Maumee.  It was already too hot to stay in the sun long and Hudson was happy I brought along ice water.

Even the deer were taking a dip.  This is only the second time I've seen deer in the river.  He was actually walking, not swimming, since the water is so low.

Happy Birthday, U.S.A.!

Uncle Phil's Farm Birthday

My Uncle Phil turned 81 last week and my cousin Mary Lou gathered all to celebrate at the McRury-Tebbe Tree farm in Mt. Gilead, OH.  Uncle Phil used his favorite tractor to give hay wagon rides.

The steer calves Bulls Eye and Buckeye were treated to some corn.

Uncle John found a Chipping Sparrow nest.

Sarah discovered her inner chicken whisperer.

The hearty donned boots, traipsed through the woods and over the creek to a huge White Oak.  Those who completed this task were rewarded with their choice of a peach or pine sapling.

Thanks, Mary Lou, for a wonderful day.

Garden Firsts

First ever Prickly Pear cactus bloom

Prickly Pear in it's native setting in Oak Openings Metropark

First ever Royal Catchfly blooms

First time New England Aster has bloomed before August