It may have been the last cool day?

Was July 16th the last cool day for the summer? I do not know. Will this stop me from going out on another day? Well, of course not.

A clean break! The liverwort added nicely to the browns.

Occasionally I will find a tack in a tree. Perhaps someone’s survey marker.

A tiny Crambid Snout Moth (Crambidae) stop just long enough for me to get a picture. Beautiful colors! Update: Claire remembered it…Hollow-spotted Blepharomastix  (Blepharomastix ranalis). Impressive Claire! And thanks!

In this photo you can see the different lengths of the short gills of a mushroom.

A dead trunk that was tipped over. Mosses, lichens, fungus have all moved in. The starry night Van Gogh of the wood grain shows off too!

I moved fast to catch up with the Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis genus). Their sting is supposed to be very very painful! Definitely caution required.

A grass stalk! It was not flowering so no ID today.

The Little Brown skink (Scincella lateralis) did not move a muscle. Did it think it had an invisible cloaking device?

The Grape Fern (Botrychium virginianum) is not new to the grasslands, but was very exciting to me! I had never seen it before.

This fern has a stalk (the sporangia) above the leaves where the spores are kept. We were too late to see the spores.

A lovely moss covered log to conclude the July 16th outing!

Article:

Why Is the Eastern Monarch Butterfly Disappearing? Is There Something We Can Do About It?

Keep looking!

5 Comments

  1. Havent seen a skink in years. Glad to know theyre still around. And love the starry night. Wonder if van gogh had something like that for inspiration.

  2. I am really excited we have several skinks in our yard. Always good to see one! That moth looks familiar. I might have it on my site Mom.

    1. I can’t believe you remember from way back in 2004. It was a fuzzy photo, but it looks like you nailed it…Hollow-spotted Blepharomastix – (Blepharomastix ranalis)!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *