Here's an indigo bunting after breeding season. He has dropped his jet blue tuxedo (see #58) and donned a motley bit of casual wear for lazing about near the sunflower fields at the end of summer.
2021-08-28 McKee-Beshers WMA, Poolesvile, MD [DSC08633]
By request, one of my dragonfly photos. This one is a blue dasher --- an adult male by the look of it. See colour guide here.
2021-08-25 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [DSC08429]
A red-spotted admiral showing both top-side and underside of the wing. This one is a southeastern form; those in MA, MI and BC will have a broad white band in the middle of the wings (none in CA or southern BC). See details on BugGuide.
2021-08-28 McKee-Beshers WMA, Poolesville, MD [DSC08879]
Our lesser calamint (Clinopodium nepeta) has been a pretty steady snack bar for pollinators all summer. There's always bees, flies or butterflies about, such as this cabbage white. I don't think it gives much (the visitors only stay at each flower a brief instant, then they are off to the next), but it's steady over the entire season with a lot of flowers.
2021-08-24 Bethesda, MD [DSC08879]
Yawd, yet another wood duck. Unlike #61, this is a non-breeding male (with "eclipse" plumage). #59 and #31 were females. #59 were a pair of wood ducks sitting on branches and I made some snarky comment about confused waterfowl. But the answer lies in the name: wood ducks are so called because the females perch and nest in trees. So not confused young 'uns as I suggested, just a wood duck doing as a wood duck would.
2021-08-19 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [DSC08001]
Here's a non-breeding male American goldfinch from last winter, feeding on a cutleaf teasel. Quite the difference from the bright yellow birds you see in the summer.
2020-12-11 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [P1080906]
Yes, the same species as yesterday, but this time the upper side of the wings. It makes her tricky to find: I watch this dark shape fluttering about then she lands and disappears.
2021-06-25 Cabin John (powerline), Bethesda, MD [DSC01382]
2021-08-14 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [DSC07570]
Yesterday's sunflower came from the McKee-Beshers sunflower fields whose purpose is "to provide a food source for mourning doves, as well as other wildlife species, after the plants mature and dry. Mourning doves are hunted at these fields during hunting seasons that traditionally begin on September 1 and continue through early January. [...] In addition to mourning doves, sunflowers and sunflower seeds are a favorite food source for a host of other songbirds, mammals and pollinators."
This songbird agrees. It's an American goldfinch breeding male enjoying a seed "fresh off the plant" in our garden.
2021-08-21 Bethesda, MD [DSC08115]
For those of us under a cloud, a reminder that the sun is out there somewhere.
2021-07-18 McKee-Beshers WMA, Poolesville, MD [DSC05459]
Probably an orange sulphur, but maybe a clouded sulphur. I don't have a reliable way to distinguish them.
2021-08-15 Cabin John (powerline), Bethesda, MD [DSC07877]
Here's a way to deal with the heat: take off your coat!
2021-08-19 Bethesda, MD [DSC07999]
The mockingbird wing spots are only visible in flight, where they sometimes use them for signaling. I saw one guy(?) showing off to the ladies, performing a series of sideways loops while singing. It was so strange to watch that I didn't think to film it.
This one is more prosaic: let's just hop across the street to get away from the camera.
2021-03-09 Bethesda, MD [DSC05125]
An adult mockingbird serenading us during an afternoon walk last fall. It felt safe hiding in the tree, letting us get very close.
2020-10-05 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [Video 15:14]
A juvenile northern mockingbird. The adults don't have spotted breasts.
2021-08-10 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [DSC07376]
Blue-green algae at a marsh in northern Virginia.
2021-07-11 Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria, VA [DSC04097]
A small bug (2.8 mm) on our tall sunflowers. Who knew plants needed living doilies?
2021-08-14 Bethesda, MD [DSC04097]
A carolina chickadee flitting through the branches this spring. This one didn't hang around very long. It's an unusual pose: normally they are on top of the branch.
2021-03-20 Cedar Is, C&O Canal, Bethesda, MD
Male sachem skipper on bluetop vervain.
2021-07-17 Brookside Gardens, Rockville, MD [DSC05225]
A hike through a local nature park last February. This tufted titmouse was very chatty and curious.
2021-02-20 Blue Mash, Gaithersburg, MD [P1170505]
21-03-18 NIH field, Bethesda, MD [DSC07263]
A red-banded hairstreak on joe pye-weed. Our native flower garden is attracting butterflies!
2021-08-03 Bethesda, MD [DSC06863]
A white-breasted nuthatch out house hunting this spring, checking out a large knothole in a local tree. She decided not to take it---too much foot traffic nearby.
2021-08-03 NIH field, Bethesda, MD [DSC06863]
Some black vultures down by the river passing the time.
2021-03-10 Billy Goat Trail A, Potomac, MD [DSC05302]
A monarch in a neighbour's garden.
2021-07-22 Bethesda, MD [DSC05762]
From the winter catalogue, a pileated woodpecker searching for food on a February morning.
2021-02-17 Billy Goat Trail C, Potomac, MD [P1160824]
One of several killdeer wandering about in a field in an outer burb of Philly. According to the maps they should be in DC year-round but I haven't seen any. Western Mass, Minnesota and central BC only in breeding season.
2021-05-22 Village Dr, King of Prussia, PA [DSC06529]
Yet another tyrant flycatcher, this eastern phoebe stopped by the local pond this spring. According to the maps we are in the year 'round zone for these birds but this one was a transient visitor.
2021-03-26 NIH pond, Bethesda, MD [DSC08718]
2021-07-27 NIH field, Bethesda, MD [DSC06321]
2021-07-27 NIH field, Bethesda, MD [DSC06331]
A blue jay in the pines in Childs Park.
2021-06-01 Childs Park, Northampton, MA [DSC08172]