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Four Baby birds with their mouths open for food! Gradually they work it down to 4 and finally to Zero. I love this The mother is determined to see them all grow to adulthood. First one makes its way out of the next. The Mother flies to where the baby landed and chirps encouragement. Next thing you know another one is OUT. Then another and another.
Those Poppies in the Front Yard finally are opening. One at a time, but what a variety of aspect! These Poppies are crazy with ambition.
As usually happens at this time of year, I saw ONE little Bloody Cranesbill -- a relative of the Wild Geranium - not far from the Orange Poppies. The next day there were two more. What about those OTHER Poppies? The Celandine Poppies? They're blooming in one's and two's now, not in fields! But they'll be Back!
The Ranunculus (also known as Buttercups) are a brilliant yellow and increasing in numbers as we speak or don't speak.
The Ajuga reptans (crawling Blue Spikes) is lovely underfoot.
The Forget-me-not blooms in billows and smaller groups. What a beautiful blue!!
The Dame's Rocket is a beautiful amethyst hue of a spring-blooming Phlox. I think of it as a sign of Early Spring. Later on, you will be seeing real Autumn
Let's count off our favorite Critters. Ants? Maybe a Nearctic Carpenter? Beetles? Here is a Brown Leaf Weevil. A Beetle of genus Oulema. And an Asian Lady Beetle.
Here are a pair of beetles (maybe genus Oulema) mating. Then you see what looks like a Beetle in cheerfully mated colors. Third is a Weevil.
Bugs? Here is a Zelus luridus Assassin Bug. Its name is Pale Green Assassin Bug. You've seen this one in a past week. You might not recognize it all growed-up. Second and third are also adults. (Note the red eyes on all three.)
Here is a less familiar kind of Bug to most people, who don't seem to have a nice North-facing wall to their Woodshops. They are a member of the Thread-legged Bugs. and enjoy collecting creatures with their dainty legs, which really do resemble Threads. You'll see a few more of these Empicoris errabundus as the weeks go by. Picture 1: May 14. 2 and 3: May 16. They grow fast. I'm looking forward to seeing more details soon.
Here is one more Bug, this time one of the Stink Bugs. The next fellow looks as if it is made of some kind of inlaid surface, but I don't know what it is yet. Number three is the nymph of one called the Four-lined Plant Bug.
Let's visit the Flies. There are always a lot of them. Here is one that I at first mixed up with genus Suillia. But it's genus Scathophaga (poop-eater for the teen-agers among us). Third is a tiny greenish Fly in class Chironomini. Fourth is Bibio articularis, named for the reddish joints. And fifth is another of those Fly-ish Flies.
More Flies.. My bet this month is that the Crane Flies are the most common Fly around. Some of them come in quite large sizes. This first one was several inches long (counting the likewise long arms). Number two is a Band-winged Crane Fly. And third is a typical Crane Fly with its characteristic long wings.
Another bunch of Flies that are often mistaken for each other are the Midges and Mosquitoes. There are Biting and non-biting Midges. I think all Mosquitoes can bite, at least the females, who have the sharp points on top. Here is a Biting Midge and an Aedes Mosquito, who has relatives that carry Malaria and othe toxic illnesses. Here you see a biting Midge and an Aedes Mosquito. The one with the point is the female. The one with the heavy hardware on top is a Male Mosquito. The hardware is sort of of like a transmitter that sounds like Hubba Hubba, and listens for an answer. This third bunch of Flies were having some kind of ritual hopping and squeaking, sort of like, I smell something fresh. Where is it? Nobody seemed to know what they were. They were sitting and dancing around and clearly were excited about SOMETHING. There were groups of up to 12 per group!
Another Flyish Fly, probably a Greenbottle. Second is another of those Hover Flies, this one Toxomerus geminatus. And one more mystery Crane Fly.
A couple more Flies. First, another Snipe Fly. Then, a Flesh Fly or Satellite Fly. Finally, that old still unidentified Fly.
How about some Butterflies and other kinds of Insects? Well, I don't get to see very many Butterflies in that darkish yard, but the other day I saw that a little Holarctic Azure Butterfly was hanging around a Forget-me-not and I actually bent down and shot it. My lucky day! Apparently Holarctic is one way to get around the fact that there are so many possibly distinct Azures!
The Zabulon Skipper is another Butterfly that likes the shade. And it reminds me of a day when I was sitting observing some Butterflies in my mother's flower bed in the front yard of our house. I was 11 and had a tiny book in which I drew what I saw, and I wrote in it about the Zabulon Skipper that the male would hunker down on the ground and shake itself to attract the female. When he saw her coming he completed his athletic show by leaping into the air. He repeated this until she was truly interested and then they went bouncing in the air and finally mated. Well, folks, yesterday I saw a pair of Zabulon Skippers doing the bouncy dance in the air! Suddenly I was 11 again.
Another creature I had never seen before (it's a kind of Mayfly) was resting in a corner of the woodshop. It was identified as a Pond Olive, Cloeon dipterum, by @Dandrukker. of iNat.
Something I always am happy to see - the Canadian Columbine is blooming out by Deb's house.
Let's see how the Frogs are doing now that they are getting more used to seeing us humanoids out there. Here is a nice big one. Then a litttler one on a lily pad. Third: two similarly large ones.
Some littler ones. The Toad tadpoles ("Toadpoles") are still very tiny.
What about the Fishes? On Saturday morning I found one dead fish, one of the orange and white ones, floating in the Pond. There was also a white pot containing what had been a very pretty Magenta Geranium. It took some angling to get it out using a net. Once out, I set it aside and even brought it back indoors, where it would seemingly be safer from the character I suspect of dragging it into the Pond. Yes, I do believe our Raccoon from last year has decided the Lilies and the fishes and anything that looks interesting are meant for his marauding fingers. Oh well, I have decided to plant a few more Lilies anyway. When I got up the day before, the hose that returns the water to the pond was no longer pointing back into the Pond. I knew from past years always to turn off the pump so that the fishes don't die at the bottom of a water-less Pond! Here are two pictures of the South end of the Pond a month ago and today.
The Fishes are so pretty!
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