Fowl and Fauna!

From Dark to Bright

On Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Park, some black vultures sat in our old almost dead oak tree near the Visitor's Center. Tree still has a few branches with leaves.....

 Two lucky staff ladies went out to monitor the bluebird boxes and my buddy, Doris, sent me these pictures. These are young ready to fledge. I've never seen such beautiful colors, except from lucky Lynne!....

Deer, Deer Everywhere

 At Chelsea on Wed., August 22, we saw the largest group of deer in a long time. About a dozen nibbled through the field. If you enlarge you can see one rowdy on the right!.....

 The deer on the far right below was part of a game of chase with another yearling. They ran in huge circles around the whole herd! Later another young pair did the same thing!....

 Some of the bucks are getting large antlers....

 Here's Big Boy....

 Little Spotty on the left leads them along....

More Dear Deer & Mystery Flower 8-17-12

Friday, when driving down to farmhouse office, we were lucky to see a fawn grazing near the roadside. I told the car (grayish SUV) to pretend it was a friendly elephant and not frighten Spotty!..... 

 It worked!! Spotty continued to nibble in a patch with the lavender Mystery flower....

 I've only seen this flower at this time of year at Chelsea. It appears in areas where the grass has NOT been cut. It has the long, oval dark green leaves and stem in the middle of pic. It has a few large leaves at the base, one medium size at each fork in the stem and 3 small green leaves (or sepals) at the base of the flower head.I hope someone can identify it. TY......

In the afternoon, two young bucks appeared who are starting to grow antlers. They really like the pokeweed.... 

 "These horns itch!"......

 Afternoon nap in the field....

 Little Spotty came grazing near the big boys, but everybody stayed peaceful....

 Later we saw our special Ms. Hoppy. We thought she might be the mother of this fawn, but we didn't see them together while we were there. Another mystery!....

Friday's Fauna and Flora 8-3-12

At Chelsea Farmhouse Office, we saw Triplets & Mom on side of the building.....

 One came close enough to see the spots.....

 Everybody's in the field! They did move across to the left and into the woods.....

 After work decided to do a Paw Paw search. We haven't seen any fruit along the road next to the office. Drove down dirt road to back of property and some black vulture's were on a barn roof. Only one stayed around....

 Only saw two pairs of fruit on two Paw Paw trees on either side of a creek valley that has road above it ending with covered bridge. We don't know if the season is over already or there wasn't much of one due to weather!?..

At Last!!!!

A House Grows in Texas!!!....

Critter Visits

Ospreys at Patuxent. Adult.....

 Juvenile female....

 The Chelsea turkey family strolled through the backyard towards the woods. At first one adult silhouette in shadows, seen through the window was shaped like a peacock!!!....

At Home 

A squirrel came on windowsill again to visit Scooter...

 It stayed to eat a peanut!....

 Monday's Night Visitor!!!!......

Tree Climbing 101

Up, up and away!!...

 "Some people call me a woodchuck, or whistle-pig, but I'd rather be a GROUNDhog!"....

Butterflies and Beetles

Red-banded Hairstreak

This small butterfly (upside-down) just sat on the leg of the deck chair today. We didn't know if it was wet in the rain or perhaps caught in a web....

 In this picture you can see there are 4 "tails" on the bottom of the hindwings. (Near top of pic, may want to enlarge)....

 Here's a regular view of the chair to show it's size (less than an inch)...

 It finally started to walk around and then flew up into the magnolia tree...

 Six-spotted Tiger Beetle

One of my favorites. It was at Chelsea farm office (as are the rest of the pictures) in late May. You will sometimes see them on a path or walkway in front of you and as you get too close, they fly up ahead....

Tiger Swallowtail 

This Tiger Swallowtail  looked a little strange and too dark....

 It opened it's wings and we could see there's another sighting with a pigment problem like the grackle! An area of black on the front of the forewings near the body shouldn't be there. Female Tigers can be yellow, but many are the darker form that's black! This one probably couldn't decide what she wanted to wear, so modeled both colors!!....

Mystery Beetle 

We saw this unusual iridescent beetle on the brick porch. It was more colorful in person and was also a cloudy day. When standing above it, it was mostly green and the sides looked almost purple....

 So far it's been IDed as probably a member of the Scarab Beetle family, smaller but similar somewhat to the June Bug....

One of the people who received it's picture is a dear friend, Mary, who is a retired biology teacher and works part time at the Park. I've known her since 7th grade! She was a few years above me and went off to U of MD. Would you believe she sent the beetle's pic to the retired Dr. who was

Chairman of Entomolgy at MD when she and I were there and also when my daughter attended???!!!  Mary said he's never seen it and will check his texts and other files!!!