Above photograph: Kalmia angustiflolia, Sheep Laurel, in full bloom in a peat bog along Hwy 529.
A few hours of respite from the rain and wind gave some opportunities for further exploration along Hwy 529:
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth uncoiling its proboscis as it approaches Viper’s Bugloss…
Bombus has its refuel probe and landing gear extended as it approaches a clover blossom.
My intent was to photograph the Copper Butterfly. I didn’t see the spider waiting in ambush until I looked into the viewfinder. I wonder if the stalk of grass helped the spider find this spot?
38 seconds later the spider has disappeared …
When I got home I saw where the spider had gone… 3 seconds after the earlier photo one of its legs is visible above the petal at the back of the flower. I wish that I was looking harder at the time of exposure. I might’ve witnessed nature in the raw.
A Common Baskettail is resting here… probably chewing and swallowing black flies…
A Hoverfly (possibly Eristalis interruptus) gathering nectar from Common Yarrow….
Three more Hoverflies, I think….
See: https://meadowhawk.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/hover-flies/ and:
https://meadowhawk.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/backyard-hover-flies/
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring from a Spreading Dogbane…
Correction, especially on this Canada Day!
The “Eyes” on its underside give this butterfly away as a Painted Lady …
The white spots in the dark squares on the back of the inner wings identify this butterfly as a Harris Checkerspot, whose numbers are decreasing rapidly in the US Northeast.
Here is another Vanessa cardui …
The Spreading Dogbane that this Monarch is nectaring from is related to Common Milkweed. Here is a good read:
https://the-natural-web.org/2014/07/08/what-good-is-dogbane/
Bee and fleeing Hoverfly …
More Hoverflies …
And a bee (click on it to see its very strange eye) …
Is this a Fowler’s Toad? It was about 2″ tip to tail….
This Monarch was hanging out on juniper branches next to a patch of milkweeds, not yet in bloom.
Interesting sheen to the hair on the torso of this Painted Lady …
I am not sure what this (Ground Crab ?) Spider is doing here …
But it’s quite obvious what is going on here, on a different Ox Eye Daisy.
Male, uncoiling its proboscis …
Some warmer drier weather is forecast for July. I suspect that we’ll see an abundance of pollinators —- and their predators.
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