Around my yard

June Collecting

June was disappointing, wet,cool and very windy. My bog really didn't produce what I was hoping for, but I did manage to come up with more species.
Both top & bottom views are included for the majority, but not all of those collected.

I was going to wait and post this later, but work schedule looks like I'll post it now.

May's Collecting

This is all I've gotten for May, except for the mourning cloak. I did include the upper and lower views of two, (the Mustard White and the skipper,I haven't had time to sit and identify.) Click on the photo to see larger.

Confessions of a bog walker

I spent yesterday walking in a bog. It's an old bog, completely filled in, thick mat of sphagnum moss, and a tangle of leatherleaf,Labrador tea, and rhodora. All in search of butterflies. Upon spotting one across on the other side, I would, well you can't run,it's like running over semi frozen jello, with a million tripping hazards and ice water. So I would just walk over, way too late to even see the butterfly. Once I got lucky and a mourning cloak flew to me.

It was hot, I got soaked. Got "misplaced".

I had fun.

Maine Butterfly Survey

On Saturday I attended the Maine Butterfly Survey's workshop at Colby College in Waterville,Maine. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, along with UMF and Colby College, and a few other agencies support and run this annual survey to establish what species of butterflies and where they are located in the state. Up until now we really don't know what we have and this project is helping to fill in the gaps.
Today, I spent some time to go over some maps and plan my survey spots. I have 7 stops, and a couple of other places I'll check when I can get to them. One I will be hitting is Bigelow Mt, which I will be able to do when I do the Mountain Birdwatch this June. I hope to make another trip there later in the summer. I also have the summit of Saddleback Mt , (just outside of Rangeley), on my list.
It should be very interesting, can't wait to get started.

Spring!

I know winter ended and spring started back on March 20. Last night we had about a half an inch of snow. That melted off by noon, and the temps went up to 55. I put my xc skis on,(yes we still have that much snow,up to 2 feet in the woods), and went out across the field. That degraded into a shuffle, then slog, and finally I took them off walked across the grass and came back up the road.

Later, I went out and saw a butterfly. What?! Wait! What are you? I chased it down and snapped a picture of it. Camera phones suck, but as a record shot, it works. A Milbert's Tortoiseshell (Aglais milberti), and that is the first of spring butterfly for me.

And the birds are heading back too. A Kestrel made a flyby, and the woodcocks were busy peenting this morning. Saturday night, I go out for owl monitoring. The weather looks bad, but at least I can start a post with "It was a dark and stormy night..."