Anyway, I am very fortunate to live in an area with so many local parks and hiking trails. One of my favorites these days is Secluded Farm, a Nature Conservancy property attached to the Monticello-Saunders Trail just south of Charlottesville. There are several miles of trails through forest and meadow, with an abundance of life. This time of year milkweed and dog bane cover the open areas, and tanagers and wood thrushes serenade walkers through the wooded places.
I went out this morning, stopping first at the small frog pond at the base of the trail. When I've been recently, it's been filled with about half a dozen green frogs, but this morning was occupied by 4 bullfrogs.
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| Bullfrog |
Bullfrogs are pretty voracious predators, so I don't want to think too much about the absence of green frogs.
I had a somewhat late start, so most of the birds were tucked into the woods and bushes to escape the too-early, central Virginia heat and humidity, but I was fortunate to find an Eastern Wood Peewee on the edge of the woods. I see phoebes a lot at home, so I had to look at least twice before I realized I was seeing the peewee this time. Cool!
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| Eastern Wood Peewee |
As I said before, the open areas are fully of milkweed, and the common milkweed is in bloom now. Variegated Fritillaries, Eastern Tailed Blues, and Swallowtail butterflies are in abundance. I did a cursory check for monarch caterpillars, but didn't spot anything. That doesn't mean they aren't there, I just didn't want to battle the poison ivy (seemingly the third most abundant field plant at Secluded Farm) to do a more in depth search. I did come across a couple big pockets of Milkweed Beetles, though.
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| Variegated Fritillary |
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| Variegated Fritillary |
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| Milkweed Beetle |
The thunder is starting, so I'm off. One couldn't be faulted for thinking it's July with it's hot, humid days and daily afternoon thunderstorms. Sadly, it's still barely June. The forecast is calling for an unusually hot month. That's climate change for you.
