Butterflies

We've seen so many butterflies this year.  This one is a Tiger Swallowtail.  Our neighbors have a Butterfly bush and we have one, too but not as big as theirs.  We also have some flowers that the butterflies seem to like a lot.  We also see the dark swallowtails that like parsley!  I think they are called Spice Bush Swallowtail.  The caterpillars for these butterflies are quite interesting, too.

Summer Wildflowers

I walked on the Cross Country trail at the college this week and saw these lovely wildflowers.  The first one is called Queen Anne's Lace and it really is very lacy looking.  It's related to carrots but is usually known for it's lovely flower.

Next is Rose-Pink or Bitterbloom.  It's a lovely pink color, a contrast to the many yellow flowers found this time of year.

Last is Black-eyed Susan.  Many people have this growing in their summer flower garden. I do.  But it's also found growing wild in open places like this trail.

I love to walk on the cross country trail- and stay out of the way of the runners!  There is shady woods and open, meadow like areas.  Besides flowers, I see different types of birds and sometimes a deer or a rabbit.  It's a great place to walk.

Leaf Gall Aphids

These Witch Hazel leaves have galls on them caused by an aphid.  This doesn't appear to harm the Witch Hazel plant.  The aphids lay their eggs on the leaves causing this strange growth to occur.  There are many different kinds of aphids and gall making insects.  A common one is the oak leaf gall that looks like a brown ping-pong ball and is made by a wasp.

Katydid

This insect is called a Katydid. It looks a lot like a leaf! These insects are known for their singing. We hear them a lot in the mountains in the summer. There are many insects that sing in the summer, including crickets and cicadas. When you see the size of these insects (they are pretty large for insects) it's still amazing how much noise they make. To me the sounds are a part of summer. But on a summer night with the windows open you might wish they would sing a little softer!

Walkingstick

Saw this interesting insect on our steps here in Montreat. It's called a walkingstick. It lives usually on plants and it eats leaves and twigs. It is a wingless insect and when it's on a plant it's really hard to see. Got a good look at this one standing very still on the steps.

East Ridge Trail in Montreat

We went for a walk on the East Ridge trail in Montreat last week. One area on that trail is so peaceful and beautiful with this lovely fern covering the ground on both sides of the trail which runs along the ridge of mountains of the Blue Ridge range. This fern is Lady Fern and it is this lovely bright green and very soft looking. Also on this trail we saw these pretty red flowers called Fire Pink.

The third picture is Chinquapin. This shrub is in the same family as American Chestnut. The Chestnut was once the dominant hardwood of our eastern forests. It has been wiped out by a blight. We still see some small chestnut trees here in Montreat but they never get very large because they are killed by the blight. The Chinquapin was once believed to be immune to the Chestnut blight but that is not the case and Chinquapin will likely suffer the same fate as the Chestnut.

Early summer at the ponds.

I took a walk to the Beaty St. pond today as well as the pond at Roosevelt Wilson Park on Griffith St. I saw this male Mallard duck and he was pretty friendly. I think he's used to people feeding him. Notice how dark green his head is. The female Mallards are more brown all over and lack the green head.

At the Beaty St. pond I noticed that the algae bloom is beginning. In this picture you can see bands of green on the surface of the water which is the algae beginning to form. As the summer goes on it will get much thicker. One thing that contributes to algae bloom is runoff from lawns and other places. The fertilizer on lawns gets concentrated in the water and provides food for the algae. This can be a problem for fish and other animals living in the pond. In this picture if you look closely you can see a turtle floating just under the surface of the pond. The top of his shell is showing as well as his head.