This time of year, I'm rarely home in the daylight, so I enjoy the marvelous view on the way to the mailbox.
I ventured out to the mailbox this morning, the sun well up and the thermometer at freezing. Last week's storm blew most of the remaining leaves from the trees, but the sugar maple still flames and the mulberries are showing some green.
A flock of a dozen white-crowned sparrows flit between the rugosa rose hedge and the field, foretelling the coming winter.
The goldenrod are past their peak, but the field is full of these purple-stemmed asters (Aster puniceus). I didn't see any butterflies, but the honeybees are still out and eagerly making use of them.
Oleander aphids (Aphis nerii), another toxin-sequestering milkweed denizen crowd the few remaining green stems. This is the wingless form of this all-female species--each offspring is a clone of the mother.
The white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum) in the woods is blooming, but it's struggling and not as widespread and luxuriant as last year.
A lot of the herbaceous plants have just folded up the tent and that includes most of the milkweed. Adult large milkweed bugs crowd onto whatever remaining green seed pods they can find.
It's interesting that the bugs on this drying pod arranged themselves like the seeds. It's a good trick--I didn't notice them until after I took the picture!
A lot of butterflies are still making use of the goldenrods and asters. This pearl crescent paused for a moment on an aging Queen Anne's Lace, then flew off.
South of Peninsula, beavers have created "Beaver Marsh" from an old auto salvage yard and the remnants of the Ohio & Erie Canal, opened here in 1827 and abandoned by 1913.
It was a bright sunny day and although we were there mid-afternoon when most animals are not very active, there were plenty of things to see.
And a Canada Goose interrupted its nap to wonder about our intentions. A naturalist told us that earlier in the day another lucky goose had narrowly escaped a snapping turtle with its foot intact and only a couple of skinned toes to show for it.
The pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) practically glows. I've seen bluebirds eat the berries, but Wikipedia points out that although some parts of the plant are highly toxic, other parts "can be used as food, medicine, or poison." Sounds like the fugu of the plant world!
I'm finding a lot of Monarch caterpillars this summer. Last year I only found two the whole season. This one is sharing its leaf with a milkweed bug.
I'm newly allergic to hornets, so this time of year I watch my step. This insect really caught my eye, but it's a locust borer beetle (Megacyllene robiniae). The adult seen here feeds on goldenrod pollen and nectar, but the larvae eat the sapwood of black locust trees.
This black morph tiger swallowtail sailed overhead looking as big as a bat. I caught up with her on these asters. Some female tiger swallowtails are dark like this instead of the familiar yellow with black stripes because they mimic the toxic pipevine swallowtail.
I was greeted by a Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos), a common, territorial butterfly that I often see in my field at home. The caterpillars feed on various species of aster.
There were several fritillaries. This one is a Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia). It is a common visitor here, but does not breed in Ohio.
This is a rather faded Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) on a zinnia, probably a female. They mate in early summer, then the females don't lay their eggs until now. By now the males have disappeared.
There were a dozen Black Swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes). It's a common garden butterfly and this one was so intent on its flower that it permitted me to approach it closely.
Tiger Swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) were abundant here too. I grew up seeing these in the woodland canopy, rarely getting a close look. The zinnias and butterfly bushes in this garden brought them in!
A Milbert's Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis milberti) allowed me to get close enough for a picture. The adults feed on rotting fruit and carrion as well as flower nectar. They are at the southern edge of their range here, rarely appearing south of Columbus.
After I left the garden I hiked back along the riverside trail. There was a flock of Summer Azures on jewelweed as I entered the woods, and this Northern Pearly Eye (Enodia anthedon) flitted along the trail. The caterpillars feed on woodland grasses and the adults are common in shady woods feeding on sap flows, carrion, and dung.
On Saturday I wandered down to the mailbox, camera in hand, on a dew-soaked morning that was chilly even though the sun was well up. Summer's winding down--the goldenrod has just started to bloom and the teasel has died back, but there's still some life to be found in it.
Differential grasshoppers (Melanoplus differentialis) are common pests, but here the cold nearly stilled them and they looked like intricate sculptures.
There was a lot of bird activity. The neighbor's pair of house wrens scolded as I walked past and there was a couple of chickadees feeding in the cedars. The chickadees here all appear to be Carolinas but we are within the Carolina-black-capped hybridization zone and they can't be told apart except by direct measurements.
