Send in your pictures, I implore you! We’re already out of “photos of readers”, and I’d hate to ditch two features.
Today we have wildlife photos from two readers. First up is Roger Sorensen. (All readers’ captions are indented):
Two photos taken at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, east-central MN, of the Common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens), first foraging on Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea) and second, foraging on Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens)
And the next batch comes from Rachel Sperling.
Here are a few photos from some of my recent hikes around New England. First up is a Milbert’s tortoiseshell butterfly (Anglais milberti), which I spotted – along with the rest of the butterflies in this post – in a field near the summit of Mount Ellen in Warren, Vermont.
Next up is a Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton) on what I think is Orange hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum).
Next we have a Great-spangled fritillary, Speyeria cybele. There were a LOT of them on the peak.
Heading south to Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, we’ve got a red eft, the juvenile form of the Eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens). I used to catch these by the bucket-full in the woods after it rained when I was a child. I always let them go.
Lastly, here’s a young Common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina. I encountered this fellow on the trail around the Whiting Street Reservoir, at the Mount Tom State Reservation in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was pretty tiny and he had quite a steep hike up to the nearest body of water, so I gave him a lift (in a Ziploc bag I happened to have handy – he was a little bitey).
A dumb question for those of us who are computer challenged:
How exactly do you send in your photos? By E mail or in the comments section.
I am still stuck in the Twentieth Century.
Thanks!
One way is to click on the Author Website link above, and find his U. of Chicago email.
Forgot to add. In the email you can send photos as jpeg attachments.
Great stuff! Thanks to all for sharing.
The tortoiseshell butterfly is very high on my list of Must See species.
My most-wanted butterfly is American Snout (pretty darn scarce here in Ottawa) but Milbert’s is #2. It’s on the cover of the Ontario guide and supposed to be relatively common, but a friend of mine who’s an experienced butterfly watcher has told me that he hasn’t seen one in some time :-(.
I started “butterflying” about a year ago, and it was a Baltimore Checkerspot that got me into the hobby. A birder I vaguely knew asked me whether I was into butterflies since he’d found a Baltimore. I replied that I wasn’t really but would still like to see it. Beautiful and not really like anything else. That got me going with butterflies even though the same friend I mentioned above later told me that Baltimores are hardly rare here (and indeed I’ve seen many since).
Lovely photos. A beautiful butterfly in a field of flowers is a joy to behold. It occurs to me that I used to encounter red efts in my youth but that sadly I haven’t seen one in a long time.
The B. checkerspot is a special one for me. I had never seen one while growing up, but they do occur where I live now and I do see them. I intensely remember the first time seeing one.
I had actually never seen one before that day on the peak. Or the Baltimore checkerspot. Glad I was able to get a clear photo so I could identify them.
Baby snappers are cute…but they do already have quite a chomp. Later in life, she’ll be DANGEROUS. I helped one (a foot in diameter) cross a busy road (using a long stick for safety).
I hope she makes it. She was pretty far from the water so I wonder if a bird picked her up and dropped her, or her mom simply picked a dumb spot to lay her eggs. She was about the size of a mouse.
Let’s hope she makes it. There probably are statistics on survival, but I’d be afraid to look.
I’ve picked up babies, and they seemed calm. But the adults… something else entirely.
The orange newt is cute. tRump could have one in his hair and not know it. I lived in their range for many years, and yet never saw one. Too bad.
Thanks for the photographs,
Lovely subjects, thanks Roger!