Can Winter Be Far Away?

Looking out from our back window over our dock and the lake.

A Nice Buck

A Tufted Titmouse Peering In At Us

A Junko (Snowbird) And A Cardinal Sharing A Snack

A Female Cardinal Weathering The Snow

A Male Cardinal In The Snow

Three Deer Enjoying Our Backyard

She Doesn't Want To Be Bothered

Butterflies

Plant a butterfly bush and you will get butterflies. This axiom seems to be true as the following pictures will show. However, butterflies also are attracted to bright colors such as other plants and even swim trunks. Not being an expert on butterflies, I tried to identify the butterflies that visited us this summer by using the book "Butterflies of Ohio, Field Guide" by Jaret C. Daniels. Hopefully, my identifications are correct. Enjoy the pictures of these fragile creatures of God's creation. Left click on the pictures to get an enlarged view.

Atlantis Fritillary

This butterfly is primarily a northland butterfly with its range dipping into northeastern Ohio. It was attracted to our grandson's swimming trunks. It's wingspan is 2.40-2.75".

Atlantis Fritillary

The under side of the Atlantis Fritillary shows the amazing beauty of this butterfly with the metallic silver spots.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

This butterfly is easily recognized by its bold, black stripes and bright yellow wings. It has a wing span of 3.5-5.5". This picture was taken on our butterfly bush.

Silver-spotted Skipper

This butterfly is named for the distinctive pure, silver-white patch on the lower part of the hind wing. It has a wing span of 1.75-2.40".

Cabbage White (European Cabbage Butterfly)

This butterfly was accidentally introduced from Europe about 1860. It is generally abundant in Ohio. We have observed several of these butterflies flying together in a slow, awkward flight pattern. Its wing span is 1.5-2.0".

Mulberry Wing

This is a small butterfly with flight limited to short distances , alighting frequently. Thay have a wingspan of 1.0-1.4".

Pipevine Swallowtail

This butterfly is common in southern Ohio, becoming more scarce in northern Ohio where we live. They are fond of colorful flowers - this one was attracted to a rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan). It has a wingspan of 2.75-4.00"

Great Spangled Fritillary

This butterfly is the most conspicuous and wide-spread fritillary in Ohio. We enjoyed an abundant number of them this summer. There wingspan is 2.9-3.8".

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

This little moth enjoyed the butterfly bush. It is common throughout the northern United States, ranging as far north as Alaska.

Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are the smallest of North American birds. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is common and the only hummingbird east of the Great Plains. Only the adult male has the bright red throat. These birds feed while hovering over flower blossoms using their long, slender bills to reach into tubular flowers. However, if one has a hummingbird feeder then they can be observed sitting on the feeder. Males make a "pendulum" courting flight, with distinctive patterns to their flight. The movie captures some of these maneuvers.

Hummingbirds' Flight Maneuvers

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The Pause That Refreshes

After all that flying, this male came in for a landing on the feeder.

A Male Hummingbird

The hummingbirds like this sugarwater we keep available for them.

A Female Hummingbird

This female hummingbird likes to sit on the crook when the other hummingbirds are not bothering her.

Rest Time

This is the most unusual picture of a hummingbird that we have ever taken. Sometimes birds will hold out their wings to dry them off after a rain. This day the temperature was in the 80's and there had been no rain for several days. For some reason this hummingbird decided to rest on the railing - maybe to cool off? We were fortunate to get a picture of her.

Farm Tour

Holmes County, where we live, hosted a Farm Tour on Saturday, August 23, 2008. There were 10 stops throughout the southwestern part of the county. They included in part a nursery, bee hives, llamas and alpacas, a vineyard, FFA displays at the high school, and one of the most interesting was a dairy farm. Some of the scenes of this Jersey cow dairy are shown in the subsequent pictures. The dairy farm is currently milking 360 cows, twice each day. Because of the higher butter fat from Jersey cows, a pound of their milk produces about 30% more cheese than a pound of milk from Holstein cows.

Part of 360 Jersey Herd

This is a small part of the Jersey herd as the cows make their way into the barn.

Holding-Feeding Barn

This barn was empty when we arrived at the dairy farm. The next picture was taken about 10 minutes later.

Feeding Time

Cows are fed and held in this barn until it is their time to be milked.

The Milking Parlor

This milking parlor can handle 20 cows at a time. Three men handle the milking which is conducted two times each day.