August 12th. A late morning walk east of Cook Hill Road in Lebanon.

 

Carolina Grasshopper (Dissoteira carolina).

 

If not for their shadows, nearly impossible to distinguish from the trail surface.

 

Square-stemmed Monkey-flower (Mimulus ringens).

 

 

 

A very large Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon), stretched out on a railroad tie and partly hidden by foliage and shadows.

 

Cylmene Moth (Haploa clymene).

 

Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on Joe-Pye-weed (Eupatorium maculatum).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta).

 

Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) sunning at the recently removed (Grrr) beaver dam.

 

Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) and Bumble Bees (Family Bombidae) on Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)...

 

...and a Halictid Sweat Bee (Agapostemon virescens) flying in from the left.

 

 

 

At least two species of Skippers (Family Hesperiidae).

 

 

 

August 14th. 52 degrees! A young male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa). Among other clues, males have bright red eyes.

 

 

 

Looks like a young and/or female Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) to me.

 

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor).

 

Three young Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa). From right to left, female, male, male.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just one Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) today.

 

August 15th. A distant hawk. Beyond my limited powers to ID.

 

But Russ Smiley saved the day with a well-researched diagnosis as a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus).

 

August 16th. Caterpillar wandering across the trail (and placed by me on a leafy background for photographs) is "The Laugher" (Charadra diridens).

 

It's in the family Pantheidae; formerly a subfamily (Pantheinae) of the Noctuidae or Owlet Moths.

 

 

 

 

 

August 17th. A late morning check of Grayville Falls. As suspected, almost dry.

 

 

 

Much of this would normally be underwater.

 

Downstream a bit, I checked out an old field, now very grown up.

 

At least the Pasture Thistles (Cirsium pumilum) I remembered were still there for now.

 

 

 

Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) and Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two prettyy ragged Spicebush Swallowtails (Papilio trpilus).

 

 

 

A female Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon)...

 

...and a male.

 

The "business end" of a Yellowjacket, probably Vespula maculifrons, extended from a dried up thistle flower.

 

A couple of pretty generic looking beetles that I can't identify, on (I think) Bushy Aster (Symphyotrichum dumosum).

 

A female Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia). Territorial. It perched on this rock but each time I took a step closer, it would fly. One step back and it would return.