The Common Milkweed in my yard has been done blooming for a good while now. It is still serving it's purpose though as I have been seeing Monarch caterpillars on them recently. This one was the largest one I have ever seen so nice and healthy. Shortly after I took this image it disappeared. I hope it has made a cocoon somewhere and will be a monarch soon.
It's a double digit day! 😁 It's also Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog. Today's flower is one that I don't see blooming very often, Wild Lettuce. It usually blooms July through September. It is in the Sunflower family. The leaves were picked and eaten as greens, the stems are milky though. When grazed, it can cause the milk to have an off flavor.
While I have been out on bike rides lately I have seen a couple of neat birds. One is a lifer that I have yet to capture, Quail. The other is this, a Nighthawk. These I usually only saw out on Konza Prairie but they seem to frequent a farm filed I ride by fairly often. I got this capture a couple of weeks ago. They are fairly distinctive because of the white marks on their wings and also the noise they make while diving after prey.
Happy Monday and happy new week! My Stella D'oro Lilies have been in bloom recently. I captured one of them up close. These are perennial flowers that are very reliable bloomers with very little care.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image goes back to the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 coming through my town on a rainy day this past July. We are lucky that it is a point it comes through on a lot of trips back home to Cheyenne Wyoming. It usually stops as well for a quick maintenance check. I took this image as it was just entering the small rail yard in my town.
A bit different image today. This is a view of the field in Minnesota with the Sandhill Cranes. Even this doesn't really do it justice as this is only about 1/3 to 1/4th of the flock that was there. It was so cool to be able to see and photograph them.
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is one I was able to get recently of a Hummingbird visiting something other than the feeder. It was feeding on my Calibrachoa flowers. I liked the nice soft bokeh behind so sharing today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious here on the Blog!
