Today's bird is the Kansas state bird, the Western Meadowlark. I had a lot of opportunities to see and photograph them the first half of this year. I like this photo because it shows them in a fairly common state, singing on the prairie. Often I hear them but don't see them. Our Meadowlarks seem to stick around for the most part, all year round and are identified by the yellow breast and black V band at the neck.
Happy Monday and happy new week! It's the September Equinox where we have almost equal day and night hours and we transition into Autumn. Every September Equinox, for the last few years I have been able to see a Monarch on the Goldenrod and this one was no different. It was actually on the 21st which Was the start. The actual Equinox is today at 1:20pm CST. I captured this at 4:47. Anyway, I was excited to see several Monarchs in my yard yesterday, one of which was laying eggs on one of the Milkweeds! Cool!
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! We go back to the Colorado RR Museum today and look at Denver and Rio Grande Western locomotive 683. This Consolidation type 2-8-0 was built in 1890 by Baldwin as Narrow gauge #583. It was later converted to Standard Gauge built for the first standard gauge line between Denver and Salt Lake City. It served until the mid 1950s when it was sold to the San Luis Valley Southern Rwy which allowed it to escape the D&RGW scrapping plan. #683 is the only standard gauge locomotive that remains from the D&RGW. It's looking pretty good but will need some cosmetic work soon due to be stored out on the elements. It would be nice if the museum could get more equipment under cover. They are slowly working on it which is good.
I have seen quite a lot of these butterflies around this year. This is a Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly that was enjoying my Petunias a few days ago. While I was out bike riding in late August I would routinely se huge swarms of them enjoying the Alfalfa fields in the area. I had never seen so many at lone time. I shared a short video of them on YouTube HERE. It doesn't quite do the sight justice but gives an idea of how many there were.
It's Friday, TGIF! My Garlic Chives are flowering. I rarely use them for eating any longer and they spread everywhere and are kind of a pain but the flowers are rather lovely. Kind of like nature's fireworks. I chose this photo for today due to the fabulous bubbly bokkeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
I have not seen many butterflies this year but the ones I have seen have been very nice and were mostly Swallowtails. This is a Black Swallowtail that was enjoying my Echinacea or Coneflowers one afternoon.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is, what I believe is, Wingstem. Wingstem usually blooms in August and September. It usually prefers habitats with partial shade and that is where I found it. It likes rich soils such as along stream banks. It usually grows in moist areas.
