A week not so rich in warblers as I might have wanted, but staying on the trails has its benefits. You look harder and more carefully when the birds don’t appear.

Luna Moth caterpillar ready to pupate.

Large and slow, I kept the caterpillar company as it crossed the trail, so it didn’t get smooshed.

Husband of the she-demon Black Horsefly. He doesn’t bite, she will stab you and make you bleed.

A massive drop of ripe Persimmons fell by Jordan Lake, and as much as these will be appreciated by the racooons, opossums, foxes, coyotes, and deer, they are also full of sweet nectar for puddling Red-spotted purple butterflies.

I waited patiently for bathing warblers one afternoon, but only observed a Northern Watersnake on shore patrol.

Northern Parula (summer resident, male)

Black and White Warbler (summer resident)

American Redstart (female) resident summer warbler

Ah, finally a migrant. Cape May Warbler (immature female)

Cape May Warbler seeking out a spider

Success

and the finishing wipe of the beak after a spider meal

Tennessee Warbler (migrant)

Magnolia Warbler, (migrant) and a bird I dearly love.

Love at first sight. After a long unproductive search of the canopy for warblers, I noticed this minuscule Green Tree frog by the edge of a pond. I had never encountered such a tiny tree frog, barely 3/4 of an inch in length.

As evening fell, the tree frog grew livelier and moved to another Smilax leaf to survey its domain.

So long from Sandy Creek, Brumley, and Jordan Lake.

Love,

Mary K