Duckling

Some days we go out and I come back with fists full of picture, but other days I haven't taken a thing. That is the way it has been lately. Today we stopped at the Canandiagua City Pier where some folks were tossing bread crumbs to the ducks. This duckling is a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Great Spangled Fritillary

No good pix for the past couple days so no posts. Did get this Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) today.

It has turned into a nice day

This little guy was up about eye level on the stump and so was not scared away by Grenville. He sat there and gave me a time to take his picture. He probably is expecting I will return with a couple 8 x10s (maybe wallet size) for his wall.

Finally Summer...

It is finally summer. I'm glad they put it on the calender because I would have missed it otherwise. It is another overcast day with some misty rain this morning like the last several days. Cought this Buck running across the field in the direction of several Hinds that I missed getting any glass on.

Last day of Spring

This was the sunrise at about 0500 this morning. What's the saying red sky in the morning sailors take warning. Well it rain the rest of the day.

Cloudy with mist

I woke up this morning and realized that it is Friday and the Rosa multiflora was probably at it's peak last Monday or Tuesday. I had to go today if I was going to get any shots. I have not been able to get a good picture and these are no exception. Rosa Multiflora is a highly invasive species which has just total over run the trees and other vegetation here at Stid Hill. It is on the trail and being a Rose it has thorns which rip your arms and legs apart. The only redeeming part is for about a week it blooms with small white flowers that cover everything and are quite beautiful.
Unfortunately the rest of the year it is literally a pain and and is destroying all the other growth.

Rainy day almost didn't post

It was a dull rainy day and this picture is rather embarrassing. Grenville, the great hunter, didn't see the rabbit when we crossed this path the first time and when we came back the stupid rabbit was still there. Grenville started up the path, but saw the camera and turned to pose. He never did see or smell the rabbit which was still there as we left. (Click on image to enlarge)

Not much to get pictures of so I just took this Red Clover.

A dull day

It was a dull gray day so, a great day to take flower pix with a flash. This is a Crown-vetch(Coronilla varia) which we found along the Auburn Trail just west of Victor, NY. This is about mile marker 85 west of Syracuse. The trail is an old railroad which has been repurposed to a walking, biking trail. At this point it only goes through Victor then turns north to Perinton. But the RR went from Rochester to Canandaigua to Auburn then to Syrcuse. I haven't found any maps of the old RR in the area, but would love to see where they went.

Another typical day 70° no clouds

Another typical day here in the Finger Lakes 70° and not a cloud in the sky. Had to go to Canandaigua this morning so we went for a walk on the Ontario Pathways Rail Trail 4.5 miles east of town. Because it was a railroad it is flat and straight, a pleasant walk but not much to take pix of. The wild cherries a just about ripe as you can see. The sides of path are trimmed to high for me to reach them to test if they are ripe. I was going to stay awhile and see what showed up to eat them, but I was feeling faint from the loss of blood caused by the herd of mosquitoes.
A quick shot of a Cardinal on the ground.

Spiders,Butterflies, and Deer

Rained early this morning just enough to get my pant legs all wet in the tall grass of Stid Hill south. It cleared up and was sunny enough to use the big lens for some butterfly and dragonfly hunting in the open field. Got a couple not good pix of a deer as it ran across the field. Would have gotten better shots if I had taken the lens cap off (i did) and Turned the camera ON. The shot above is Goldenrod Spider (Misumena vatia) making a meal of a Little Wood Satyr (Euptychia cymela). I was making a pic of the Wood Satyr and noticed the white lump, but I didn't realize what it was until I got home and reviewed the my pictures.
The White Admiral (Limentis arthemis) was up in a tree so I, being vertically challenged, had a hard time getting a good vantage point but I think this shows the great color combinations of this guy.
This is not the deer I mentioned earlier, it is one I saw in a field as I was driving home. I had seen 2 deer and 2 fawns here about a week ago and hoped to get some pictures of the fawns. I didn't see any fawns but this deer is standing and the fawns wouldn't be tall enough to be seen in the grass.

Flowers and Dragonflies

The Rosa mulitflora is just starting to flower. When in full bloom it covers the trees and bushes of Stid Hill making a great place to get married (if you can time it right). I hope I can get a picture which will capture the real beauty of the location. So far it has escaped my camera. It is important to me to get this image because the plant is tremendously invasive and, with it's rose bush prickers, will rip up your skin on the trail and is smothering and killing the plants it just grows over. For about a week each year it is beautiful, the rest of the year it is just ubnoctious.
This is only the second time I have seen an Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea). Actually I may have seen many but because the are so dark against the sky I didn't realize it.
Late last summer I realized I had taken several pictures of different dragonflies and began to wonder how many there were. I then made an effort to photograph as many as I could. I am up to about 18 different species to date. A big maybe on that number because they are very difficult to identify and I make no claims to have done it correctly. This is an Ashy Clubtail(Gomphius lividus), I think.
This guy is a Hyacinth Glider (Miathyria marcella).

Down by the end of Canandaigua Lake, NY

Today was a good day on the photography front. I got several ok shots. A Yellow Lily at the look-off over Canandaigua Lake. I try not to take pix of domestic plants but this is the exception because of the sky.

A Tiger Swallowtail. They have become very common in the last year. This guy doesn't have the deep yellow that many have which is a disappointment.
A Monarch