Tag Archives: autumn

Autumn Moth

Posted on October 23, 2011 by

The arrival of autumn has slowed my ability to take closeup photographs.  I have less light when I get home, and less time because I have to haul my son from football practice.  I am working on getting firewood cut and split–that … Continue reading →

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Peck’s Skipper

Posted on October 6, 2011 by

I took another vacation day yesterday.  I had some chores to do–I cut down an old elm tree to use for firewood and did a few other things around the house. It was a magnificant October day in Iowa, and … Continue reading →

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Another Syrphid Fly

Posted on September 26, 2011 by

One of the three common syrphid flies found in our prairie right now is this one, apparently in the genus Helophilus.  This one is quite a bit larger than the others, at about half an inch (13 mm).

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Milkweed Happenings

Posted on September 22, 2011 by

The seed pods of common milkweed have dried up and split open.  Lightweight brown seeds attached to silky threads have found their way out. This one has found its way onto a New England aster.

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Is This our Old Friend or Someone New?

Posted on September 20, 2011 by

I have posted a number of photographs of ruby meadowhawks, Sympetrum rubicundulum, in the recent past.  I think this may be a white-faced meadowhawk, Sympetrum obtrusum.  They look quite similar except for the color of the face.

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A Drone Fly

Posted on September 19, 2011 by

A number of insects are visiting the flowers now.  They seem pretty restless–they visit a number of flowers and do not stay long on any of them. I’ve seen a few butterflies–all moving fast and not staying long. This is … Continue reading →

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Red Admiral

Posted on September 8, 2011 by

It’s getting late in the year for butterflies.  Most that I see are old and ragged from the few weeks of hard living that they have been through.  I ran across this red admiral, however, which was still in pretty … Continue reading →

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A Hazelnut Harvest

Posted on August 30, 2011 by

I picked a bunch of hazelnuts off of the two bushes we have in our yard the other day.  I got about a paper bag full of nuts still in the husks. Hazelnuts are a seasonal crop and you can’t find them in the stores … Continue reading →

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Hazelnuts

Posted on November 20, 2010 by

About ten years ago we planted a couple of hazelnut bushes at our place.  It took about seven or eight years before they started producing nuts.   Now they are thick, at least on one of the bushes. The only problem … Continue reading →

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