It’s really summer now – the leaves are thick and deep green. The weather has changed suddenly to warm and humid with big thunder clouds. We got almost 2 ½ inches of rain from the thunderstorms a few days ago.

The first Monarchs have arrived. This is the first one I saw – on May 26th.

The Giant Swallowtails arrived on May 23rd – the earliest I’ve seen them here.

American Toads, Gray Tree Frogs, and Spring Peepers are all calling now. When I walk out to the front in the evenings to listen, I can hear them all coming from different directions. They seem to like to live in different parts of the wetland.

This is the pond where I go to listen for frogs.

These are the Gray Tree Frogs calling – taken after dark.

These are American Toads in the same pond.

Here you can hear them calling.

Our friends Dick and Finette came to visit and we took them for a very energetic walking tour of the farm. We walked up the steep hill behind the house to Indian Grass Point.

Then to Hidden Oaks Point.

The apple trees were in full bloom.

We saw a Black-billed Cuckoo.

Finette found the first flowering orchid I’ve seen this spring.

Showy Orchis (Galearis spectabilis)

orchid flower

This is a good year for Eastern Tent Caterpillars. They make big tent-like webs in trees – mostly species of cherry. This is one of the webs.

This is what the caterpillars look like.

Later in the summer they turn into small brown and white moths . I like seeing the caterpillars because I know that I’ll be seeing lots of Cuckoos this summer. Tent caterpillars are a favorite food of both Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos.

Here’s a feather I found lying on the path – I think from a Red-tailed Hawk.

There are wonderful flowers blooming now in both the planted prairies and the remnants. The brightest flowers in the planted prairies are the Indian Paintbrushes (Castilleja coccinea).

Most Indian Paintbrush flowers are red, but one of the plants near the house has a yellow flower.

Indian Paintbrush with Lupine.

In the remnant prairies I’ve been finding

Yellow Star Grass (Hypoxis hirsuta)

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

Violet Wood Sorrel (Oxalis violacea)

Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans)

Robin’s Plantain (Erigeron pulchellus)

Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens) on Hidden Oaks Point

Bastard Toadflax (Comandra umbellata) in the Knife Edge Prairie

Bastard Toadflax

This is Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) growing in the woods.

Rough Buttercup (Ranunculus hispidus)

American Gooseberry (Ribes americanum)

Swamp Saxifrage (Saxifraga pennsylvanica) in the wetland

Chokecherry tree (Prunus virginiana)

Chokecherry flowers

Hawthorne trees start later than the other flowering trees – their blossoms come out after the leaves. The flowers have a very strong smell that some people don’t like.

Hawthorne (Crataegus sp.)

Hawthorn flowers

A young male Orchard Oriole checked out our feeders a few days ago.

There are more butterflies and now that the weather is warmer.

Black Swallowtail

This is a tiny moth that I found next to the muddy stream that comes from the spring near the cabin. It’s only about 1/3 of an inch long, and difficult to get close to. It’s called an Orange Mint Moth (Pyrausta orphisalis) – its caterpillars feed on Monarda and other mints.

The woodchucks in the rocks behind the house took their babies over to the big woodpile, and now one of them is making a new nest in the rocks. It has spent a couple of days collecting leaves and grass. Here it is with a mouthful of leaves, heading for its hole.