We’ve had lots of visitors in the last few weeks, and wonderful summer weather.    The prairies still have their early summer flowers, and the later flowers are poised to start blooming any day.

A few of those early summer flowers…

Thimbleweed

 

Frostweed – a flower that only blooms in the mornings.

 

White Camas – a plant of ‘special concern’ in Wisconsin

 

Prairie Larkspur

 

Prairie Coreopsis

 

And one of the late summer flowers – Leadplant – just beginning to bloom

 

Butterflyweed flowers have been covered with butterflies – this one has Silvery Checkerspots, Northern Crescents, and one Aphrodite Fritillary.

 

We’re seeing lots of hairstreaks – small dark butterflies chasing each other across the tops of the plants.  This is an Edwards’ Hairstreak.

 

Common Milkweed is in full bloom.  It has wonderfully fragrant flowers, which are very attractive to bees and butterflies.

 

And of course, Monarch caterpillars eat its leaves.

 

We’ve gotten a few new Bench Pictures for our collection …..

A botanical medicine class that wanted to learn about prairie restoration

 

Tristin, who is working on Buffalo County prairie restoration

 

Our friends Shelley and David, and their friends Dick and Ray

 

And more friends – Chris, Marla, Sol and Ruth.

 

A pair of Sandhill Cranes has been stopping by some of the fields along the road.  We keep hoping they’re scouting out a nest location for next year, and that they’ll choose a place on our land.   One day they wandered through the old hayfield below Sumac Prairie – this picture was taken from the other side of the valley.

 

A large bobcat on one of the trail cameras

 

Marcie and Mike on one of the trail cameras….

 

And less than 10 minutes later, in the same spot…..

 

The moth watching has been great – warm nights have brought out all the mid-summer moths.

Reversed Haploa

 

Green-patched Looper  –  or another, newer name – Hologram Moth

 

Virgin Tiger Moth

 

Raspberry Pyrausta

 

Spotted Apatelodes

 

Beautiful Wood-nymph

 

Beautiful Wood-nymphs have bright orange-yellow hind wings which I almost never get to photograph.  Here’s one blurry shot while it was fluttering its way up the sheet.

 

I’ve had other visitors to my moth sheet too.

A Tree Frog

 

And a mouse.