When we arrived there were 3 inches of rain in the rain gauge, and we got 2 more inches while we were there. We’re beginning to feel like we live in a rain forest.
We had one really amazing rainstorm. It rained harder than I’ve ever seen before, and in 15 minutes we got a little over an inch of rain. We couldn’t see beyond the Y in the driveway, and rain blew into the porch like there were no screens at all. We swept the puddles of water out of the porch – it was like sweeping away a lake. The clouds were wonderful – very dark and ominous.
Lots of insects this week – when we walked down to the wetland in the evening we even found a few mosquitos. There were dozens of dragonflies on the driveway – mostly Common Whitetails, and Twelve-spotted Skimmers.
Here’s a Twelve-spotted Skimmer male
and a female
There were lots of these beetles along the edge of the 3 Finger Valley Prairie – I’ve never seen them before. They were flying around and landing on the grasses.
I talked to Margot Monson and found out that these are Blister Beetles (Epicauta sp.) – they can cause a blister if they’re handled roughly.
And I saw a large bright colored fly in Goldenrod Valley.
Cliff planted the soybeans this week, and when his big machines left, they ran over a Northern Redbelly Snake. I’ve never seen one here before, but they’re supposed to be fairly common.
The prairies on top of the hill are looking great. The Cat’s Paw Prairie still has Prairie Phlox blooming, and now there’s lots of Junegrass in bloom.
The Narrows Prairie doesn’t have much blooming (except weeds), but there will be Black-eyed Susans, Monarda, and Yellow Coneflowers later in the summer.
There are 4 eggs in the Phoebe nest – the one next to the front door. The last time I looked there was one baby, so this must be a second brood. I taped a mirror onto a spatula (so it has a long handle) and now I can look inside. I don’t like to check too often, since the parents must have a hard time of it already, being so close to our front door.
On a walk through Goldenrod Valley, I startled a Wild Turkey from her nest – it was at the foot of an elm tree – very well camouflaged.
