Longest Days of the Year

Photo taken at approximately 9:45 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Venus Transit

Venus transit across the sun is barely visible in this shot taken at sunset.  It appears as a faint speck above the smokestacks at Nanticoke in Ontario, Canada (click on photo for an expanded view).

Incoming Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms moving into western New York over Lake Erie this morning.

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

Wild Roses

We have a gigantic wild rosebush on our property that normally begins blooming in mid-June.  I have never before seen it with open roses during the month of May!

Osprey with a Fish

Female Hummingbird

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird surveying her territory from high in a tree.

Good Morning!

Partial Solar Eclipse at Sunset

Cornflower

Orange Camouflage

Female Oriole feasting on oranges.

Chipping Sparrow

Sweet little guy crashed into a window and was stunned for a short while but eventually recovered and flew away.

Mothers Day Sunset

Happy Mothers Day!

For Mothers Everywhere!

Perpetual Favorite

The American Goldfinch

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Super Moon!

Photo taken around 8:30 p.m. in the town of Arkwright, New York

Torpor Tonight?

Temperatures tonight will be flirting with the freezing mark.  The recently arrived hummingbirds are really filling up this evening.  It seems they know it's going to be a cold night and are preparing for noctivation.  Here's a great article about how they survive the cold:  http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2006/04/hummingbirds_and_torpor.php

Question Mark Butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis)

First Day Back

First of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to show up in the area for the summer.  If only they could tell us about their amazing travels...

Neotropical Arrivals

Baltimore Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, House Wrens and Black & White Warblers all made their first appearances in the yard today with the warm front that rolled into Western New York.  Pictured above is a female Oriole (with fresh grape jelly on her beak!).

Crane Flies

A pair of Crane Flies mating in one of my flower beds.  They look like giant mosquitoes but they don't bite and are very beneficial in the garden.

Good Morning

Afterglow

The actual sunset over the lake was blocked by clouds but then a nice afterglow appeared about a half hour later.

Cold Snap!

Frozen Apple Blossoms

Doe with a "Baby Bump"

Admire the Admiral

Red Admiral on Dandelion blossoms.

Sacral Colors

Sacral colors in the sky this evening!

The Sky is the Limit!

Another amazing sunset over Lake Erie tonight!

Return of the Red Admirals

An unusually large migratory influx of Red Admiral Butterflies (Vanessa atalanta) arriving in the area today.  

Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Cabbage White Butterfly

Trout Lily

The tiny Trout Lilies are in bloom.  These endangered wildflowers live in old growth colonies that can be as much as 300 years old.  All Trout Lilies in New York State are protected by law.

Lesser Scaup Drake

Yummy!

Three week old kid named "Blossom"

Hello to Spring!

Farewell to Winter

The Golden Hour

Pretty Maidens All in a Row

Spring Prelude

Signs of Spring

American Robin