Stormy start, sunny
and hot afternoon, stormy finish
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After a stormy start to the
day with a strong thunder storm rolling across Storm King Mountain, the skies
eventually cleared and the day became…..what else? “hazy, hot and humid”. We figured that this would be a good day to take the
grandkids out to the local beach at Long Pond. Only Emily took us up on the offer as the boys had other
plans. When we arrived at the
beach, the local authorities had already closed the area and sent the patrons
and staff home in eager anticipation of the impending storm. I had heard on the news that the storm’s
ETA had been pushed back to around 9:00 PM and just didn’t get the premature
concern. 
Anyway, Em and I decided to
take a ride out on Mine Road so that I could introduce her to the Indigo
buntings that reside there all summer.
We were not surprised to find one singing it’s refrain of “Fire, fire,
quick, quick, put-it-out, put-it-out” while perched on a phone cable
overhead. Em got good looks
through the bins while I snapped off a couple more images of this beauty. I’ve probably shot this bird 2 dozen
times in the same pose along the same stretch of road, but it never ceases to
entertain me.
What we quickly began to
notice today was the bright sunlight illuminating a rich palette of colors
along the roadside. We had blue
chickory, rich yellow goldenrod, black-eyed susan’s, and purple
loosestrife. Some of the
wild-flowers like this Joe Pye Weed were ornamented with complimentary colors supplied by butterflies
like the ubiquitous Tiger swallowtail.
American goldfinches were
about and even the dragonflies added their iridescent hues to the mix. The Slaty skimmer and Widow skimmers
wings emitted a spectral aura in the brilliant sunshine not to be missed.
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| Slaty skimmer |
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| Widow skimmer |
By the time we headed home,
around 4:30 or so, the skies were still cobalt blue and the foliage of the
trees were emerald green. Quite a
colorful afternoon in the “calm before the storm”.
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