Day 242: August 29th – Dragonflies and Butterflies

Sunny, breezy, and warm low 80s

       There will be more images than words today as we ventured out and quickly realized that there was plenty of action in the world of butterflies and odonates on this beautiful late summer day.  When I checked our butterfly bush earlier in the morning, there were at least a half dozen Painted ladies taking advantage of the bevy of blossoms now on the bush.  I later photographed this one out at Long Pond 

       Among the other butterflies we came across today were…..

          

           Varigated fritillary:

          Great spangled fritillary:

          Checkered skipper:

We also had a good number of dragonflies at Brooks Pond and Long Pond.  Here are images of some of those we saw today…..

       Slaty skimmer:

       Widow skimmer:

       Common Green darner: 

       We did have a couple of nice birds, but they declined to be photographed today.  One of the best was a Broadwinged hawk in great plumage.  The Bear Mountain Hawk Watch will be starting up in a few days and we will be bringing you images of the migrating hawks as they head south.  So I can only imagine that today’s Broadwing was a sign of things to come.