A walk around our very muddy college campus yesterday turned up hardly any birds at all. The exceptions were a handful of Mourning Doves, a score of Common and Great-tailed Grackles, and a single Loggerhead Shrike. I was pleased to see the latter, though, because it was the first time I'd seen one of our resident Shrikes since the early summer.
If birds were lacking, butterflies certainly were not. Small yellow and white examples were everywhere but all too fast-moving for me to photograph.
Several Gulf Fritillaries were enjoying shrubs on the edge of the soccer fields.
A rather worn Giant Swallowtail led me quite a dance along the nature trail before letting me grab a quick photo.
This Black Swallowtail was the most striking of them all.
Nice butterfly pictures. It seems to have been an especially good summer for butterflies. They've been many and varied in my yard.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have seen a lot this year. Some of them have been species I've never seen in other years here.
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