Ruby-throated Hummingbird

The only hummingbird of the midwest is the Ruby-throated. Pictured are the male with its' dazzling ruby throat and the female which has white underparts with white spots on her rounded tail. Both are iridescent green above. Hummingbirds are easily attracted to feeders with a solution of 1:4 white sugar and water. Boiling water prior to added sugar helps to dissolve it and keep longer. Adding artificial coloring is not necessary as feeders have ample red parts.

Nature's Feeding Stations

Prior to bird feeders hung from wires and bird baths made of concrete, birds used native plants for food and a cool drink. Shown is a male American Goldfinch feeding on the Greyheaded Coneflower and drinking from the leaf of the Cup Plant.

Agelaius phoeniceus

What you are looking at is a Red-winged Blackbird who comes early in the spring and nest around ponds and wet meadows. If you get to close to their nest the male is very vocal and may even hover right over your head. The two pictured are males and one is moving a bit faster than my shutter speed so it appears to be in motion.

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

The Pipevine Swallowtail has a distasteful chemical in its body which keeps rodents, birds, and other predators from eating it. Thus it serves as a protective model for several palatable species that closely resemble or mimic the dark colors of the adult Pipevine. The mimics include the Eastern Black Swallowtail, the Spicebush Swallowtail, the dark form of the female Tiger Swallowtail, and the Red-spotted Purple. Larval foodplants are Dutchman's Pipe, Virginia Snakeroot, Wild Ginger, and Knotweed.

Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)

Today I was in our Tall Grass Prairie looking for a Common Yellowthroat Warbler's nest. I hadn't had any luck when I spied a female Eastern Black Swallowtail. I watched as she jumped around from coneflower to coneflower. All of a sudden out of the grass jumped a male and the chase was on. Finally he seduced her and mating began. For a while I was able to approach them and get several nice photographs. When they did move the male did the flying and in the picture he is on the bottom. I recorded the mating time as 6:15 PM on July 4, 2006. The flower pictured is Echinacea and is located in one of last years prairie plantings.

4th of July

My Dad grew up north of Charleston on a farm in Seven Hickory Township. When he was a young man, he joined the Merchant Marines and traveled all around the world. He told his granddaughter on many occasions that even though he had seen some of the most famous places in the world, there was nothing prettier than a cornfield in central Illinois. An old saying around these parts is that if the corn is knee-high by the Fourth of July then it was going to be a good crop in the fall. As you can see by this picture, the corn is "head high" on the Fourth of July! Guess it's going to be a bumper crop this year.

Great Spangled Fritillary

The Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele cybele) is the largest and most common in Illinois. It is shown here nectaring on Echinacea a native prairie plant.

Giant Swallowtail

Insects are great pollinators of our many wonderful plants. The Giant Swallowtail was doing his job today. He had crawled into the day lily just prior to taking this picture. If you look closely you can see the orange has rubbed off on his wings. The stamens of the flower are very prominent in this photo. The Giant Swallowtail is one of six swallowtails in the midwest and the Giant is the biggest butterfly in North America.

Parent and Teenage Red-bellied Woodpecker

Early this spring we watched as a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers made a home by excavating a cavity in a dead snag. A pair of babies hatched and are now hanging around with the adults learning to feed themselves. As can be seen in the picture, there is great contrast between the adult and the immature. I wouldn't say the baby is an ugly duckling but he/she is definitely a plain jane compared to mom/dad. Sorry about that Jane.

BandedBabyBluebird

Around our immediate property we have 10 bluebird boxes. Many of these have been there for several years and were placed by a Biology Professor and his wife. They study the order in which the eggs are laid and also the order in which they hatch. They also keep track of the babies until they fledge. As seen in one of the pictures, they are banded for later identification. The other picture shows a baby eating a mulberry. Bluebirds usually are insect eaters but evidently, they also enjoy a fruity snack. Several of our bluebird boxes have a second round of eggs. In the past, we have observed three broods from the same pair in one nesting season. This tells us that the habitat is healthy and supplies the baby birds with sufficient nourishment.