LCSP

Here's a LeConte's Sparrow last month in Missouri.

A Slow July

Last July, from the looks of my photos, was a slow one.  In fact, during the quiet summer months, I shift more towards butterfly and dragonfly photography.  Here are some photos from July, 2021.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in Iowa (it was a new state bird for me):

Horace's Duskywing:

Eastern Amberwing:

Mississippi Kite was one of the more interesting local breeders, in my opinion:

I was happy to find this dragonfly, one I'm not sure I had seen before.  Flag-tailed Spinyleg:

Snowberry Clearwing.  It's a moth, by the way:

I'm not sure which species... but we know it's a bumblebee:

Zebra Swallowtail:

Jade Clubtail:

White M Hairstreak:

Meanwhile, the House Wrens nested in the wren box.  They raised two broods.  Sometimes an adult would sit in the hole and seemingly fall asleep:

Silver-spotted Skipper:

Peck's Skipper:

Bronze Copper:

Twelve-spotted Skimmer:

Mark Twain Lake:

Mississippi River from a park in Hannibal:

Last June

It looks like I haven't posted anything since June 2021!  Here are a few more pictures from that month.

Song Sparrow in New York:

Willow Flycatcher also in western New York:

Grasshopper Sparrow with food, in Ohio:

White-tailed Kite in Ohio!  This was a long-staying rarity that I looked for several times.  FINALLY my effort paid off: 

Quick Colorado

On a whim, I decided to drive to southern Colorado in hopes of seeing the mega rare YELLOW GROSBEAK that showed up at feeders.  Normally found in western Mexico, this one in Colorado was a first for that state.  Anyway, once I *finally* arrived after the epic drive, the bird was there and most obliging:

The great feeder setup had a wealth of other things visiting such as this WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (these are a different subspecies from the ones we have out east):

BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD:

LEWIS'S WOODPECKER:

BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD:

BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK:

WOODHOUSE'S SCRUB-JAY:

BLUE GROSBEAK:

CANYON TOWHEE:

New Iowa state bird

Things have been low-key since migration has started to slow down.  One day I drove up to the extreme SE tip of Iowa to hopefully find the PRAIRIE WARBLER that has been on territory there.  It was quite an adventure but, in the end, I did manage to find it:

More expected, although not common, were a couple of KENTUCKY WARBLERS on territory there as well:

This butterfly, a common species of anglewing, is called a QUESTION MARK:

And over in the city of Keokuk, a SNOW GOOSE was still chilling, in the 90 degree heat, along the river:

Back in Hannibal, I've done some more exploring of various creeks and have found some really neat, lush, and scenic spots:

Although not rare, NARROW-LEAVED BLUE-EYED GRASS can be found around here lately as well (and they just beg to be photographed):