Daily Bucket: The last of summer's color

by fll7612 for Backyard Science

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2016 Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2016 at 5:06:47am PDT

no image description available — The bumblebees were loving this

The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.

September 28,2016

A picture heavy diary to get the last of the summer blooms in. Fall is just about here. All but the first and last two pictures were taken with the defective, old camera. I promise no more fuzzy pics after this diary.

early September goldenrod — Goldenrod everywhere

September colors are definitely purple and yellow around here. Even after cropping the photograph to death, it’s impossible to tell that the purple flowers below are asters, so I’m afraid that you’ll have to take my word for it.

asters and goldenrods still blooming in late September — Asters and more goldenrod

unknown late summer flower — Unidentified

I have a feeling that the photo below is too fuzzy for an id, but I have no idea if the butterfly is a monarch or a viceroy. I want to say monarch. This one was gorging himself on the cattails.

butterfly eating — By the end of the day it was stripped bare

dragonfly and killdeer on pond — killdeer and a dragonfly

Can you find both turtles?

two turtles and a killdeer on the pond — Two turtles and an almost invisible killdeer

These last photos were taken last week when the resident juvenile GBH had to spend most of the day protecting his pond from potential rivals. I was still figuring out the new camera and was using the lcd screen so I did not capture any of the action, but there was a lot of indignant squawking, staring and finally aerial chasing. As you can see in the pic below he fluffed up his feathers to make himself look as big and intimidating as possible.

juvenile GBH making himself look bigger by fluffing his feathers — See how big I am?

By about 6:30 pm after chasing off one last intruder, he’d had enough. I think he’d worn himself out. Being king of the pond takes a lot of energy and staying that way is a full time job.

******* "Spotlight on Green News & Views" will be posted every Saturday at noon Pacific Time and every Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary. *******

Now It's Your Turn

What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.

Thank you.