Tuesday, September 06, 2016

A Drying Wetland

I decided to head over to the Brookside Ave. wetland yesterday to check out the situation; it's not good. The network of little streamlets is still running, but at a much lower level and very sluggishly. Burd Run is down to a trickle. But worst of all, the collection pond in the middle of the wetland is bone dry. There are no waterfowl hanging out; the usual population of Canada Geese, Mallards, Great Blue Herons, and Killdeer are just gone, off to find water elsewhere.

Despite all the dryness, the place is still remarkably green; even the Cattails in the dried-out pond are alive and well. And the wildflowers in the meadows are blooming up a storm - Goldenrod, Boneset, New York Ironweed, Purple Loosestrife all provide a colorful palette to the place. And all those flowers have attracted an amazing variety of butterflies. So today I'll show you all the ones I managed to capture yesterday morning. Enjoy!

The bone dry collection pond; the former bottom mud is dry and cracked
European Skipper
Variegated Fritillary
Cabbage White
Clouded Sulphur
Common Buckeye
© 2016 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

2 comments:

  1. You did capture some beauties despite the drought conditions.

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  2. Wow, that first shot looks pretty bleak.

    ReplyDelete