Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 322
We are living in smoke-filled air from the forest fires out west and in Canada. Way back in 1988 when I went out on the big fires in Yellowstone Park the smoke from those fires came all the way east also and changed sunrises and sunsets with all kinds of colors. I was there just before the big blowup and the last day they took us in to see the geyser go off and fires were burning all along the road as we traveled there. All these fires merged and burned much of the park. It came up the road from the west toward the main big log lodge and a wind shift was about the only thing that saved it that day. They had water spraying the buildings but when a fire that size comes roaring through all the water you have wouldn’t have saved it. As happened to the main lodge on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
738 wildfires are currently burning in Canada, with at least 201 out of control according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. Air quality alerts from Wisconsin to Maine due to wildfire smoke. It changed the color of the half moon to red in this area.
Finding several monarch caterpillars in various stages on my milkweeds munching away. I haven’t seen any in chrysalis yet, but some might be the way they are eating. I moved a few that were eating themselves out of house and home on some small milkweeds over to the butterfly weed which is in the milkweed family. I saw some on that last year that went into chrysalis. With all this nice sunny weather there have been lots of different butterflies working my flowers. The hummingbirds have been in the beebalm and honeysuckle vine flowers. The beebalms are the longest lasting flowers that I have as they last over three weeks giving the hummers plenty of time to eat there. The young hummers are out and about and still learning how to eat from feeders rather than flowers for a snack. We will be banding them at the Stillwater Restaurant this Saturday 8/9 from 8 to 11am come join us and you may get to hold one in your hand.
The dragonflies and damselflies are flitting around catching bugs out of the air in big numbers. They are fun to watch and photograph as they perch on weeds and flowers. I was watching a few twelve spot dragonflies the other day as they fought for territory and bugs in a wet roadside spot just south of Old Forge. I like to watch them laying their eggs as they fly over my pond and dip down to deposit eggs into the water as they fly along over the surface. Sometimes you might see a trout or bass jump right out of the water and catch one of these for a snack. When there is a big hatch of them near a roadway they get in the road for heat in the sunshine, and they are killed by passing cars. The Ravens and Crows and other birds have found this lunch cart, and you may see the whole family snacking on the roadside. These birds also have found it easy pickings as these dragon flies hatch out in bogs. It takes them a brief time to come out of the water emerging and dry their wings before flight and the Ravens are the smart birds that come in in numbers and pick them off before they take flight. They do this with other large flies like the green drakes. Many times, I’ve seen the seagulls picking these off the surface of a lake on a calm morning as do duck families. Anything out there is fair game for them as they are growing. Loons many times catch these aquatic bugs under water to feed their chicks when they are just off the nest and these bugs are just bite size for the little ones.
The Sturgeon full moon Saturday should be neat to photograph but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo above: Hummingbird in the Beebalm
