July Sunset
Here are a couple sunset photos from last night at Stratford Point as we were on duty providing some fireworks coverage here in Stratford, Milford and West Haven for the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds. You can see the reef balls in the distance along our dune and spartina growth in the intertidal zone. We had a couple Black-crowned Night-Heron visitors appropriately join us just after darkness fell on the site. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreMilkweed Flowers
My patch of Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is flowering and looking sensational. While this tasty treat has not had any Monarch butterflies or caterpillars (hopefully just yet) it certainly is attracting all sorts of bees…and that is fine by me! Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreGreat Spangled Fritillary & Eastern Purple Coneflower
I am finally seeing more butterfly abundance and diversity as we enter July, and I could not be happier about that! I photographed this appropriately named Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) nectaring on a fresh Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) during the morning of Independence Day. These pollinator plants are gorgeous and great for attracting beneficial insects to your yard. On Sunday, July 3, I was thrilled to finally see my first of the year Monarch butterflies. What species have you spotted recently? Have you planted anything in your garden to help pollinators...
Read MoreDaisies
It is not officially summer until you stop and smell the daisies so please be sure to make the time to do so this week! While Leucanthemum vulgare is a nonnative resident it certainly has its charms if we only think about the aesthetic. It is hard living among so many often beautiful but sometimes invasive species, and while we should work to rid ourselves of the most virulent to human agriculture or other conservation-priority native species and not add to the problem, we can still appreciate something in our environment without feeling too guilty…I hope! Conservation is not easy....
Read MoreRaspberry Flower
Doesn’t this look delicious? Well, not quite yet, but it will be. Here’s a close up look at a soon to be raspberry. When you are out wandering through nature be sure to take the macro view of things whenever you can. You might discover some very tiny and rather hidden little surprises.
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