When I go to visit Mom and Dad, half of my drive is on highways and half is on back country roads. Today I took my camera because I was hoping to get some photos of the sheep that live on a farm I pass on the drive. The back roads border cornfields, and many times there are patches between the two that are full of “weeds”: Queen Anne’s lace, buttercups, clover, chicory, various grasses, fleabane, and others. If you are interested in ditches and meadows in Pennsylvania, a nice short article can be found here.
Today, the sheep were too far away in the pasture, so I decided to stop at a weed patch to see what I could find.
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Roadside weed patch.
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Mystery yellow flower.
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Chicory.
The weather was beautiful: a sunny, clear 80 degrees, a truly welcome break from the blasting heat and humidity of the entire month of July. I stood for a few moments and looked around. There were many plants I didn’t know, but the patch was covered mostly in clover, Queen Anne’s lace, and chicory, and they were covered in bumble bees.
Bumble bee on chicory.
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Common Eastern bumble bee on clover
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Common Eastern bumble bee on chicory
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Common Eastern bumble bee on clover
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Common Eastern bumble bee on chicory.
I also saw Swallowtail and Monarch butterflies, but none came close enough to shoot. I was able to get close to an Eastern Tailed Blue (Everes comyntas), a Pearl Crescentspot (Phyciodes tharos), and Skippers (Silver-spotted Skipper–Epargyreus clarus). I had to look up the Eastern Tailed Blue. You can’t see the tail when the butterfly is in flight, but it is obvious in the photos. They can also be identified by the two orange spots on the bottom of the hind wing right above the tail. The Pearl Crescentspot is one of the most common butterflies in North America.
Eastern Tailed Blue.
Eastern Tailed Blue.
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Skipper on clover.
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Skipper on clover.
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Skipper on clover.
Skipper in flight.
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Silver Spotted Skipper on chicory.
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Pearl Crescentspot.
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Silver Spotted Skipper on chicory.
After I finished shooting, I stood again and just looked around. Even though I didn’t get shots of anything as dramatic as a Swallowtail or Monarch, I’m happy I took the time to stop. I was reminded to be grateful for the beauty in the everyday:
“There’s a poem in every flower,
a sonnet in every tree,
a tale in every lifetime
it’s just for you to see…”
From “Beauty in Nature” by Arti Chopra