Nature Notes: August zipping along

Hard to believe that we've already zipped through half of August.

I've finally managed to get some shots of the dragonfly in my yard.

I've shot the yellow form of the swallowtail butterfly but haven't managed to catch a shot of the black form yet.

The rest of the shots in this post are from walks at Shelley Lake and along some of the side trails.

From now through fall there are a mix of ducks and geese that I don't see any other time of the year at this lake, as well as the ones that are year round residents.

These shots are on the side of the lake with the long bridge where it's sometimes quite crowded with water birds but this time of the year they are more spread out and less are congregating on this side of the lake. I'll end with the other side of the lake.

Once we start moving into fall the gulls will arrive if they are true to what they've done for many years but none are at this lake yet.

The ducks are furiously grooming themselves and there are lots of feathers scattered about.

I am remembering to appreciate the green veils in the woodland part of the trail before they begin to change and fall off the trees.

The rest of the shots are from the other side of the lake where I face the long bridge.

There are a lot more ducks and geese on this side of the lake than at any other time of the year.

I'm not sure if the white duck below with the dark bill is a young one and will eventually get an orange bill like some of the others.

I'm pretty sure the mallards below aren't fully grown yet.

The next shot shows some mallards that look like juveniles.

I wish I was better about identifying which ones are grown up and which ones are juvenile.

I enjoy catching interesting patterns in the water when the ducks are swimming.

You can tell that we are finally getting plenty of rain by the way the picnic table that used to be on dry land is now in the lake.

The downspout on the side of the dam where water is released from the lake is starting to have a good flow again which is a nice sight after the trickle not too long ago.

You can't tell from this shot but the large field on the right hand side of the picture below is full of Canadian Geese.

The light wasn't good for wide shots of them but below is a fraction of the number of geese there. This time of year they suddenly appear in that field where other times of the year they cluster on the long bridge side of the lake.

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