Another Summer Walk At The PPL Wetlands.

Another Summer Walk At The PPL Wetlands.

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It’s hard to believe last weekend was the was the last one in July.  It seems it was just Spring and now Summer is in it’s full splendor here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I spent Saturday searching for and finding a lot of wild mushrooms. I walked over 12 miles so I decided to take a short hike through the PPL Wetlnads on Sunday morning. 

It was a clear and cool morning  when I arrived at the wetlands and I found a few turtles leaving the waters early to enjoy the warm late July sun on the logs in the canals and ponds. This big  fellow was an old timer and could be a many decades old. turtle on log

I didn’t see an eagle or and osprey on this walk, but I saw many of the usual robins, red winged  blackbirds, this is a female female red winged blackbird

and noisy catbirds.catbird on tree branch

I again saw many fly cathchers perched on the trees and shrubs along the wetlands taking advantage of the many insects that are now present here. flycatcher on tree branch

The bull thistlebee on bull thistle flower

and other plants are still attracting a vatirty of insects, moths wasps bees and butterflies ,butterfly on flower

but the milkweed is done flowering and is setting forth it’s seed pods, which still attarct some insects. insect on milkweed

The black berries and elderberries are now ripe, and the nuts on the hickory and black walnut trees in the wetlands continue to develop. 

The many families of geese that are in the area of the wetlands  have been joining togehter in larger flocks as the summer season moves on. Here is a link to some more photographs of birds I saw on my walk https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-2017/nggallery/photographs-2017/PPL-wetlands-birds-July-30-2017

And the wetlands were now filled with the sounds of this insect the cicada , it is amazing how much noise this little fellow can make. 

 

I didn’t spend as much time looking for things to photograph last week since I was off in search of mushrooms, as I will be soon after I finish and post this, but once again, as it always , I had a pleasant summer walk in the wetlands. 

 

I am now noticing the  days are already getting shorter and the first signs that summer will not last forever here in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, but I am going to enjoy every last day of it. Here is a link to some more photogrpahs from my hike in the wetlands last week. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-2017/nggallery/photographs-2017/PPL-Wetlands-July-30-2017-

 

“Again and again, the cicada’s untiring cry pierced the sultry summer air like a needle at work on thick cotton cloth.”―Yukio Mishima,