Wildflowers, An Aerie And Bald Eaglets. Just Another Day In June In Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The weather became hot and humid here in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Since the corona virus restrictions have closed our local restaurants I have lunch at home. Instead of returning to the office I have been taking a walk after I am done eating. On Tuesday I decided to take my camera and macro lens and look for wildflowers and insects near my home. 
In the field near my house I found many comfrey flowers in bloom. Although not a native wildflower this plant is widespread here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It attract many insects, mainly bees, but I didn’t see any on this hike. I hope because it is still early in the year and not because of a further loss of our bees in our area. 
Not was widespread as the comfrey was another pretty flower which I remember from my mother’s garden, columbine or aquilegia. This bell-like flower is also not native but is not invasive either. It grows in shady areas with good soil throughout our area. Please note, I am not a wildflower expert and if I am wrong please comment and correct me. 
As I continued my hike in an old strip mining area that was reclaimed I came across a common native wildflower, the native blackberry. These pretty white flowers will produce delicious blackberries in August. 
I came across this spider on one of the flowers. 
These wildflowers will also produce berries in August. They are elderberry flowers and are also native to Europe but are widespread in our area. 
And one of my favorite wildflowers were now in bloom, the daisy. I have loved this flowers since I first learned of them in first grade. 
My hike took me through a wetland area were I found these pretty and delicate native wildflowers growing, narrow leaf blue-eyed grass. This flower is actually a member of the iris family. 
Also growing in the wetlands areas was this maiden pink another non-native flower that now grows wild in our area. 
There were many yellow buttercups now in bloom. There are many species of this pretty yellow flowers near my home. Some are native to Pennsylvania but I believe this one a creeping buttercup is invasive. Again I am not an expert on flowers and please comment if I am wrong. I do remember my mom and aunts showing me this flowers, putting it under my chin and determining if I liked butter. 
In addition to the wildflowers I also came across this sedge plant and 
this leaf of a sweet fern plant. The sweet fern shrub is native to Pennsylvania and my dad called it the “mushroom bush” because it grew near the birch, aspen and pine woods were we would also find many orange birch bolete or “red top” mushrooms. 
Although I saw very few insects on my three mile walk I did see some tadpoles in some of the ponds along the way. I am not sure were the bees, wasps and butterflies were but I am hoping it was just the heat that kept them out of sight. 
I returned to my house and did some office work at home. It was a beautiful evening, all evenings in June are, and I decided to visit one of the two active bald eagles nests that I have found in my area. 
When I arrived I only saw one of the two eaglets sitting in the nest.
He or she was soon joined by a large sibling. 
I watched the two of them for about an hour, hoping that one of the parents would return with a fish, rabbit or snake. Unfortunately they didn’t and the juveniles were not very active. I hope to return again. Once again I enjoined another wonderful day exploring some more of Nature’ beauty here close to my home in Northeastern Pennsylvania. From the delicate wildflowers to the majestic young eaglets there is always some to see if you keep your eyes peeled. Here is a link to some more photographs of the wildflowers and bald eagles I saw on Tuesday. Macro hike and juvenile bald eagles June 9 2020. 
“What a lonely place it would be to have a world without a wildflower!”
―
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