Crops & Clips: Flashback to July, 2013

We started the month of July, 2013 at our second home in Illinois, having just returned from our RV trip through Arizona and Utah. Join me once again as we direct the Retrospectroscope and flash back to events three years ago. As usual I will look for photos in my archives to meet the themes of SKY, REFLECTION, FENCE, MACRO and CRITTERS. And, I will add FLOWERS for Denise's meme. I succeeded in finding examples of all!

Construction on the new housing was proceeding at a fast pace. Yet this Red-tailed hawk roosted on a street light as if refusing to believe that our front yard was no longer a prairie rich with prey:



At Nelson Lake preserve, milkweed was in bloom and thistles were going to seed, ideal conditions to begin the nesting season for the American Goldfinches: 



The Common Milkweed looked too healthy; there were no signs of Monarch butterfly larvae:



A Song Sparrow perched on a Sunflower bud. In a few weeks the prairie will turn into mid-summer gold:



Tiny energetic Sedge Wrens were in full song:



Common Yellowthroats were, well, common:



The songs of Red-winged Blackbirds resounded all along the path:



Then, presto! We were back home in Florida, out early on the local wetlands as rain threatened:



Rain began falling out of a blue sky and we were rewarded with a rainbow as we exited our birding patch:



Florida Box Turtles manage to survive in the wounded wetlands. This one was crossing the path in front of us:



An immature Tricolored Heron struck a pose reminiscent of one of John James Audubon's watercolors:



Three Common Nighthawks flew together and one repeatedly "boomed" me-- diving down low and pulling up sharply. The sound is created by its wing feathers just as the bird starts to regain altitude:



A Great Blue Heron on our lake posed in front of a neighbor's fence:



During mid-month we had a rainy spell which persisted for over a week. One morning a Marsh Rabbit emerged from the water of a ditch along the path. Although a form a Cottontail, it is darker, has smaller ear, shorter lags, and lacks the white on its tail: 



Note the yellow eyes on this Eastern Towhee. Further north this species has red eyes:



The female towhee has brown where her mate is black:



This fledgling Eastern Towhee had me stumped as to its identity until a parent joined it:





A male Soldier butterfly:



A Morning Glory:



At the end of the month a back yard Wood Stork let me capture a video about its foraging habits (If video fails to load, CLICK HERE):

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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Today's Flowers Friday by Denise
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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