Crops & Clips: Flashback to June, 2020

On the first Thursday of each month, I enjoy looking back over my archived photos, taken three years previously, to remember how things were then as contrasted with events this year at our new home in Connecticut. As usual, I searched for images which reflected favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and clouds, reflections, flowers and scenes which speak for themselves. 

My first bird photo of the month was a dawn portrait of a Tricolored Heron at the edge of the large lake in the local Wounded Wetlands:

On June 5 this Gray Kingbird was the first I had ever encountered locally, though they are fairly common near the coast:

The local Bald Eagles concluded a successful breeding season. Both eaglets fledged and returned to the nest to be fed:

A Carolina Wren posed nearby:

The plumage of an adult male Northern Cardinal contrasted with that of an immature male, which additionally has a dark bill:

A fledgling Boat-tailed Grackle, as large as its mother, begged to be fed:

A Killdeer stood by near its nest, which contained four eggs:

The nest was exposed out in the open, yet blended in with the gravel:

Common Nighthawks were also nesting and active into daylight hours. This is a male, as indicated by bold white throat and wing markings:

I heard the calls of three Eastern Screech-Owls. This red morph adult was out rather late in the morning:

Nearby a brownish individual may have been one of its offspring, as it had a few wisps of natal down:

This one appeared to be another adult, also somewhat reddish brown. Adult birds are either rusty reddish or brownish gray :

A Pileated Woodpecker flew over:

An immature Bald Eagle suddenly rose up from its roost on an old power pole:

Even on one of those gray mornings, beauty visited our back yard in the form of a Great Egret:

A Double-crested Cormorant roosted on our goose decoy:

We often got out in cool  morning darkness to enjoy the night sky. Waning full Strawberry Moon on June 8...

...and crescent on June 16:

On June 8 l also obtained an iPhone image of Saturn, Jupiter and Moon, aligned:

Barred Yellow butterfly on Bidens alba (aka Beggarticks or Spanish nettle):

White Peacock on Lantana:

It was the beginning of a very busy Atlantic hurricane season, so we kept an eye on the weather forecast. Eventually there would be a record total of 30 named tropical or subtropical cyclones in 2020, of which 14 developed into hurricanes. Traditionally, the Weather Service gives them sequential names in alphabetical order, but they ran out of letters and had to use the Greek symbols. Some brushed by Florida but none made direct hits. Although June 1 is the "official" start of hurricane season, two had already developed in May.

Unsettled sky at sunrise on June 18:

This week's header: Great Egret

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Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Garden Affair

All Seasons

Image-in-ing

Nature Notes

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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