Loud chorus tonight!

[rmb...@istar.ca]

I turned my moth lights on an hour ago and just went out to check on
activity. About a dozen moths and a bazillion midges and enough
mosquitoes to be rather annoying. It's like with today's hot weather
a lot of things are trying to make up for lost time.

There are about a half dozen peepers calling, several toads, and LOTS
of treerogs. The trilling is in surround-sound mode.

I shall drink a big glass of water before turning in, that will get me
up during the night, then I can see what kinds of moths are coming to
the lights. There are several beetles, I may pop some into one of the
bug boxes and take pics in the morning in natural light. I try to
stick mainly to moths as the sheer numbers of insects in summer can
become rather overwhelming.

Yesterday I saw my first swallowtail butterfly. This afternoon I
spied a half-size gray ratsnake near the garage and scooped it up to
photograph. As I was heading towards the house there was another one
of identical size, both about 2 feet long. Great fun trying to hold
one snake and snatch up another one. I had my soft crocs on and made
use of one to pin the second one. I'm old and they're quick but I got
'em both wrangled. Took quick snapshots then turned them loose. I
wonder when big ol' Charlie will show up in the garage?

Rose-Marie