Eastern Black Swallowtail

Photo by CWR reprinted with permission

Today is Memorial Day 2020. The weather in Maine has been extremely dry with Temps ranging from near 90F Friday May 22 to a low of 30F the morning on the 24th.

Insects are still doing their thing-the above photo of a tentatively identified Eastern Black Swallowtail feeding on dandelion was taken yesterday.

The Willow tree along the drive, which I pollarded hard at ten feet, has sprouted a lot of new growth which has become the focus of the Blue black Willow beetle, an invasive species.  I suspect the infestation is in part what devastated the original tree, along with a soaking of herbicide by a wayward roadside maintenance man half dozen years ago.

The quasi-style Hugel beds I use for vegetables are also apparently insect friendly.  I have some medium sized black ants making a large colony in one and two separate species of bumblebees have also found them ideal for nesting.

The latter has created an inconvenience, since I had plans for that part of the bed which was not yet planted. Ditto with the Eastern Phoebes nesting under the north eaves.  I desperately need to do some serious roof work on that part of the house, and the current stretch of dry weather would have been ideal.  (If I had known it was coming, of course)

The plan is to do that work in July-  after the fledglings have left the nest and before the parents start a second brood.

The squirrels are gradually expanding their territory and return from down the ridge every late afternoon.  Hopefully when the serious hot weather hits they will find the roof too hot to their liking and move out.

Momma duck was spotted again a few days ago-with at least half dozen ducklings.  She is tentatively identified as a mallard, but I thought I caught a flash of blue which would make her a wood duck.  The wood ducks had been seen in that location for enough time for a brood to hatch, with the mallards latecomers.  I am hoping they are wood ducks since that would be a nod to my ego, as wood ducks nest in tree cavities and appropriate nesting sites can be hard to come by.

Nothing has been heard from the loons.  We have always had at least two nesting pair and I am concerned something or someone has caused them to disappear.

No sign yet of the Great Blue Heron, either, but sometimes that does not appear until later in the season.

The Willow created a Netflix by mail account, and we have watched several movies.  I think my favorite so far was the remake of Jumanji.  I laughed out loud on several occasions and one scene had me on the edge of my seat.  Very entertaining. We both send a nod to Jack Black for his performance as well as the other actors and actresses.

Stay safe~