Three visits to Mud Lake in July. It is a quiet time of year compounded by the detrimental effect on the wildlife of all the construction with the trail and bridge rehabilitation.
The "highlight" of the month would be the hooded merganser ducks that were around. A juvenile resting in a secluded part of the lake and a female with two juveniles on the river.
Common merganser were still out on the river
Some quite young, for the time of year, wood ducklings, plus juvenile males paddling around and watching turtles.
Male wood duck in full molt, and a female
Three young mallards looked very comfortable on the rocks at the entrance, with another family having taken over the viewing platform
Black ducks are often overlooked as they resemble mallards
Early in the month some juvenile Canada geese had mixed down/adult feather coats
The turkey pullets appeared once, there were about 15 or so of them
A black-crowned night heron was hiding in a very secluded bay
A number of smaller birds were around. (Scroll over for ID)
spotted sandpipers
cardinal in partial molt
female downy woodpecker
male downy woodpecker
kingbird
great crested flycatcher
One of the turtles was playing King of the Castle
The bull frogs, large and small, were making themselves heard. The first one still had some tadpole tail left
A much smaller leopard frog hid under the plants
A variety of insects were busy doing their thing. (Scroll over for ID)
blue dasher
dot-tailed white face
hoverfly
hoverfly and bee
hickory tussock moth caterpillar
Lots of summer flowers were blooming. (Scroll over for ID)
purple flowering raspberry
swamp milkweed
swamp milkweed
morning glory
mountain pink
purple loosestrife
vervain
pickerel weed
pickerel weed
deadly nightshade
speedwell
monkeyflower
St John's wort
bird's foot trefoil
golden rod
mullein
agrimony
yarrow
meadow-rue
grass
Queen Anne's Lace
white waterlily
boneset
Indian pipe
Some berries/seed pods had developed
purple flowering raspberry
purple flowering raspberry
elderberry
baneberry
false solomon seal
honeysuckle
mapleleaf viburnum
milkweed
Two squirrels got in close for a photo, while a beaver swam by the viewing platform at mid-morning - a rarity
Two snails were off to the races
Fungi was enjoying the dampness of all the rain
