Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Some Favorite Photos. #3
Good morning everyone! It is a cloudy but warm day here and we did get some light rain earlier this morning. We will likely get quite a bit of rain over the next few days.
That’s good, because we certainly do need it, especially just a short way north of us where they are still battling a rather large fire. It is around 438,000 acres (177,000ha) in size. That fire and more than a dozen others north of us have received very little rain so far.
Here is a mother Common Merganser swimming along with her face underwater, looking for minnows or other aquatic prey to feed her hungry ducklings. Those ducklings are so cute at that stage in their life.
But they should get more as this slow moving weather system goes through the area. Anyway, here is another of my favorite photos for you to enjoy. Have a great day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Incredible Insects! #8 Butterfly
Hello again everyone! It was a very beautiful, sunny morning here, but it has changed a bit, now it is cloudy and we are experiencing a thunderstorm. However, we appear to be on the edge of that storm which is moving along south of us.
Muffin was sleeping peacefully, until she heard the loud thunder, then she went slinking away to her spot behind my chair. Thunderstorms are supposed to continue all afternoon, so Muffin is not going to have a good time. Well, here we are with another butterfly for you to enjoy. This one is the Silvery Checkerspot. It is a common, orange and black butterfly with a wingspan of up to 2 inches (5cm).
The Silvery Checkerspot.
They can be found in forest openings, fields, beside roads, marshy areas, old burned over areas and anywhere with poor soil. They tend to fly low over the area and will land frequently, making it easier to get photos of them.
They have one brood per summer and caterpillars feed on composite flowers, like asters, daisy, black-eyed susan and others. Adult butterflies feed on milkweed, dogbanes, vetches, fleabanes, daisy. I have also seen them go after my petunias and geraniums, plus sunflowers.
And here it is with wings spread open completely.
They overwinter as a caterpillar. They are flying around from early June to the end of July. They are a beautiful butterfly to see and photograph and they are quite friendly. I have had them land on me a lot over the years. Have a great day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2025 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 