holding on

The daylight is getting shorter and shorter, the temperature only reaches the 40's, even though the sun shines all day long. Starting about a month ago, the reasons mentioned above kept most of the flying insects away. I thought that October would be the last time that I would see the butterflies until late March when the bravest lepidopterans would emerge once again. But yesterday proved me wrong, the butterflies and dragonflies were flying about!

While the diversity was not nearly what one might expect in July or August, I was quite surprised by the insects. Several small red dragonflies, Autumn Meadowhawks (also known as Yellow-legged Meadowhawks) were sitting on a south-facing side of the house and in nearby trees, warming up from the sun.



And at one point some butterflies, an Orange Sulphur and an Eastern Comma, joined the party:



I got a treat before the long, hard winter begins.

I can't wait until spring.

winter birding

Here is some information about winter birding...

Ron Pittaway's Winter Finch Forecast basically says that no big irruptions will occur this year. Which means no large numbers of these:



or these:



Christmas Bird Counts are always enjoyable and I encourage birders to get involved with them, as well as other counts.

Here is a list of some winter birding events through the end of the year in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas:

-Lehigh Valley Audubon Christmas Bird Count (centered around Trexlertown)-December 19

-Wild Creek-Little Gap Christmas Bird Count (centered around Kunkletown)-December 20

-Bethlehem-Easton-Hellertown Christmas Bird Count (centered around Bethlehem)-December 26

-Merrill Creek Christmas Bird Count (centered around Merrill Creek, NJ, but encompasses parts of Pennsylvania)-December 27


And finally, I thought I'd share the incredible sunrise we had in Kunkletown recently: