It was a quiet morning. Both in terms of nature and people - the mosquitos, which had been quiet until our deluge of rain July 1st, seemed to have chased the humans away, and the mid-summer doldrums seemed to have arrived for nature.
We were met by a cottontail rabbit chewing on milkweed leaves, later another was picking up scraps on the trail
A great blue heron posed for us. It allowed us to walk to within 30' of it, only flying off when I slowly attempted to lie down to get a very low angle shot
Two mergansers and a mallard were relaxing on a stoney islet in the river
Female mallard, juvenile male wood duck and an adult female wood duck in the amongst the lily pads
An adult male wood duck, beginning its moult, was paddling amongst the duckweed and lily pads
It's that time of year for fall webworms to appear
The lily pads were getting very large
Summer flowers were blooming for that looked for them
St John's wort, bladderwort (2x), yellow sweet clover, goldenrod, fringed loosestrife, mullein, yellow waterlily
Flowering rush, Canada thistle, bull thistle, pickerel weed, healall, motherwort (2x), deadly nightshade, speedwell
Wild rose, herb robert, swamp milkweed
Yarrow, tall meadow-rue, white waterlily
The elderberries were ripening
With the damp weather lately, a few mushrooms appeared
