There will likely be one more post from earlier in August, as I have discovered a few more interesting photographs. This exercise is somewhat inspired by creating temporary room on my hard drive for my most recent daily recordings with the indoor birds. Everything takes up so much space, it’s all a shell game.

I really like the photograph below, even though it’s not in perfect focus. Sort of tropical looking compared to the way things look lately…

A bee on a Yellow Coneflower…

I think Baltimore Orioles were already becoming scarce after breeding season.

I was surprised to find a very raggedy looking juvenile Blue Grosbeak in my photos. I am not sure I knew what it was while I took the pictures.

By the same token, I think the photographs below are of a juvenile Purple Finch and not the House Finch I reported to ebird. But since individual distinctions are so difficult to make, I don’t feel like updating my entry.

White Snakeroot and a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle below. I am glad I identified some of these species when I first reviewed them because I have forgotten most of them and look forward to relearning them this summer. The contrast between seasons is almost like what it takes to get acclimated to another ecosystem: I have to refresh my memory every year. That goes for a lot of bird calls I haven’t heard in a while too. But I am really looking forward to renewed confusion!

A Wild Indigo Duskywing and a Silvery Checkerspot below, which I will likely have to relearn to identify again. The butterfly at the top of the post is a Silver-spotted Skipper – which I have marked as “immature” thanks to some helpful lepidopterist on the Internet.

So, the Portage stream, as it was, all green and overgrown… and Canada Geese adorning another part of it.

It turns out I’m not completely done with last August, but first I must return with a long-anticipated trip to the lakefront Sunday, which will feature lots of ice. A reality check, so to speak.