July 17, 2022 - Metro Area Nature Photos - 2

Last week I posted some photos I took on a walk near our apartment building in the Twin Cites metro area. Here are the rest of the photos from that walk.

As I started walking on a path around a small lake, I came across several Clouded Sulfur butterflies sipping nectar from the wildflowers growing along the path.

ButterflySulpherCloudedfemaleColiasphilodiceWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705

I also saw several Halloween Pennant dragonflies. This is a dragonfly I would not see at our lake home in northern Minnesota, because its range doesn’t extend to Itasca County.

DragonflyPennantHalloweenCelithemiseponinaWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705

Here’s a back view of that dragonfly showing the interesting pattern on its wings.

DragonflyPennantHalloweenCelithemiseponinaWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705

A Song Sparrow popped up out of the brush and sat on a tree branch.

SparrowSongWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705

The Song Sparrow burst into song, declaring that this is his territory.

SparrowSongsingingWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705

There were plenty of thistles blooming. This looks like Canada Thistle.

ThistleCanadaWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705

Black-eyed Susans were plentiful. Some people call them Brown-eyed Susans, which actually seems more appropriate.

BlackeyedSusanWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705

This grouping of Common Milkweed and Black-eyed Susans made a very pleasing arrangement.

BlackeyedSusanandCommonMilkweedWilkinsonLakeNorthOaksRamseyCounty20220705