Wood Ducks

Botany Highlight: Sky-blue Aster

Sky-blue Aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense)

Sky-blue Aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense)

Species list: great blue heron, mute swan, Canada goose, mallard, wood duck, red-tailed hawk, rock pigeon, northern flicker, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, house sparrow, common grackle, northern cardinal, American goldfinch. (16 species)

Monarch Butterfly on Buddlega plant (Butterfly Bush)

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

Burning Bush (Winged Euonymus) Euonymus alata)

Starry False Solomon-seal (Maianthemum stellata)

Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)

Woolly Bear

Woolly Bear

Bush-clover (Lespedeza virginica)

Miles Hearn

NATURE POETRY

’Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone:
No flower of her kindred,
No rose-bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.

– Thomas Moore (1779–1852)