Wednesday's wet wonder walk in the Preserve

What privilege to show the Preserve to young people.  Justin was visiting for three days and looking forward to see the Biocore prairie and especially the purple martins. The more time we took to stand still and observe, the more we noticed the diversity of plants and insects.
Justin writes: "On July 12, my mother Angela, my grandmother Gisela, and I enjoyed a fascinating walk in the Preserve. The early morning consisted of strong thunderstorms, however we took advantage of a short break from the rain and took a short walk in the Preserve. The highlight of the morning was when we were lucky enough to spot a beautiful Barred Owl near the large oak at Frautschi Point. The owl seemed relatively unconcerned by our presence, but flew off after about four minutes. In addition, we watched in awe the flight of a Purple Martin, who spent several minutes flying about the house and the surrounding area. The bumblebee population, as well as the insect population in general, was thriving, and we had countless sightings of them among the flowers. The Tree swallows were quite active while we were there, as well as the finches. We were able to take these pictures before some ominous clouds began to form once again." With the Legler book on Wisconsin Dragonflies, we identified a male and female Eastern Amberwing, a Bluet, and Dot-tailed Whiteface and also a Silver-spotted skipper butterfly, a Monarch and an Eastern black Swallowtail. All photos by Angela Currie