Monthly Archives: June 2026

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, June 09, 2026 by Henry
Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

We took a walk on the west side of Lake Needwood today. After the heat of yesterday, it was much nicer today, with overcast skies meaning we didn’t have to stick to tree shadows as much as possible. Of course, much of where we were was in the shade anyway. We saw—and I photographed—a pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), a black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), an osprey (Pandion haliaetus), and a chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina). The highlight, though was seeing a bunch of great spangled fritillaries (Speyeria cybele) on milkweed flowers. At one point there were four butterflies on one plant. We see these from time to time, although I wouldn’t list them in the butterflies we see often. So, it was a treat.

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Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Photograph taken on Sunday, June 07, 2026 by Henry
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

After church today we blew off some things we felt we should do and instead went for a walk at the Agricultural History Farm Park. We started, as we usually do, at the shade and demonstration gardens. Then, instead of walking over towards the barn and house, we walked down to the small stream that runs into Rock Creek just below the bridge for the road into the park. There is a place where a trail fords that stream and leads to a trail around a large field and also connects to the Redlands Rock Creek Trail after crossing Muncaster Road. It was quite hot today and we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. Around that area there was a fair amount of bird activity and it was fairly shady, so we loitered there for a while.

Cathy turned on the Merlin app, which at one point heard a cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). Although I didn’t really expect to see one, it suddently flew across the trail and landed in the shade of a juniper. It’s quite back-lit, making this the best I could do, but it’s pretty clear what the bird is, anyway.

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Wild Petunia (Ruellia strepens)

Photograph taken on Thursday, June 04, 2026 by Henry
Wild Petunia (Ruellia strepens)

Wild Petunia (Ruellia strepens)

We went to return a bunch of buckets and vases, etc., to the florist for Dorothy’s wedding. If you are in Montgomery County, Maryland or anywhere nearby and are looking for flowers, I can recommend Sungold Flower Company. She’s a friend of the family and especially of Dorothy, so she was willing to drive to southern Pennsylvania for us, but I cannot speak for how far she’d generally go. But give them a call.

Anyway, after dropping those off, we walked along Dry Seneca Creek from near where Montevideo Road crosses it, downstream towards Seneca Creek. I only took a few photos. Although we heard a few birds, we never saw more than a glimpse of anything. I did take this photo so I could try to identify the flower. I believe it is a wild petuna (Ruellia strepens), although I’m not entirely certain of that (and I’d be happy to be corrected).

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The Omar Bradley Oak

Photograph taken on Wednesday, June 03, 2026 by Henry
The Omar Bradley Oak

The Omar Bradley Oak

It’s traditional to name oak trees after generals and this one in Adams County, Pennsylvania was named by our neighbors the Omar Bradley Oak. Omar Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was nicknamed ‘The G.I’s General’ and was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We have accepted that name, although it is not in any way official, of course. I doubt anyone but us knows anything about the tree, much less that it bears that name.

It’s an old tree, probably at least 250 years old, but possibly older. The tree has a circumference of 13 feet 4 inches, or 160 inches (measured two years ago in 2024). That makes the diameter 50.93 inches. Multiplying that by a growth factor of 5, the age comes out to 255 years, meaning that the tree started growing around 1769, just before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

We’ve talked about building a stone bench near the tree and creating a little grove. I’ve recently planted some (native) ferns in the area, as well.

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White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, June 02, 2026 by Henry
White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis)

White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis)

After visiting Cathy’s mom early this afternoon, we took a walk from Sandy Spring Friends Meeting down past the actual spring and then to where the trail to Woodlawn Manor crosses the creak at the bottom of the field. It was the heat of the day and fairly warm so we weren’t too surprised that we didn’t hear, much less see many birds. We heard a few down by the creek but we saw nothing. As we were heading back, however, we saw movement and stopped to watch a group of at least four (and maybe five or six) white-breasted nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis). They were on a tree at first and then two of them were on this wooden fence. The one on the left is the adult and it was bringing an insect to the juvenile on the right.

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Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)

Photograph taken on Monday, June 01, 2026 by Henry
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)

Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)

We returned from the wedding yesterday and early this morning Brian and I took Allie to BWI Airport for her flight back out west. Later in the day, Brian, Lisa, Cathy, and I went to Great Falls. We walked to the Olmsted Island overlook and saw two great blue herons (Ardea herodias) down below the falls. From there we walked to the area of the C&O Canal known as Wide Water. It was a lovely day, a bit warmer than the day of the wedding, but still not so hot that it was oppressive.

As is fairly common when the four of us are together, Cathy and Lisa walked ahead of Brian and me, partly because I stop occasionally to take pictures. Aside from the herons (and we saw a few more on the canal), we didn’t see many birds. Just as we were getting back to near Great Falls Tavern I got three shots of this eastern phoebe (Sayornis phoebe), which is fairly common but still nice to see. Phoebe’s have a special place in my heart, because there have been phoebes nesting on boards that my dad put up under the eaves of our cabin pretty much every year since it was built. I also have an ancestor who was named Phebe, although I know that it was spelled differently.

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