SO sorry I’m tardy in posting the June Nature Notables.  But to be honest, I’ve been outside in the beautiful summertime enjoying nature so much, I have to make myself sit at this computer!

June, the heat of summer has set in! Not that periodically we cannot get a cool day, but most days are hopping in the pool to cool off days around here.  Much of God’s creation loves the warmer weather as well, and many things are bursting forth in full, lush green life.

Throughout this post I’m going to share with you some photos that I’ve taken this last couple of weeks.

• A few butterflies have been coming out for a while now, but finally most varieties are showing themselves quite frequently. This is a great time to get out in a field of clover on a hot, sunny day and sit quietly with a camera. Butterflies cannot resist the sweet nectar of wildflowers and if you sit still long enough they’ll give you a great view of them.

• Speaking of wildflowers , summer varieties are blooming, Vetch being one of them. Don’t forget to keep looking because this time of year different species of wildflowers are popping up every week.

• If you are having any significant rainfall, along with hot, sticky days, fungi are all over the place! Keep your eyes out for some amazing varieties that you might not see other times of the year.

• Frogs and toads are ALL over the place! Toads are probably hoping around under your feet, and visit a small creek area to find lots of frogs. You can still find tadpoles/eggs to hatch raise.

• It’s a wonderful time to visit a pond! Visit a pond to see dragonflies, amphibians of all sorts, turtles, water birds, etc. Have a pond-side picnic! 

 

• Around our area birds are very abundant this year. Lots of varieties have visited us. Just yesterday I saw one that I had never seen with my own eyes before…the Prairie Warbler. They are only in Kentucky in the summer time! Take a bird watching trip. Go to an area that has different habitats such as water, woods and open prairie to see the largest variety.

 

• June can still drop a monster thunderstorm, as was evidenced in our city recently. It rained so hard the lower area of our yard (by the creek) flooded! That’s never happened before. The stormy season is a wonderful time to study about weather and complications of weather such as severe lightning and floods.

 

• After a June thunderstorm you can view some pretty fantastic sunsets with the clouds! We saw this one after the storm that caused our lower yard to flood.

• Here are some applicable NaturExplorers units for summer:  Butterflies Flutter By, Wonderful Wildflowers, Remarkable Rain, Frogs and Toads, Beautiful Birds, Animal Signs,, Peaceful Ponds, A Fungus Among Us. Visit the Shining Dawn Books website to find out more information about these units and see samples of each!

Enjoy the gorgeous summertime!

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This entry was posted by Melissa on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Monthly Nature Notables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.