Monarchs sometimes choose odd places to coccoon.

Humid again -- and rainy. Low 80's. Butterfly weed and Wild Berhamot have both petered out. Milkweed beetle eggs and young seen on Swamp Milkweed. Turtlehead and Showy Goldenrod almost ready to pop. Sandhill Cranes heard in the fields.

Rainy most fo the past few days, then windy Saturday and today. Cooler temps... almost like fall. Goldenrod in the woods exploding into bloom, and the Red Admirals are all over them. Counter seven on them at once point.

Warm, 70s, a bit humid, patches of fog. Counted three Monarch caterpillars in the front garden this morning.

High 80's, very muggy. Almost like a broth outside. Storms yesterday, light rain today.

Lots of Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed outside, and loads of small, plain yellow butterflies seen all over the cities. Glade Mallow finally petered out, while Butterfly Weed is still holding on.

Loons heard on the local lakes, and wife spotted our first hummingbird. Counted eight young tree frogs on the window in the evening.

Both Creeping Charlie and Crabgrass are rampant this year. Have had to use chemicals to try to get rid of them.

Like a rain forest this morning; oppressively muggy with a cumulus cloud of fog over everything north of Hugo. Rain much of Sunday and all but a few hours yesterday. Temps in the 90s yesterday with the dewpoint in the upper 70s towards evening. Expected to be in the 90s today as well.

Muggy, raining. Woodland Goldenrod coming into their own; the golden clusters blazing into bloom and rolling like a fire slowly inwards towards their tall stems.

Saw turkeys out with their young along Stacy Rd, and several Sandhill cranes out in the fields along 61.

The name is almost unromantic

Cooler, less humid, 80's.

A number of native wildflowers coming into their own this week, including Sweet Joe Pye Weed, Ironweed, Sneezeweed, and Tall Boneset. Bumblebees seem prevalent this year. Have seen more of them than wasps and yellow jackets combined. Monarchs remain common. Though I haven't seen any Red Admirals lately, my wife spotted a Tiger Swallowtail.

Wildlife Spotted this week:

• American Toad
• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Canadian Goose
• Chipmunk, Eastern
• Cottontail Rabbit
• Downy Woodpecker
• Eastern Bluebird
• Goldfinch
• Gray Tree Frog
• Green Frog
• Grey Squirrel
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Loon
• Monarch Butterfly
• Monarch Caterpillar
• Nuthatch
• Purple Finch
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Squirrel, Grey
• Tiger Swallowtail

Natives in Bloom:

• Brown-eyed Susan
• Butterfly weed
• Dotted Blazing Star
• Glade Mallow
• Harebell
• Ironweed
• Purple Coneflower
• Purple Prairie Clover
• Sneezeweed
• Spiderwort
• Swamp Milkweed
• Sweet Joe Pye Weed
• Tall Boneset
• Wild Bergamot
• Woodland Sunflower