Ledges - 7 July 2009

Having not spent much time in Iowa during the summer months, I hadn't seen several of the breeding warblers here in central Iowa. Today we went over to Ledges State Park to see if we could find Yellow-throated Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrushes.

Shortly after arriving, we tracked down this LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH about 100 meters upstream from the first bridge:

It didn't take long before we heard several YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS in the sycamores along the stream. Overall, it was a very cool area!

Some other species we had at Ledges SP included:

Scarlet Tanager

Northern Parula

American Redstart

Yellow Warbler

Wood Thrush

Great Crested Flycatcher

6 species of woodpeckers

Not a bird but still stunning none the less, I snapped a quick picture of this Jewelwing:

I also couldn't help myself from snapping a few butterflies. Here is a Little Wood-Satyr:

...and a Common Wood-Nymph:

We also stopped a couple miles south of my house and had this cooperative BELL's VIREO: