Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) (sp. ?)
There are a number of small brown butterflies known collectively as the “Little Brown Jobs” or LBJ’s. The one photographed below would fit easily into that group. I think that this one is a Northern Cloudwing (Thorybes pylades) but could be completely wrong. Suggestions always welcomed with respect to the i.d’s that I provide.
One insect that is hard to misidentify is the Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris thysbe) and the one pictured below was the first of many that I would have the pleasure of watching during this year’s breeding bird surveys.
 
 
Not all of the creatures that crossed our path today were of the dainty, winged variety. This Black Bear kept his distance but did cross the road behind us before heading off into the woods.
As stated earlier, my job was to do the driving and watch out for things like rabbits or moose that might be crossing the road. Since we are driving along many of the roads very early in the morning, well before sunrise, I also need to be alert to small defects in the road!
The first survey was completed without any problems. We didn’t run into any creatures on the road and avoided the large potholes and washouts. Gerhard had his bird counts. I had my entries describing stop locations and GPS readings and we were on our way back to our campground to strike the tents and be on our way to the next location. We had heard plenty of bird species but saw only a few. As in previous survey outings, I and my camera found plenty of other things to photograph.
View 2011 entry for this route.
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