Between Storms

Clear Creek near flood stage.

Harvester

Summer Azure

Brutal storm this morning.  Lots of rain, lightning, thunder.  Thankfully nothing like what happened in Joplin, MO.  Weather report was calling for bad storms later today so I ran over to Clear Creek after finishing chores and the sun came out.  For a short trip (only two hours) I did pretty well.  Thirteen species, 102 individuals, and three new species for the BBY, one of which there was no guarentees of seeing this year.  The best of the three, the Harvester, is a cool butterfly, in that it is the only butterfly in North America that is carnivorous.  The caterpillar stage feeds on Alder aphids.  The other two newbies were Wild Indigo Duskywing and Summer Azure.
  Clear Creek was as high as I've ever seen.  In places it was just a foot or two from the road.  Also, in places it had covered the trail, but as the afternoon went on, the river started to go back down.  So, on the trip out in places I was having to jump from one side of the trail to the other, not the case on the trip back.
  As I am typing this the weather radio has gone off, announcing a severe thunderstorm warning for tonite.