Here’s a photo of a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly that is feeding on some monarda.  I was chasing this butterfly over the prairie from different clumps of monarda.  That was the only native plant that it would land on, none of the other ones seemed to interest it.  This was also the only tiger swallowtail that was in the prairie, which made it that much more difficult to get a picture. 

The first chipping sparrow egg hatched today, with the second one close behind as you can see.  These little birds look almost alien at this early stage.  And don’t worry, I am not scaring the mom off of the nest to take these pictures.  As I approach the nest, I can see if there is a bird on the nest or not.  If there is, I walk away and wait to take a picture later.

Here is a picture of the female chipping sparrow her nest. As of today, none of the eggs have hatched. I will continue to check everyday until they do.

The first of many coreopsis triperis plants in the prairie opened its first flower today.  This plant is growing at a height of over six feet and is one of the tallest plants in my prairie right now.  Its height is only matched by a couple of rosinweed plants and a single big bluestem.  Coreopsis triperis is found in most of the prairie remnants that I collect seed from.  However, it is not found in great abundance, only a handfull of plants is all I find.  The only exception to this is a remnant site down near Streator which is loaded with coreopsis.  I spent over 30 minutes collecting seed just from this plant while down there.  I have also found that there are alot of smaller plants growing out in the prairie that are from the seeds that I scattered earlier this year.

Many of the big bluestem clumps are starting to flower this week.  These small flowers will produce seeds later this fall.  You can see in the picture how big bluestem gets the nickname “turkey’s foot” by the appearance of the seed head.  One of the clumps of big bluestem comes up to my eyes, that is very tall!  There are also many other smaller clumps of big bluestem which are beginning to flower as well, or soon will be.