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| Sand Hill Crane family |
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| Western Spotted Coral Root Orchid |
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| Wisters Coral Root Orchid |
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| Rainbow over Renner, SD |
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| Hitching a ride |
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| Sunflower field in bloom |
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| Sunflowers |
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| Bottle gentian wildflowers |
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| Lesser fringed gentian wildflower |
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| Monarch butterfly |
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| Great Plains Ladies Tresses Orchid |
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| Hummingbird migration |
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| Dewdrops on spiderweb |
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| Late sunlight through a seedling |
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| Fogbow reflected |
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| Dewdrops on tall grass |
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| Big bluestem florets |
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| Lesser fringed gentian |
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| Blue butterfly on great blue lobelia |
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| New England aster |
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| Grass of parnassus bloom |
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| Regal fritillary |
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| Bottle gentian |
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| Regal fritillary and Monarch butterfly on blazing star |
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| Snapper turtle close-up |
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| Frog's reading lamp - more commonly known as One-flowered Pyrola |
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| Broad-lipped Twayblade Orchid |
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| Western Prairie Fringed Orchid with crab spider |
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| Black Swallowtail butterfly |
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| White-tailed fawn |
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| Regal Fritillary on blazing star flower |
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| Bumblebee on blazing star |
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| Bobolink on blazing star |
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| Monarch Butterfly on blazing star |
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| Butterfly butt |
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| Northern lights over headlights |
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| White pelican at sunset |
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| Cordgrass florets |
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| Skullcap buds |
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| Bottle gentian at sunset |
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| Fawn at Newton Hills State Park |
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| Ten petal blazing star at sunset |
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| Sioux Falls Riverfest under the Arc of Dreams |
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| Regal fritillary on blazing star blooms |
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| Lesser-fringed gentian |
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| Viceroy butterfly on Spotted Joe Pye bloom |
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| Fog droplets on a Blue lobelia flower |
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| Monarch butterfly on goldenrod blooms |
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| Mating Monarch butterfly wings |
July of 2021 was hot, smoky and relatively dry. Getting out into nature was also tough for yours truly with a very busy regular work schedule. Typically I chase rainbows and storm clouds on weekends and evenings in July, but storms and rain were few and far between this year. Even so, there was enough rain on the eastern side of SD and southwestern MN, that wildflowers were still found and enjoyed. I also looked for the federally endangered Western Prairie Fringed Orchid over a couple weekends in Rock County, MN to no avail. Then a friend told me where I could find this elusive (but quite showy and lovely) wildflower up in southeastern ND at the Sheyenne National Grasslands. So I spent a long Saturday on the road to find and photograph the wildflower with a couple stops at a few favorite places in northeastern SD on the way back. Here are the photos from all these July forays for you. Click on an image for a larger file to view and thanks for checking in.
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| Prairie larkspur in the evening light |
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| Wood Lily |
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| Northern green bog orchid |
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| Pale-spike lobelia |
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| Western Fringed Prairie Orchid |
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| Western Fringed Prairie Orchid |
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| Smooth Oxeye |
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| Storm clouds over Esmond, SD |
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| Kalm's lobelia |
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| The underside of a new Great Blue Lobelia bloom |
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| Prairie blazing stars |
