{"id":176803,"date":"2026-07-20T05:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T10:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=176803"},"modified":"2026-07-20T05:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T10:30:45","slug":"blooming-buttonbush-and-hover-fly-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/07\/20\/blooming-buttonbush-and-hover-fly-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Blooming Buttonbush And Hover Fly At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BloomingBlooming Buttonbush with a hover fly at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge \u2013 Canon R7, beanbag, f7.1, 1\/80, ISO 2500, Canon RF 100-500mm at 472mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been a real treat for me to see blooming Buttonbush again this summer. I had gone more than a decade without seeing these beautiful, spherical white wildflowers.<\/p>\n

When I saw them in 2023, I was surprised by how much I had missed seeing this native shrub in bloom. Since then, I’ve looked forward to its first blooms of the year.<\/p>\n

Early in the season is the best time to photograph Buttonbush, in my opinion, because the flower buds are just opening and the blooms are fresh. I took this Buttonbush photo in early July at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, where these shrubs grow close to the road.<\/p>\n

The hover fly? I tried to identify it, but with only a back view plus more than 200 native hover fly species in Oklahoma and over 80 of them in the River Valley, I finally gave up and decided to share the blooming Buttonbush photo today.<\/p>\n

If you know the ID of the hover fly, please let me know!<\/p>\n

Buttonbush provides an important food source for a wide variety of wildlife. Its seeds are eaten by waterfowl and many other bird species, while wood ducks often nest among its dense branches for cover and protection.<\/p>\n

White-tailed deer browse the leaves, although the foliage is toxic to livestock like cattle and horses. Thankfully the refuge has neither.<\/p>\n

The spherical flower heads produce abundant nectar that attracts hummingbirds and a wide variety of insects, including bees, which use the nectar to make honey.<\/p>\n

Buttonbush<\/span><\/a> also serves as a host plant for the caterpillars of several moth species, including the hydrangea sphinx, royal walnut moth, and titan sphinx.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my wildflower, shrub and tree photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been a real treat for me to see blooming Buttonbush again this summer. I had gone more than a decade without seeing these beautiful, spherical white wildflowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":176800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15260,13973,13974],"tags":[6098,7353,13984,15261,15262,6518,17570,12261,6188,13976,2315,4427,5065],"class_list":["post-176803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buttonbush","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-blooming","tag-blossoms","tag-bottomlands","tag-buttonbush","tag-cephalanthus-occidentalis","tag-flowering","tag-hover-fly","tag-hoverfly","tag-shrub","tag-slough","tag-summer-3","tag-tree","tag-white-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t