Got Them Summertime Blues....

Blue eyes, blue body, and blue wings, that is. First shot is a Swamp Darner I found on the bike path this morning while I was out riding- this is one of our larger dragonflies. It was in the process of expiring due to unknown causes, so i brought it home with me, took a few closeups, and dropped it off at Huntley Meadows so they could use it as a teaching aid.

The next shot is a Great Blue Skimmer, also fairly large. This species is abundant at Huntley- they were busy chasing each other around being territorial in the Cattails. They're also very approachable, so getting nice shots of them isn't hard.

The last shot is a Red-spotted Purple (the red spots are on the underside of the wings) on the boardwalk. For a change we're having a warm day with relatively low humidity, so the boardwalk in the afternoon was bearable.

Morning Discovery

Made a nice discovery as I was loading to bike on the car for a little sweating practice on the trail this morning. Walked past a clump of Hostas and noticed a big dead leaf on one of them. Took a closer look and discovered this Polyphemus moth clinging to a leaf. The wingspread on this moth is almost as wide as my hand is long ((click on the picture and you'll see an almost life sized picture). The adults don't feed, and have a pretty short lifespan- the females emerge and emit a pheromone at night that attracts males from quite a distance away. It's odd to pick up a moth this big and discover that you can actually feel a little weight to them. I suspect this specimen is near the end of its lifespan, seeing some fraying at the edges of its wings.

Buzz Cut?

I've been having an interesting time watching our colony of Cicada Killer wasps for the last few weeks. Lots of little territorial battles going on around the side gate, all in about 20 square feet. You can walk right through a group of them and they'll completely ignore you- but the ignoring got a little weird when two of them that were chasing each other flew so close to to top of my head I felt the breeze from their wings as they flew by. Note to self: wear hat when observing.

A Small Tragedy

Just heard a group of Robins squawking across the street, and saw one of the local cats running with a juvenile Robin in its mouth, still flapping, with the parents frantically in pursuit. I love cats, but this one's preventable, folks (we have three in the house, two of which used to be outside cats). There's nothing that can be done about this, unfortunately- this is a hot button issue for some cat owners and reason doesn't enter into it.

More information:

http://www.sibleyguides.com/conservation/causes-of-bird-mortality/

Backyard Killers

Cicada Killers, that is. This is a wasp species that preys on Annual Cicadas- the females find a cicada in the trees, sting it, and then pick the cicada up, haul it up a tree, and launch themselves into the air to get back to their burrows. It can take them a few tries and several climbs to gain enough altitude for the flight. Once there, they drag the cicada down the hole, lay an egg on it, and then seal the hole. The egg hatches into a larvae that eats the cicada and them metamorphoses into an adult wasp. The cicadas are a bit larger than the wasps, who are themselves about an inch and a half long. At present there's three or four males (this is one of them) squabbling over territory near the side gate. They will check you out if you walk near the fence but are actually not aggressive towards humans. As they're the size they are, though, and with the bright black and white abdomens, they definitely get your attention, especially when they buzz past you a foot away. Occasionally as they're chasing each other they'll collide with the siding on the house with a very audible "thunk".

Skimmers at Work & Play

The Slaty Skimmers were busy making more skimmers at Huntley Meadows on a hot and humid Sunday morning. I've never seen them as abundant before- saw at least four or five mating pairs (like the pair pictured- the male is the dark blue one) and there were many, many more zipping around chasing each other. I saw about six or seven males in one spot vying for a single females attention. Dragonflies form a wheel position when the male grabs the female by the back of the head and the female bends her abdomen around to pick up a sperm packet from the male. Also seen were a few Spangled Skimmers (bottom picture).