Did you see that?

Here’s some of what you missed if you haven’t been walking our trails here at the Museum lately.

This first item is something that I’ve missed for the past five or six years here at the Museum, a damselfly. Azure Bluets have probably been in our Wetlands long before I arrived here some six years ago, but I have not, until now, seen one close enough to identify it as such.

A male Azure Bluet (5/21/14).
A male Azure Bluet (5/21/14).

Dragonflies continue to emerge from their watery, prepubescent homes in the Wetlands.

Tiny, Eastern Amberwing (male).
Tiny, Eastern Amberwing (male).
Eastern Amberwing (female).
Eastern Amberwing (female).
Blue Dasher (male).
Blue Dasher (male).
Slaty Skimmer (male).
Slaty Skimmer (male).

Another insect that I see every May is the Eyed Click Beetle, or Eyed Elator. The one below played dead for me, until I touched it and it sprang into the air. It is, after all, a click beetle. And that is what click beetles do, click and spring into the air when you bother them in their daily routines!

Eyed Click Beetle in possum mode.
Eyed Click Beetle in possum mode. The real eyes of this big-eyed imitator are just forward of the fake eyes.

I came upon a flower that I hadn’t seen before on the trails here at the Museum, beardtongue.

This penstemon is growing along the path leading to Catch the Wind
This penstemon is growing along the path leading to Catch the Wind.
Note the stemless, opposite leaves of beardtongue.
Note the stemless, opposite leaves of beardtongue. That’s a grape leaf behind the beardtongue and a grape tendril wrapping around the beardtongue stalk.

The bullfrogs have been active.

Can you see the bullfrog eggs in the water?
Can you see the bullfrog eggs in the water?
A closer look.
A closer look.

I keep watching the Green Herons for a nest somewhere in the Wetlands, but so far, nothing.

The light is right near the end of the day.
One of the herons sticks close to the tree that herons nested in last year, but I’ve found no sign of a nest in that or any other tree.
The back of this Green heron sure looks blue to me?!
The back of this Green Heron looks blue?!

Come on out and have a look for yourself. There’s always something to see!

1 response to Did you see that?

  1. sherry says:

    I saw 4 green herons 2 weeks ago on a Saturday around 6:30 PM- I was surprised to see 4 of them in the Wetland.

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