Dragonflies continue to add to the color of the Wetlands. Carolina Saddlebags, Black Saddlebags, Great Blue Skimmers, and a Twelve-spotted Skimmer have enhanced the viewing pleasure while gazing out over the water of the Wetlands this past week. I even saw a species that I hadn’t seen here since 2010. There were also several female Great Blue Skimmers seen and photo’d. A surprise was a Twelve-spotted Skimmer seen perched on smartweed in the Wetlands. These dragons are migratory and areRead more
Posts tagged: #dragonfly
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. Dragonflies continue to emerge from their watery, prepubescent homes inRead more
Out and About
Just some sights from the past week. First spotted by Michelle Kloda as she headed off to Build it! Bamboo one day last week, a Trapdoor Spider. Trapdoor Spiders spend most of their time in a hole in the ground waiting for prey to come walking by. They build a hinged, silken lid to top off the hole which they pop open to reach out and grab any unsuspecting prey that wanders by. Tiny mites caused the growths on theseRead more
Springing Forward
There’s been so much happening in the Wild lately that it’s difficult to keep up, to stay on top of the reporting of said happenings. Here’s a quick update. If you remember, there were two successful Green Heron nests in our Wetlands last year. We’re hoping to have a repeat. Last Saturday two of the small, somewhat green herons appeared. I’ve seen one or two each day since, so maybe a redo of last year’s events is forthcoming. The firstRead more
Things you may have walked past and not noticed.
This past Saturday, I saw an adult Pickerel Frog out on the path in Explore the Wild. It was a bright sunny, and dry day. I probably wouldn’t even mention this if it were February or March, or even April, the months when this species breeds, necessity bringing them down to the water for courting and laying eggs. Most of the rest of the year they’re up in the woods or well hidden along the edge of the water, notRead more
While looking down at the water
I never pass the wetlands without giving a look into the water to see what’s about. There’s always something to see, some expected, like basking turtles, others are quite unexpected. Here’s a handfull of sights from Thursday (5/9). The early season dragonflies emerged late this year. Common Baskettails typically become apparent in March. I didn’t seem them until April this year. They’re still flying. Baskettails belong to a family of dragonflies most of whom, if not all, have green eyesRead more
Bullfrogs and Meadowhawks
The unseasonably warm weather last week brought out more than a few bullfrogs. I see these frogs throughout the winter so they won’t completely disappear when the temperature drops again, as it’s already doing as I write. The warmer weather of last week also brought out the meadowhawks. Although I saw the first of the season meadowhawk on October 12, it had been a few weeks since I’d seen another. The meadowhawk above was only feet from a chalk drawingRead more
A Cosmopolitan Dragonfly
I stopped by the Sail Boat Pond, as I often do on my routine hikes around the Outdoor Exhibits, and noticed a golden-hued dragonfly clinging to one of the bungee cords which holds in place the ABS tubing meant to keep the boats from ramming into the block wall of the pond. The dragonfly was a Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens). As I walked around the pond I noticed dragonfly exuviae hanging from the inner wall of the pond. Circumnavigating theRead more