Odonates Abounding

I went to the Sackville Waterfowl Park on Sunday morning for a walk.  It is definitely a favourite spot for me to take a walk, immerse myself in nature, and enjoy some quiet time.  I also like to take the camera along to record any interesting birds, bees or butterflies, and any other critters I see.  This time, it was definitely a day for odonates, meaning dragonflies (darners, meadowhawks, etc.) and damselflies (bluets, spreadwings, and others).  I spent quite a lot of time watching them and snapping pictures when I could.  Many of them don't settle for long, so it can be really difficult to take their pictures.  I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took. It's a bit of a picture-heavy post, but they really are beautiful creatures.

There was a lot of odonate love in the air....they really do contort into amazing positions for procreation.  I believe these are familiar bluets (Enallagma civile).

See how they make a sort of sideways heart shape?  I think that's kind of cute.

This is another bluet, but I'm not sure which species.  They can be very tricky to identify because they have very similar markings.  There are tiny differences in the tail appendages but this shot isn't clear enough to show those.

This is a band-winged meadowhawk (Sympetrum semicinctum).  It is easier to identify because of the brown tinge in the wings.

Here, just for some variety, is a tri-coloured bumble bee (Bombus ternarius) on goldenrod. 

This is another meadowhawk, but I can't identify it because there are several that look similar to this.  It is probably either the cherry-faced or white-faced meadowhawk (S. internum or S. obtrusum).  I love this picture because of the shadows of the wings - it makes it look like it has 8 wings instead of 4.

Here are a couple more bluets, but these are less acrobatic at this point.  They fly around stuck to each other like this.  Fascinating.

This is one of the big dragonfly species - a darner.  I can't tell which one because I couldn't get a side view shot of it, and the side markings are how you identify these critters.  Still, I love this shot of its eyes.  They are simply amazing to look at.

This is almost certainly a white-faced meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum).

This bluet posed nicely for me.  Probably a familiar bluet.

This is a male slender spreadwing (Lestes rectangularis).  Look at those blue eyes!

This is a spotted spreadwing (Lestes congener), which an expert helpfully identified for me.  I post many of my sightings to iNaturalist, which is a great place for citizen science.  Experts can help identify all forms of life that are posted there.  You can post pictures of plants, insects, animals and birds, even fungi and lichen!

The white-faced meadowhawks were busy ensuring the future survival of their species as well. 

They look like a two-headed creature in this shot!  Who does the driving?!

I took some other insect pictures, including this mud dauber wasp.  What a weird conformation - look at how the abdomen is connected to the thorax with such a thin strip.  I love the stripey legs!

Here's a regular ol' two-striped grasshopper, hopping in the grass.

And here, one of the strangest things I saw on my walk, is what I initially thought was an interesting fungus growing on a branch.  Turns out that it isn't fungus at all.  It's a species of aphid called the cottony alder psyllid (Psylla floccosa).  The nymph stage produces this weird-looking cottony "fluff" on alder branches.  Definitely a new find for me.  You just never know what you'll see on a walk in the park.

Friday's Hunt v. 4.01

It's time for a new round of the alphabet on Friday's Hunt.  This time, there is also a little shift in the prompts - we are not doing week's favourite this time - although we can include it if we wish. Instead, we have two random prompts.  I like the change because I tended to struggle with week's favourite.

The prompts this week are:  Starts with A, Inside, and Sunset.

Starts with A
I'm sharing a moth that I photographed on June 23.  It is the White-spotted Sable moth, which has the scientific name Anania funebris.  Its host plant is goldenrod, and there is plenty of goldenrod in this area.  It's a pretty little moth - I like its orange shoulders!  This moth is also widespread in Europe, which is interesting because we don't share that many moth species between North America and Europe.

Inside
My foxgloves have been delightful this year.  Last year I didn't have any.  I think that the former owner cleared out all the foxgloves from the garden beds just before we moved in.  I was surprised to see so many foxgloves this year, but they are glorious.  I seem to have three main colours - a dark magenta pink, a light peachy colour, and a very pale pink.  I also have a single white one.  I am captivated by the inside of the flowers.  They have such detailed patterns and I like to watch the bees go inside them to gather nectar.  Here are some pictures of the inside view of foxglove flowers.

White

Peach - you can really see the tiny hairs at the flower openings in this shot.

Pale pink

Magenta

Bee bum!

Sunset
It's tricky for me to get good sunset pictures at home.  Our home is surrounded by trees, and most of them are quite tall.  This means that even when I'm on the balcony on the second floor outside our bedroom, I still can't really see the sunset except a bit of colour through the trees.  I took this shot as the sun was setting earlier this week.  I like the way the sun is still shining through the trees.

This shot is from the balcony also, about 20 minutes later than the one above - you can just see the pink-tinged clouds through the trees.  That's about all I ever see for sunset!

I decided to try to get a sunset picture on my way home from my knit night this week, so I took a dirt road to try to find a clear patch of sky (also very difficult given the density of trees in the general area).  I didn't have much luck with that approach, because the gaps in the trees didn't point in the right direction for a good sunset picture.

I suppose I have to go elsewhere to take good sunset shots!

Friday's Hunt v 2.24

It is Friday once again, and time for me to participate in Eden Hills' Friday's Hunt.  This has been another busy week, but I have had a small reprieve on one project that has been put on hold.  That will give me time to catch up on a couple of other projects!

This week our prompts are:  Starts with X, Week's Favourite, and Insect.

Starts with X
The letter X is a bit tricky, but since I am a bit of a moth nerd and I prefer to use the scientific species names, I am able to showcase Xanthorhoe ferrugata.  This moth has the common name:  Red Twin-Spot Moth.  Unfortunately this isn't a recent shot - it was from July 29 of last year, but I don't mind digging in the photo repository when it comes to the difficult letters!

Week's Favourite
My favourite this week is this quick snap of a male ruby-throated hummingbird at my feeder.  The throat looks dark in this picture because of the lighting, but it is ruby red in the right light.  I seem to only have a single pair of hummingbirds who visit my feeder, so they are not always there to photograph.  Also, the mosquitoes are really bad at the moment, so I'm not spending a whole lot of time outside.  Still, I was glad to get this shot.

I'm also really happy that the Bachelor's Button plant is flowering in my garden - I love the interesting form of the flowers.  That's my second favourite!

Insect
I've already given you one insect - the moth from the letter X part of this post.  However, I am happy to provide another insect, since I seem to take so many pictures of them.  This is a photo of Bombus ternarius, also known as the Tricoloured Bumble Bee.  This one came inside the screened porch and seemed to have trouble finding its way out, so I helped it by placing a container over it, covering the open end of the container, and taking it out into the garden.

Friday's Hunt v 3.20

It's Friday again, and another busy week has passed by.  We've had loads of rain over the past few weeks here in eastern Canada, and there's more rain on the way.  It might result in some heavy mosquito populations this year, which doesn't make me very happy, but at least I have the screened-in porch to sit in (if I ever get the time) where I won't be eaten by bugs!

Today's prompts from Eden Hills are:  Starts with T, Week's Favourite, and Food.

Starts with T:
Silly me - I did a big post all about my tulips yesterday.  Do check it out if you like flowers and have the time to take a peek.  I guess I can't do tulips again.  This week I took some photographs of a pair of mourning doves who came to eat the seeds under my bird feeder.  The name for mourning doves in French is Tourterelle Triste.

The word tourterelle means "turtle dove" (such as the 3 turtle doves in the Christmas carol).  The word triste means sad.  So the literal translation is sad turtle dove.  This is approximately the same as our English name, mourning dove.

I had not really noticed before, but the tourterelle triste has a patch of iridescent feathers on the side of its neck.  They were glistening in the sun yesterday, and it was quite noticeable.

Bonus tulip, just for fun.  My favourite one.

Week's Favourite:
I really like this picture I took of a blue jay in my yard - they are very skittish and not always easy to photograph.  I was really happy to get this clear shot.

I was also really pleased with some pictures I took of a southern red-backed vole.  They are through the window, so not perfect, but still not bad for such a tiny critter.  This was my favourite picture, with his tiny paws showing.  Absolutely adorable!

Food:
I am very interested in bees.  They are such a vital part of our ecosystem, and they need all the help they can get these days.  I was therefore concerned when I recently noticed a bumblebee on the screen of my screened in porch over several days.  It has been there for at least 3 days, which is the length of time I've been watching a robin make its nest (another post!) and I was becoming concerned about my buzzing little friend.  The bee had not moved at all for the past 2 days, and we have had very wet, dreary and cool weather.  Sometimes, early in the spring (which it certainly is here), bumblebees can get tired and cold.  There are not many flowers blooming yet, so their food sources are a bit scarce and the weather isn't helping.  If they are unable to get enough nectar to retain body temperature, they cannot fly, and they will just sit somewhere until they die.  So, my bee needed FOOD!

I brought my little fuzzy friend inside and prepared a slightly warm solution of about 30% honey and 70% water, in accordance with advice I found on a bee web site.  I put her in a bowl with a few leaves and sprinkled the solution on the leaves, and then poked some holes in a plastic wrap topper for the bowl.  I then set her on my desk near my work lamp where it is warm.  Here is the bee on a leaf.


Within about 30 minutes, my little friend was drinking the honey water and within about half an hour, she was already buzzing around the bowl.  It was remarkable how quickly she perked up after so many days of being immobile.  What started out as a clumsy and stumbling bee was now a normally-behaving, energetic bee.  Here she is with her tongue out - you can see it in the front touching the bottom of the bowl.  She was quickly ingesting the honey solution.  I believe it is Bombus impatiens, the common eastern bumble bee.


Every bee's life counts in today's environment, with these critical pollinators being subject to many challenging conditions.  I'm glad that I was able to help this bee get back on its feet.