I took advantage of a break from Summers less than desirable weather offerings, and enjoyed getting reacquainted with the ever changing ecosystem we call our property. We had a string of wet weather, that produced interesting mushrooms. The very next day the labs & I hiked the property again, and they were all gone. So quickly.
I hauled my camera and didn't observe any changes. Nothing caught my eye. That is always a drag. Nothing like hauling a heavy camera around for nothing. It happens, to me.
It brightened my walk, when winged wonders started teasing me with their random flight patterns.Talk about challenging action!! If you ever want a good laugh, watch someone trying to take a photo of a butterfly. If it's me, you might want to cover your ears.
After moving and leaving my beloved pond behind, I thought my dragonfly photography days were over. They are not as colorful here, but we have a lot of these fluttering all over the place:
I couldn't figure out why my camera had such a hard time focusing on a different dragonfly that caught my attention. After taking a closer look, I know why. Much of the wings are transparent. Not the best photo, but I am keeping it after how hard I tried. The transparent wings are so cool!
no luck identifying it
In addition to dragonflies, I tried to photograph orange butterflies over the span of several days. They are sassy! So much, that I swear I heard one say "ohhh - you want to get closer to me" as it tried to land on my face!! I never did get a photo of it.
I was thrilled to find another orange butterfly soaking up the sun just outside our front door:
look at that curl!!
hellooo!
Once again, not much luck identifying an orange butterfly with those large spots. What is it? Besides pretty. The closest I found was a Great Spangled Fritillary. I used this link and also a great WI Butterfly website that keeps track of them. People report sightings here who knew?
A faded Red-spotted Purple (?) butterfly that has seen better days
We have a lot of butterflies at the bottom of our property where I encourage leaving some thistles and milkweeds growing for them. It is a hard balance, when trying to maintain weed free hay fields & pastures.
The Monarchs and Viceroys continue to avoid my camera, flying fast and high. Randomly. The dogs don't help with their constant "watcha looking at" behavior. Every. Single. Time I get close...yep, cover your ears. I should just leave the dogs in the house, but that is hard for me. They love our walks as much or more than I do.
We were back to high temps for the long July 4th holiday weekend. Including very de-motivating humidity and general Summer way too hot yuckiness. Bleh. We got rain yesterday and today it is nice and cool! I am off for a hike with the labs, to see what we can see.
Have a great day!!
9 comments:
I found your dragonfly(s)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1090868
That would be the one in the middle picture.
The bottom picture looks like it is Twelve-spotted Skimmer Libellula pulchella which I found on this site: http://www.migratorydragonflypartnership.org/index/identificationGuides
I have a hard time capturing them too and must look like a crazy woman:)
Thanks Shirley!! I added both those websites to my bookmarks. The first and second dragonfly photo are the same dragonfly. After taking another hard look, I am not so sure it is a Widow Skimmer (what a an odd name). Maybe a female? The male has a blue/gray tail. Similar to the link you found. The variables make it so hard to ID, but it is fun to try!
Connie, I am glad I am not the only one.
Forgot to add, I do think the last dragonfly is a "Twelve-spotted Skimmer"
I don't know what they all are as I have been busy chasing them too! I think the family of Fritillary butterflies are so many, it would be hard to narrow it down.
I like the purple spotted one too. I found one like that in the woods and just couldn't get a decent shot, it looked worn out also.
I have captured one dragon fly in my entire life and that was this summer also in our creek and very unexpected!
I was cursing and chasing those orange ones the other day also.
All of these shots are so amazing! I can just imagine you welding that camera like a laser beam! I've got some catching up to do from this past couple of days too.
Wow!
The weeds in my old pastures are mind boggling.
You are finding, and recording, so much beauty around you. Thank you! That had been my intention this year, but life has been irregular, and I need to be reminded. Your hikes are quite magical.
Thanks for taking me on your hikes. You do capture the best pictures of wildlife around your place. Love the butterflies!
Adding a link here for you from the WI Bug Lady regarding skimmers and dragon flies... Hope this can help. I love her site, good info.
https://uwm.edu/field-station/confusing-summer-dragonflies/
Wow, that is an informative article! I bookmarked it so I can go back and re(re)read it. It has a fair amount of big insecty words. Will have to look those up to fully understand it. So interesting! It's a good one, thank you Val.
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