When I first started trying to get photos of dragonflies it seemed like they just never sat still, but after a while I found that they do, and sometimes for quite a long time. This male twelve spotted skimmer stayed still for a while so I was able to get close enough for a useable shot. He gets his name from the 12 brown spots on his wings, but some people (and many books) count the white spots and call him the 10 spotted skimmer. Only mature males have these white spots. Females and immature males have the twelve brown wing spots but not the white spots.
I think this is another skimmer; the widow skimmer. Bothe males and females have the dark wing spots but only mature males have the white ones. Adult males also have the powdery blueish white color on their abdomen. The name skimmer comes from the way that they fly low over the water, but some are also called perchers. I’m always happy to see the perchers, the skimmers are a little too fast when they’re skimming.
I saw a dragonfly land one day but because of the distance, the bright sunlight, and my colorblindness it instantly disappeared among the cattail leaves. I thought I knew where it was though so I just shot blindly a few times, hoping the lens had caught sight of it. The above photo is the result, proving that yes, dumb luck plays a part in being a nature photographer. I’ve had a hard time identifying this one but I think it might be an eastern amber wing.
NOTE: Several blogging friends have said that this is a male calico pennant and after a little research I agree with them. Thank you all very much for the help, I appreciate it.
While I was watching the dragonflies I was also looking for flowering cattails. Out of many hundreds this was the only one that had flowered up to that point but it won’t be long before they all have flowers. Native Americans used the roots of cattails to make flour and also wove the leaves into matting. Cattails produce more edible starch per acre than potatoes, rice, taros or yams, and during World War II plans were being made to feed American soldiers with that starch in the form of cattail flour. Studies showed that an acre of cattails would produce an average of 6,475 pounds of flour per year, but thankfully the war ended before the flour making could begin.
It was a hot but very windy day when I found this viceroy butterfly clinging to a leaf for dear life. I must have stood there for 20 minutes waiting for it to open its wings and it did every time I looked away or fiddled with the camera’s controls, so I ended up with one blurry shot of it with its flaps down. This shot shows how the strong wind was curling the tops of its wings toward the camera. I was surprised that it could hang on at all. Those legs are small, but very strong.
There wasn’t any wind when I saw this eastern tiger swallowtail drinking from a vetch blossom but it was tilted in an unusual way so I never did get a really good shot of it. Now that I look at the photo I see that I could have gotten down lower and shot up at it, but then I probably would have been shooting into the sun. It’s amazing how birds, animals and insects use sunlight to their advantage and will often position themselves so the sun is behind them, meaning it is shining directly in your eyes if you try to see them. Fighter jet pilots use the same strategy to blind the enemy.
Since I work outside all day every day I always carry a small pocket camera, because as anyone who spends time outside knows, you just never know what you might see. One day I saw this Luna moth in the grass. At first I thought it was dead but it was just crawling through the grass rather than flying and I don’t know enough about them to know if this is normal behavior or not. Luna moths are one of the largest moths in North America, sometimes having a wingspan of as much as 4 1/2 inches. They are beautiful, with a white body, pinkish legs, and pale lime green wings. In northern regions the moth lives for only 7 days and produces only one generation, while in the south they can live for as long as 11 weeks and produce three generations.
We have a small yellow buggy that we use to get around the 760 acres where I work and one day this beetle landed on it. I haven’t been able to identify it but I think it’s one of the longhorn beetles. They are also called wood worms because of the way that many of them bore into wood. Some, like the invasive Asian longhorn beetle, can do serious damage to forests.
Along the Ashuelot River Queen Anne’s lace buds were just beginning to unfurl themselves in the sunshine.
Porcupine sedge (Carex hystericina) blossomed a few feet upriver. You can just see the tiny, almost microscopic wisps of whitish flowers at the pointed ends of some of the upper spiky protrusions (perigynia.) This plant is also called bottlebrush sedge, for obvious reasons. It’s very common near water and waterfowl and some songbirds love its seeds.
The stones showing in the river tell the story of how dry it has been. You don’t usually see this many until August but the water level is low enough in this spot right now to walk across without getting your knees wet, and we’re still in June. I suppose I shouldn’t complain; we’ve seen some damaging floods in recent years.
What I think might be bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis) sparkles and shimmers in the breeze along the edges of the forests.
The closer you get, the more interesting it becomes. It’s a beautiful tall grass with very large seed heads.
It’s only when you take a real close look that you discover why it sparkles and shimmers so. Yellow pollen bearing male (staminate) flowers hang down, waiting for the wind will carry their pollen to waiting feathery white female (pistillate) flowers. Usually the pollen bearing male flowers will bloom and release pollen before the female flowers appear. In that way the pollen of one plant reaches and fertilizes nearby plants and the grass avoids fertilizing itself.
Orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata) is another tall, beautiful grass that seems to be having an extended blooming period this year. I wish more people would take a look at grass flowers because they can be very beautiful. And they’re easy to see because they’re virtually everywhere, even in vacant city lots.
Orchard grass is especially good for baling and it and most of the other pasture grasses grown on local farms will end up in hay bales. The lack of rain is working in the farmer’s favor and the first cutting of hay has dried well, but if the dryness lasts much longer it will start to work against them.
The male flowers of eastern white pine trees (Pinus strobus) are called pollen cones because that’s what they produce. Pine trees are wind pollinated and great clouds of pollen make it look like the trees are burning and releasing yellow green smoke each spring. Virtually everything gets dusted with pollen; cars, buildings, and even entire lakes and ponds. If you live near pine trees it’s impossible not to breathe some of it in and if you leave your windows open you’ll be doing some house dusting in the near future. Pine pollen is a strong antioxidant and it has been used medicinally around the world for thousands of years. Its health benefits were first written of in China nearly 5000 years ago and they are said to be numerous.
When the white pine’s pollen cones have shed all of their pollen they fall from the trees in the many millions and cover the ground for a short time. Here they’re suspended in a spider’s web.
Here in this part of the country our corn is supposed to be knee high by the fourth of July but it looks like the dryness might keep it shin high instead. When I was a boy cornfields stretched to the south as far as I could see, growing on rich bottomland along the Ashuelot River, built up by annual spring flooding over thousands of years. This land has been farmed for at least as long as I’ve been alive.
You might find a conspicuous lack of fungi and slime molds here this year but again, that’s because it has been so dry. I did see a bracket fungus that was a little sad but it still had a blush of pinkish orange on it. Since orange is such a hard color to find in nature I thought I’d show it here.
I think we are bound to, and by, nature. We may want to deny this connection and try to believe we control the external world, but every time there’s a snowstorm or drought, we know our fate is tied to the world around us. ~Alice Hoffman
Thanks for coming by.
Nice to tead something like this and get away from the busy world.
Thank you. Seeing nature in person is even better!
Wonderful shots of dragonflies and butterflies. I still seem to have very little luck with them. Maybe I need to be more patient,
Thanks! Once you’re used to that zoom lens it will be easier but yes, you do have to stand in one spot for a while and let them calm down.
Your quote is so true. I was just thinking how different this year over here is for nature after 2 wet winters and springs bringing out so many flowering plants. Amelia
Thank you Amelia. Yes, I think that quote is very true but a lot of people don’t see it that way.
I’m glad to hear that you have plenty of flowers blooming!
Thank you for the tour of my New England homeland, Allen. The photos are beautiful!
You’re welcome Lavinia. I’m glad they reminded you of home.
Great butterfly pics, and I love the Luna moth.
Thanks! Seeing that Luna moth was a rare treat.
amazing view!
Thank you!
Dragon Flies are my absolute favorite. I kayaked on Sunday through a fresh flush of the blue darning needles. You caught some gorgeous shots! The pine pollen is interesting as I have seem so many of the tiny cones after our recent rain and wondered if that meant it would be a good year for pine cones to start the fireplace. Ah, the smell of fresh hay; just cut, just baled, or just packed into the barn…
Thanks Martha. I haven’t had my kayak out yet but I hope to soon. It’s a great way to see aquatic plants.
With that many male pollen cones producing pollen there’s a good chance that there well be many female pine cones too this year. I’ve seen a lot of immature ones falling from the trees already, probably because of the dryness.
I love the smell of hay and it smells even better when I’m not the one who has to throw the bales up onto the wagon!
I am sure that there must be dragon flies in our area but I hardly ever seem to spot one so I am impressed both by your spotting skills and by your patience in waiting for them to settle.
We have more dragonflies here than I’ve ever seen so spotting them is easy. Getting a photo is a bit trickier but with patience it can be done.
Some really magical photos here, especially the dragonfly ones.
Thank you Emily. I’m glad the dragonflies were willing to pose!
I love the dragonfly shots Allen! They are a favourite insect of mine and we haven’t seen many this year. The Bluejoint Reedgrass is wonderful close-up and I also liked the Queen Anne’s Lace bud.
Thank you Clare. For some reason we seem to have a population explosion of dragonflies and I’ve never seen so many. I wondered if maybe the mild winter had something to do with it.
I thought that grass was rally beautiful and I don’t know why but I’ve never noticed Queen Anne’s lace at that stage before. There’s so much to see out there!
There certainly is!
Ah, Allen! The first and third photos are magnificent! You are enjoying your photography, it’s obvious.Thanks for sharing the things you’ve seen with us.
You’re welcome and thanks very much Cynthia. Yes, I do enjoy photography but even more just being outside and seeing all these beautiful things. I’m very lucky!
Loved browsing through the post, the dragonflies are so delicate.
Thank you Susan. I agree, dragonflies do look delicate but they seem to be strong as well.
I agree with Mike that it’s a Calico Pennant. Wish my photos turned out that well by just shooting into the grass! Beautiful.
Thank you. Yes, after looking it up I agree with Mike too. I just haven’t had time to update the post.
I was really surprised that I got a shot of that one at all. I couldn’t even see it, but luckily the camera could!
Ah, Summer. 🙂 🙂 🙂
You’ve got to love it Ben. Sometimes I feel 10 years old again!
It’s a male calico pennant for sure. Beautiful photos! A friend just pointed me towards your blog. I’ll be subscribing!
Thanks very much. I looked up the male calico pennant and I agree.
I’m glad you found us. Welcome aboard!
How great to just happen upon a Luna moth. I’ve always wanted to see one…..gorgeous!
Thank you Judy. It was a real surprise. I’m glad I had a camera with me!
I’ve always admired your tenacity in identifying plants, now you’re doing it with insects also. I’ve tried, but I always get bogged down by the scientific discussions of what constitutes a separate species, or sub-species of insects, it seems that there’s a lot of variation between very similar insects. But, I suppose that’s another great example of how much there is in nature, and how little we know about it even in this day of age.
Loved the Luna moth, they’re a rare find.
I also found your comments about getting the photo of the eastern tiger swallowtail amusing. There are times when I think that all forms of life know what we are trying to do, and make things as difficult for us as they can. I suppose that it’s just a response to a perceived threat that allows the species to survive though.
It’s been very dry here as well, I hope that we both see some rain soon.
Thanks Jerry! I have a lot of trouble with insects too. The only reason I was able to identify these two is because they’re so common. I usually have a tough time with them and end up sending them off to bug guide.com.
There sure is a lot of variation and I agree-there’s an awful lot we still need to learn.
The Luna moth was quite a surprise. I rarely see them.
It seems to me that every time I see a bird, animal or insect the sun is behind them. It can’t be coincidence every time!
I hope we both see rain too. Lawns are brown and streams are dry here.
Beautiful photos, your dragonflies shots are wonderful. So many interesting facts as well and I also read the quotes with a great pleasure.
Thanks very much, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I like that quote too. It’s very true.
I’ve always like luna moths. I’ve only seen a live once once and that was a very long time ago. I guess given their lifespan it isn’t surprising. The lack of rain might be good for drying hay, but both of my ponds are in danger of becoming mud bogs – not a good thing for the fish and tadpoles.
Thanks Laura. I don’t think I’ve seen more than 2 or 4 Luna moths either. They aren’t very common.
We had some rain last night but I don’t know how much. We need a couple days of steady rain.
Wonderful collection of photos, we are lucky to live in New Hampshire.
Thank you John, I agree!
Beautiful images, Allen. I especally love your dragonfly shots. I think the third one may be a Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa).
Thanks Mike. I’ll update the post as soon as I can.
You check to see if you agree with my call. The color of the stigma on the wings and the wing pattern and color suggest Calico Pennant to me, although I have not yet seen that species in person (though it is on my list of ones I could spot in my area).
Thanks again Mike. I will look up the Calico Pennant, but I might not have time to update the post until after work. I know that wasn’t one of the ones I looked at when I was trying to ID the one in the photo.