 |
| Just pictures of summer today. Here is an inviting path under blue sky with a fleet of clouds coming in. Click to enlarge. |
 |
| A micro world of turkey tail mushrooms, lichens, and moss. |
 |
| A painted turtle with a white water lily. |
 |
| Light shining through the bristly fringe of a resting robber fly. |
 |
| The big snapping turtle swiming in green water. |
 |
Snapping turtle's face. |
|
| A bumblebee on wild bergamot. |
 |
| A common whitetail dragonfly on the ground. |
 |
| And an orange sunset on the Delaware River. |
 |
| There’s a public garden near me where patches of wildflowers are surrounded by rings of cobblestones. The stones are favorite perching spots for dragonflies. A few days ago, the place was a-flutter with long-tailed skimmer dragonflies. This one is a female. Note the three brown spots on each wing and rows of triangular spots on the side of the abdomen. Click to enlarge. |
 |
|
Here’s an immature male of the same species. It has a different wing pattern – one wide dark stripe on each wing. Long-tailed skimmers, also called common whitetails, are found across North America. |
 |
|
This is a mature
male. Easy to why it's called a whitetail, right? The white mark is not actual
color, it’s an accumulation of waxy particles that give the tail a frosted dusty look. These
males are territorial, defending an area of marsh, pond, or river by driving
off other males and mating with females that choose to lay eggs there. That
tail is a signal to all that a white-tail-slinging dragonfly male is on the job. |
 |
| Hot summer, but the dragonflies seem to be enjoying it. |
