Dragonfly Hunt Depending on who you talk to, Sweet Marsh (Marten’s Lake) may or may not be the best place for fishing right now. Aquatic vegetation seems to be overtaking the water making power boating challenging at best. For paddlers, the stringy, green muck makes every paddle stroke difficult unless you stay only in …
ID Challenge Of all of the wildlife that I try to identify, dragonflies and damselflies might present the greatest challenge. If all that I saw and photographed were adult males, especially dragonflies, then the process would be easy. When the pictures or observations include females or juveniles, the process becomes very challenging. I frequently …
Sweet Revenge During a very early morning outing, when the mosquitoes were feeding furiously after a night without human blood, I found a small area where dragonflies and damselflies were feeding voraciously on the mosquitoes. All I had to do was sit in place, swat at bugs, and watch the reverse bloodshed. Dragonflies and …
Very Heavy Stuff Today’s post includes a photo of a very heavy product created by humans. Apparently this stuff is so heavy that it must be left (improperly discarded) where it is removed from fishing reels. It is too heavy to carry out to be properly disposed of. As a result, wildlife life becomes …
Almost the Last Eight Miles A day or two ago I shared how some of our nesting brown thrashers had left their nest and were out in the yard. The parent birds were having a fit when I moved around…not even close to their brood. As a result, I have steered clear of that …
Aggressive Parenting Since the latter part of last week much has happened at the avian nurseries here in our yard. The noisy house wrens fledged and all is quiet again near the feeders. Unfortunately we missed seeing the little ones leave their nest box. In another part of the yard our brown thrashers …
Young Experiences Today was a good day to spend with two of our grandchildren at a nearby park/campground. Together we did the typical park activities and then our group of friends went on an early morning prairie hike. Rather than just walk, we studied wildflowers and some of us, including the two youngest folks, photographed …
Working on a Project This morning I had some free time that allowed me to enjoy a photo safari of sorts. Instead of posting one picture after another, my plan is to put the series together in a video at the end of the weekend. For now I will give you a sneak preview …
I Liked His Photo Last week a friend of mine shot a photo that I really liked. The composition was clean and simple, yet something I really enjoyed. When I saw it I commented that it would look good as a print or canvas hanging on a wall. As I was studying wildflowers tonight …
Ominous Clouds and A First Late this morning, as I was mowing a family member’s yard, I watched as yet another thunderstorm moved across our rural Iowa landscape. Dark clouds were seen first, then cool temperatures pushed through, followed by heavy rain with thunder and lightning. Before the storm arrived I pondered the thought …