A blue darter dragonfly
Buzzing around the neighbor’s pond are literally dozens of kinds of dragonflies and damselflies. These amazing insects can be difficult to identify especially from photographs.
Some specific identifications even require the use of magnifying lenses according to various websites.
The National Parks Service website, www.nps.gov, mentioned the difficulty of tracking down the ID of a group of damselflies called bluets.
A bluet damselfly
“Bluets are a group of the damselflies that are often very difficult to identify to the species level, often requiring the capture of the insect and the use of a hand lens,” the site said.
One identification site is www.odonatacentral.org.
A meadowhawk dragonfly
According to an article titled “14 Fun Facts About Dragonflies” on www.smithsonianmag.com, a single dragonfly can eat 30 to hundreds of mosquitoes per day.
The website www.beneficialbugs.org, said that dragonflies eat many times their weight in mosquitoes every day.
The site listverse.com listed another cool fact about dragonflies referring to their eyesight.
“The massive bulbous eyes of a dragonfly wrap around its head like an astronaut’s helmet, giving it a 360 degree view of the world,” the site said.
A male Baltimore oriole feeds jelly to a young oriole.
Meanwhile, the orioles have brought their young into the jelly feeder.
A wild rabbit is seen eating clover in the yard.
At least three bunnies have been enjoying the clover in the yard.
A painted lady butterfly.
A Walk in the Woods contains photos from newsroom staffer Anna Applegate’s daily jaunts around her neck of the woods. Tagging along on the treks are dogs Buford, Sherman and Sadie, and goats Kyle and Kennedy. Applegate manages the Good Times and can be emailed at bigdogs.thederrick@gmail.com.
