Transient and fleeting. A part of history as soon as they become the present. Sometimes only captured by the mind’s eye and quickly faded into dim memories.
Spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) on common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias)
Twinflagged jumping spider (Anasaitis canosa)
Ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis)
Blue-ringed dancer (Argia sedula)
Barn spider (Neoscona crucifera)
Swift setwing (Dythemis velox)
Drought has created a dearth of insects this year. The cicada-killer wasp colony that surrounds my home normally fills the air with nearly a hundred flying giants; this year perhaps 15 or 20 of the insects came to life: a repercussion of the lack of cicadas last year. My patio for years has hosted dozens of millipedes each day; not so this year. The lack of bees, ants, spiders, grasshoppers and all manner of small critters makes me fear for the ripple effect this will have on the rest of the food chain.
Yet I have been lucky enough to find some signs of life in that tiny world arachnids and insects call home. And where I’ve been unable to scratch that itch with what is, I’ve been able to dredge up what was from the photo archives. (I’ll admit I’m making a concerted effort to clear out the flood of images I’ve collected that haven’t found a home. Otherwise they get swept into the dustbin to make room for new collections.)
So here’s another sampling of dragonflies from White Rock Lake. There are more to come, sure, and reaching back years means not all will be of the best quality. But oh well…
Atlantic bluet (Enallagma doubledayi)
Western forktail (Ischnura perparva)
Blue-ringed dancer (Argia sedula)
Swift setwing (Dythemis velox)
Halloween pennant (Celithemis eponina)
Dusky dancer (Argia translata)