Wordless Wednesday: The Dragons of Old Cedar

Dragons in Love

Ecobirder started as a way to share my nature photography with others. In the past Michelle, my wife, and I have taken trips all over the US to take pictures of moose, bears, coyote, elk, whales, raptors, and other wildlife. Unfortunately jobs and expenses do not let us travel enough for me to produce a quality blog just with pictures from our travels. So I started doing more bird photography because it was a way that I could get out in my spare time with out having to travel around the country. Last summer I found a couple of other subjects that I became interested in that became an important part of the blog, butterflies and dragonflies. Unfortunately nether of these are around in Minnesota during the winter so it has been a while since I have had a good opportunity to photograph them with any variety or regularity. While I have already seen, and photographed, several types of butterflies this year I have been anxiously waiting for the dragonfly season to begin. I have seen a fair number of the larger green darner dragonflies, these are the big ones that fly south for the winter like the birds do, I even was able to photograph one hovering at the Dodge Nature Center a couple weeks ago, but most of the smaller types, that die out in the winter, are currently in their larval state.

The darners are difficult to photograph because they do not land very often.
That is why I was excited when I spotted 2 green darner dragonflies mating at the Bass Ponds last week.
In this picture the male is on the top with a blue abdomen while the female is below with a red abdomen. The reproductive organs of both sexes are located near the end of the abdomen, however the males actually have 2 sets. Sperm is produced by the reproductive organ at the back of the abdomen and then is transferred to a reproductive organ located just in front of the abdomen. The female then places her reproductive organ on the males front organ and that is where the sperm is transferred. The male then places his abdomen on top of her head which she grasps with her feet. This gives the couple stability while the mating procedure is taking place and even allows them to fly as a single unit.
I am hoping to add a lot more butterfly and dragonfly pictures soon, if the weather decides to cooperate but if you really need a dragonfly fix check out this blog that I found on Dragons and Damsels in Malaysia. It is a very good blog with a lot of great pics so I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Duluth trip part 2: Park Point

After I left Wisconsin Point last Thursday I moved on to Park Point. At park point there were a lot of Canadian geese, mallards, and dark eyed junco. In the sports fields I spotted about 10 American golden-plover scavenging through the grass.
Next I went down to the beach at Minnesota point but the only thing that I saw was a ringed-billed gull.

On my way back out I stopped at the marsh to check out some ducks that I saw near shore. They were only mallards but while I was out I spotted a few dragon flies.Like this variegated meadowhawk that landed on some drift wood.This pair of ruby meadowhawks were mating. Hopefully they were not to late.This pair was not mating but the male still had a hold of the females head.

This was on October 25th in Duluth, MN, which is not that far from the Canadian border. When I was a kid, growing up in the Twin Cities, I remember often having snow on the ground when I went trick or treating on Halloween. Now here it is less then a week before Halloween with temps in Duluth in the 60s. More proof that global warming is a serious issue.

Dragons in love

While exploring the fields around the Minnesota River in Fort Snelling Stat Park I came across quite a few meadowhawk dragonfly.Most of the meadowhawk that I saw where I believe ruby meadowhawk but there are several variety which appear to look very similar so I could be mistaken. Many of the meadowhawk where perched with their wings out and their abdomen up in the air. They do this when it is warm to minimize the amount of their body that is getting heat from the sun.

While the male meadowhawks where up at the top of the grass showing off the females where harder to find and tended to stay lower in the grass. Their yellow color also made them easier to blend into the grass then the bright red of the males. This is very similar to many bird species, such as red-winged blackbirds and cardinals, just to name a few. This is prolly natures way of protecting the female who produces the young.Dragonfly mating is very unique. Before mating can begin the male has to prepare. Male dragonfly have 2 sexual organs. Before mating the male transfers sperm from the main sexual organ at the end of the abdomen, where it is produced, to the secondary sexual organ at the base of the abdomen. The male then places the end of his abdomen on top of the females head. She grasps his abdomen with her tarsus, the end of the dragonfly foot.The female then places her sexual organ, which is located at the end of her abdomen over top of the male's secondary sexual organ to receive the sperm. The pair stay together in this tandem position and will even fly this way while mating. Once fertilized the female will lay the eggs in water or deposit them inside water foliage, depending on the type of dragonfly.I also found a white-faced meadow hawk on my trip. I did not realize that I had photographed a second type, since the males look very similar except for the white frons on the white-faced meadowhawk.

For more pictures and information on dragonfly and their mating check out this website http://www.cirrusimage.com/dragonflies.htm .