Olive-sided Flycatcher with Bee

 

Killdeer on Nest

Sky Watch

 It is not always necessary to point your camera up when trying to get a good sky pic.

Queen Butterfly

 

Zygoptera

Zygoptera is the suborder of insects which damselflies belong to. It is one half of the order Odonata which also includes the suborder Anisoptera which are the dragonflies. Zygoptera roughly translates as "same Wing". The fore and hind wings of the damselfly are approximately the same size and shape where dragonflies have different shaped fore and hind wings. 

There are some other differences that can help identify between zygoptera (damselflies) and anisoptera (dragonfly) but many of these other field marks have exceptions. Damselflies all have eyes that are widely separated while most dragonflies, with the exception of the clubtail family, all have eyes that meet in the middle. Dragonflies are typically larger then damselflies, however the longest odonata in the world is the helicopter damselfly of South America. Dragonflies usually perch holding their wings out flat at their sides where damselflies perch with their wings folded together over their back with the exception of the spreadwing damselflies that hold their wings out at a 45 % angle at their side.

Tiger of the Sky

 

Here in North America the great horned owl is often referred to as the tiger of the sky. That is because they are a ferocious hunter know for taking larger prey. Often their prey is as large or larger then that of the bald eagle, even though the average eagle here in Minnesota can weigh 2 to 3 times more then the owl. Frequently their prey is larger then the owl, as is the case with the striped skunk which weigh an average of 2 or more times what the owl weighs. In comparison that would be like and average human attacking a female grizzly bear.  

Tuesday Tweets

The least grebe is the smallest grebe in the Western Hemisphere. An adult is usually only 9 to 11 inches long and weigh 3 to 6 ounces. They are found in Mexico , Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Their range does extend up into the southern portions of Texas where I took this Pic. 

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

Life as a predator is not easy. Predators have to spend most of their time hunting for prey if they are going to survive. Dragonflies are predators. They eat other insects. Usually dragonflies catch their prey while in flight. This dragon is a rapids clubtail. They are smaller dragonflies that are usually found around larger rivers. They would usually prey on insects about the size of large flies.

 The midland clubtail , pictured above, is a fierce hunter. They are also commonly found around large rivers. They are a mid-sized dragonfly. With their larger size midland clubs will often go after larger prey then their cousins the rapids club.

 Sometimes that may even include the rapids clubtail itself, as pictured in the photo above. This midland is eating the thorax of the rapids club. This was an epic fight with the combatants pretty evenly matched. Usually the first thing that a dragon will do when it catches another dragon is pop off the preys head. but this midland was having a difficult time holding a dragon that was not much smaller then itself. In the end the larger dragon prevailed and the circle of life continued.

Pine Siskin

Green Jay

 The green jay is a bird that is native to tropical areas of the Americas. They are found primarily in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America. The range of the green jay extends up into the US only in south Texas. Green jays live in family units. The young adults from previous broods stick around and help their parents defend the territory. In Texas usually these offspring are kicked out of the territory after about a year. In South America offspring may stay with their parents for several years.

 

Minnesota is the 32nd state of the United States and was admitted into the US in 1858. The capital of Minnesota is St Paul. The capital building in St Paul was built between 1896 and 1905. It has the second largest unsupported marble dome in the world. The building was modeled after St Peter's Basilica in Rome, which has the largest unsupported dome. This is the third capital building for Minnesota. The first was destroyed and the second was too small.

Happy Independence Day

 

Yellow Warbler Bathing

 One of the few warblers that stays in this part of Minnesota during the summer is the yellow warbler.They breed through out much of the northern half of the US and most of Canada. During the winter they migrate as far south as Central and South America.

Yellow warblers are pretty easy to identify. While many warbler have some yellow color to them most are not as bright or yellow as the yellow warbler. This one was bathing in a small creek at the Minnesota Valley Refuge.

Tuesday Tweets

 

It seems like every year some poor birds get mixed up and end up a log way from home. Last year's special visitor was a blue grosbeak.The breeding range of the blue grosbeak does extend north into North and South Dakota so it is not so uncommon in western portions of the state but here in the Twin Cities, where we are on the eastern border with Wisconsin, it was an exciting event. People from all over the cities and other parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin came to see the rare visitor.

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

Damselfly Macro

 Lately I have been working on updating my Odonata presentation. I originally put it together while I was taking my MN master Naturalist program. At the end of the class we had to do what is called a Capstone Project. My project was putting together a dragonfly workshop. I put the workshop on a couple of times last year and now I have two more programs coming up, but I decided to update the presentation, since I have a lot of new pictures to work with. The photo above is a macro of a damselfly. Damselflies have eyes that are widely separated. There are some dragonflies who also have their eyes separated on their head but this is definitely not a clubtail.