northeast-flora-and-fauna

Considering it's National Dragonfly Day , I wanted to share a dragonfly picture. And at Duke Farms today: There be dragons , though not in the Medieval sense of dangerous territory. Instead we staked out a bridge where we could show off a bunch of dragonflies to the visitors. Though no Calico Pennants showed up at this particular site, there were a few hanging out in the meadows. Instead though we got to see Blue Dashers , Eastern Pondhawks , Widow Skimmers , Slaty Skimmers , and Eastern Amberwings , plenty of dragonflies to entertain the passersby. We got to see a little dragonfly breeding, quite a bit of dragonfly egg-laying, and hundreds of aerial skirmishes as aggressive males attempted to acquire territory. July 11, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 301278114, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

You've heard of the Bluebird of Happiness  (presumably looking sort of like this guy )? Given all the noise they make, this must be the Graybird of Loquaciousness . It's actually a Gray Catbird , 1 of my area's most talkative birds. In the summer you can see these birds everywhere, and hear them more than that. July 6, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301263315, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Though plenty green enough on its own, this Green Frog also got covered in what looks like watermeal. Despite having "green" as part of their name, some Green Frogs are closer to brown in coloring. This particular frog seems determined to live up to the Green Frog moniker, going to far as to get covered up with the green watermeal [1] in its vernal pond. Other than camouflage, the watermeal probably isn't very helpful to frogs. Too much watermeal can throw to the local environment out of whack, which in the long term probably interferes with a frog's ability to find food.  July 6, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301261592, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] This could be duckweed, which is a type of watermeal. I'm using the more general watermeal though because I'm not sure what particular type of watermeal it is.