northeast-flora-and-fauna

Whether it's odonates (e.g. dragonflies and damselflies) or birds, it's sometimes difficult to differentiate immature males from females. But sometimes the difference is obvious, like when I see a female laying eggs. Here's a female Blue Dasher who's doing exactly that. Many dragonfly females will hover over the water, quickly dipping the end of her abdomen (her ovipositor ) down into the water and depositing an egg there.  This is 1 of the 2 main ways that dragonflies lay eggs. Another technique is to cut a slit in a water plant and lay eggs inside the plant; I've never actually witnessed this technique. You might be wondering why a flying insect lays eggs in water. This is because, despite adults being fierce aerial predators, as nymphs (call naiads) they lead totally different lives; they are fierce aquatic predators. 😄 When I say this, they are fierce aquatic predators in the world of the small; they aren't taking down adult turtles, herons, or (most) fis...

This was one of the first pictures I got this year of the Common Wood-Nymph , and probably the first one I've got of a pair mating. They're also a butterfly I've shown you before . The Common Wood-Nymph is considered one of the satyr butterflies . Lepidopterology is a field of study where you can state that a " nymph is a satyr " without people thinking you don't understand classical mythology. In my area they are pretty distinctive; the eye spots on a yellow patch are unique around here. Apparently in some areas they have the same eye spots and the same overall gray, but lack the yellow patch, making them harder to ID at a glance. July 22, 2021 at Fairview Farm Photo 148400547, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a Common Whitetail Dragonfly neighbor I met walking around my apartment complex. She was out catching some rays while probably keeping an eye out for a snack. The 3 dark spots on each wing guarantee this is a female as opposed to a juvenile male who hasn't gotten his pruinose yet. I am a little surprised to see dragonflies at my apartment complex since there's no year round water here. This species is supposed to be able to go through its nymph stage in puddles, and we probably had some puddles around in the spring. The other possibility is that she grew up a couple miles ago in the Raritan River; this species is considered to be a strong flier that could make that trip. August 19, 2020 at Finderne, NJ

Here's a female Blue Dasher Dragonfly , following up yesterday's male Blue Dasher Dragonfly. As you might notice, the species common name comes from the pruinose on the male. Other than a little blue on the head, the female doesn't have a heck of a lot of blue. They also like to perch with a pair of their wings held ahead of their head. This isn't unique to Blue Dashers, but it's a little irregular. Before they're adults, dragonflies live as small aquatic predatory nymphs called naiads. Nymphs and larva are two common ways for insects to grow into adults. Unlike larva, nymphs never go through a pupa metamorphosis stage like moths/caterpillars do. Instead nymphs are structurally similar to adults, and get more similar as they go through their instars .  The naming convention comes from Greek mythology. Nymphs are minor female deities, and naiads are basically water nymphs . August 15, 2020 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve