Dragonflies - Some Skimmers

Widow Skimmer - Libellula luctuosa - Male Mature  

Finally a Dragonfly post, first I want to say I am not an expert. I depend on a Facebook group I belong to for most of my identifications.  However, today's post includes three very common Dragonflies, they can be found pretty much anywhere in North America where dragonflies are flying.  These three all have a couple of other things in common, they are all Skimmer Dragonflies and they all (depending on the sex for some) develop pruinescence as they age. Pruinescence is a waxy film usually white.  Skimmers are the largest group of Dragonflies, if you want to know more about them click on the link above.

Now on to today's photographs, above is a mature male Widow Skimmer, the image below is also of a Widow Skimmer, but this one doesn't show the pruinescence of the older Dragonfly. Note how the mature Male Dragonfly has developed white on the wings, blue on the abdomen, and black on the top Thorax.  Females may develop brown wing tips but won't have the white or blue though the thorax and abdomen will darken. I don't have a good photo of an older female.

Widow Skimmer - Libellula luctuosa - Newly Emerged

The next three photographs are of Common Whitetails, note the different wing pattern between males and females. 

Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia - Male

The male Whitetail above is fairly newly emerged, the white patterning is still visible on the body.

I want to explain what I mean by the comment newly emerged (another term is Teneral). Dragonflies go through a nymph phase that lives in water, when it is time for the adult Dragonfly to emerge the nymph crawls out of the water usually on a grass or water plant stem, and like a chrysalis splits open allowing the adult form to emerge. Like butterflies they need to expand their wings and dry off. As the Dragonfly or Damselfly age they often undergo color changes, pruinescence is just one of changes.

Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia - Male Mature

 The above photo shows a mature Whitetail where the pruinescence is fully developed. 

Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia - Female

Above is a Whitetail female, note that her wing pattern is very different from the males. It can be confusing for beginning Dragonfly observers I know I though I had found a different species only to discover that no, it was one I had already identified just a different sex.

Blue Dasher - Pachydiplax longipennis

I have one last example for today's post. The Blue Dasher is another very common dragonfly, and from what I have read one of the most studied. I think they are a rather pretty, certainly more colorful than the other two Dragonflies in this post.

Blue Dasher Mature Male

Above is a mature male Blue Dasher and you can see where the name comes from with the blue abdomen.

One last photograph, not a very good one but I was trying to photograph a female Blue Dasher as she was depositing eggs on the surface of the lake at Ames Nowell State Park. 

Blue Dasher Female depositing eggs

In the case of the Blue Dasher both male and female dragonflies develop the blue coloration.  Correction: I have recently regained access to my one book on Odes, according to this book the females don't pruinose, so I wanted to correct my comments - Sept. 19, 2017.

That is it for today, all photographs were made by me, though not all of them from this year, in local (Southeastern MA) State Parks or other nature reserves.  Per usual comments are welcome.

Some Recent Bird Photos

I heard the bird in the above photo before I saw it, and when I was able to check the photo I immediately recognized it. This is a fledgling Baltimore Oriole. It was calling out for one of its parents to come and find it and feed it of course. I first found a fledgling Baltimore Oriole a couple of years ago in my local park. That one was on the ground and making a huge racket. I photographed it but left it alone per what I have read on-line about fledgling birds - parents are usually somewhere close so they don't need human help. I wasn't too concerned about the one above since a parent soon showed up, at least that is what I think happened. I never saw the adult bird but the fledgling stopped its chirping  and I heard leaves rustling so I think mom or dad arrived with a meal. What happened to the one in the park I don't know, hopefully it could fly enough to get off the ground once a parent arrived to claim it. This one I photographed at Ames Nowell State Park, Abington, MA.

This is a House or English Sparrow. Normally I don't share photographs of these birds, they aren't native to the US and have become something of a pest. Taking nest boxes that birders would rather go to native birds that are quite frankly usually prettier, like Blue Birds. But this is a leucistic bird. Note that the feathers have little to no color while the eye is a normal dark color. If this were an albino bird the eye would be pink or red. I photographed this bird at Trailside Museum, Blue Hills Reservation, Milton, MA.

These next two photos were made at the same spot, Ames Nowell State Park, Abington, MA. but days apart. On the first occasion clouds had moved in and I didn't have enough light to get anything other that a silhouette of this Humming Bird. That said the shape is unmistakable.

I went back a couple of days later and had enough sun to pick up some color. Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird, stretching wings prior to taking off from its perch. The area where I photographed the bird (I have a feeling it is the same one) has many bushes of flowering native azalea. But I have seen Hummingbirds in this area before. One spring I watched and listened as a male sang from the top of a tree, marking territory I thought, but I wasn't able to get any photographs that year, so it was fun to get them now.  Of course I have seen Hummingbirds around bird feeders, but somehow it is more fun to find them out in the field (so to speak)

The above bird is a Song Sparrow, one of our native sparrows. I photographed this one in the field at the Governor Ames Estate in Easton, MA. The field has been allowed to grow wild, and is covered with grasses and wild flowers. I go hunting butterflies, but the Song Sparrows love the field, between the grass seeds and insects it has to be a wonderful food source. Usually there is at least one that will perch on some taller plants and chirp at me, letting all the other birds in the area know there is an invader in their field. This one was pretty close to me, but it bravely held its ground (perch) while letting others know to beware.

Photographed the above bird at Massasoit State Park, East Taunton, MA. over the weekend. I believe this is a fledgling Red-wing Blackbird, it certainly sounded like one and I know that adult birds had a nest in the area I photographed this bird. Otherwise I just like this photo the bird seems to have a cheeky expression.

That is it for today, next time I think I will do Odes, they can be beautiful, though I am not sure about my photographs sill I find them interesting so want to share. Per usual comments are welcome.

Parasitic Plants

Orobanche uniflora

I have been told that Massachusetts is the home of four Parasitic Plants. In my years of hunting and photographing wild flowers I have only found three of the four species. Above is one of my rarer finds, though I believe it is fairly common, One Flowered Broom Rape, or One Flowered Cancer Root, as my older flower books called it. These plants have specialized roots to feed off of its host plants and no chlorophyll at all. Host plants for it are sedums, saxifrages, sunflowers, goldenrods and others.  I have found this species in open sunny locations, but only in the spring (May).  The difficulty is that it may bloom one year in a location then not again the next year, these are annual plants.

The thing to remember is that all of these representatives are true flowing plants, they are not mushrooms or other fungus.  Those don't just look like flowers they are flowers and the plant will set seed after a pollinator comes to visit. The one thing they all have in common is they lack chlorophyll so they cannot produce their own nutrients from the sun and must acquire them from other sources.              

Monotropa uniflora

A second and much more common parasitic plant is Indian Pipe. I am sure that most of us who spend any time walking in woods have seen these ghostly stalks poking their heads up in the forest floor.  Since their main host is pine trees they are often seen growing through a bed of pine needles. Unlike my other two parasitic plants Indian Pipes don't use specialized roots to attach to their hosts roots instead they take advantage of a soil fungus which is itself feeding off of the pines.  

These newly emerged plants above all have their flower heads pointing down. This keeps the rain water out of the flower. As the plants mature the flower heads will tilt more horizontally then vertically.

The above photo shows the flower heads in various positions. Once pollinated the flower head will move to a vertical position.  I once saw a bumblebee crawl out of the flower of an Indian pipe, started me so I didn't get a photograph, but it also reminded me that these are not mushrooms.

The old plants turn brown or black. You can see that happening in the above group photo, note that most of the flower heads with their developing seed pods have turned up. You can find these plants in pine woods throughout the summer if there has been enough rain to support their growth, the plants don't survive very long, a few weeks or so.

Conopholis Americana

My third Parasitic Plant is Squaw Root, and it uses specialized roots to feed off of Oak Trees. I have only found this plant in one location, though a couple of years apart. The photo above shows it in bloom.

Here you see it in a later stage where the seeds are developing. The above photo actually represents the first time I found the plant, while the first photo is the 2nd time.  The plants bloom in May (in MA) but develop over a month or two, my second photo was made in June. According to what I have read the plants can linger through winter though they will turn brown. 

As I mentioned above I have heard that there is one other Parasitic Plant to be found in MA., however I cannot find an official list of Parasitic Plants in MA so I am unable to find a name. I believe it is a multi bloom version of Bloom Rape (there is a plant like that in VT. it is not native and hasn't been found in MA as far as I know.). If any reader has further information please feel free to share it with me.

That is it for today. Hope you enjoyed seeing and reading about our Parasitic Plants.