Butterflies & Dragonflies

Near where we live, a new subdivision is being planned. For the road into this subdivision, they have taken out many of the trees which has fragmented what used to be a nice little woods. They have also put a water drainage retention pond down at the end of the road. We had over an inch-and-a-half of rain this morning, so the pond was pretty full.

I took a little drive over there on the ATV this afternoon to see if there was anything that might be interesting for a blog and here's what I found.

Rick had been over there one day last week and told me he found some very tiny deer hoofprints, so we know that some fawns have been born. I found some of these little hoofprints also, and because I didn't have a tape measure along, I have used my own foot to show you the difference in size

fawn hoofprint

and the mother deer hoofprint

(looks like my toenail polish needs to be re-done but at least my toe isn't hairy!)

On the path to the pond, I spotted this Tiger Swallowtail getting nectar from some thistle blossoms. I had to walk through some thistles myself to get this picture, but it was worth it!

As I was walking down to the water, I could hear all these "plopping" noises of something jumping into the water. As I got closer, I realized it was tiny little frogs. Here's one of the frogs that's still retaining some of his tadpole identity.

There were lots of dragonflies down by the pond. The majority of the dragonflies I saw were Common Whitetails--they were everywhere (this is a male).

Here is a picture of a female who was laying eggs on the edge of the pond. She was sitting on the edge of the water and tapping the end of her tail in the water. There were several males hovering all around her. I figured she might be laying eggs and this was confirmed when I checked in my Stokes "Beginner's Guide to Dragonflies" field guide.

Most of these dragonflies weren't sitting still too long, so I didn't get too many pictures of them.

This is a female Twelve-Spotted Skimmer.

And here is the male Twelve-Spotted Skimmer.

Even though this isn't a very good picture, I'm going to guess it's a Familiar Bluet, especially since the description of its habitat in my field guide says, "A large variety of habitats, including poorly vegetated lakes and ponds" which this pond is.
Lastly, on my drive home, I spotted this Red Admiral on the dirt trail ahead of me.

It was hot and humid this afternoon, with almost no wind, but I covered myself with insect repellant and had a really fun time wandering around this little pond and seeing all the beautiful living things that made their home in and around this muddy water.

Thanks for coming along!