Creatures

Calopteryx maculata (Ebony Jewelwing)

It’s high season for dragonflies and the pond next to my building is a good spot for finding them. Of course, taking pictures of them takes a little more than a camera and a good location. You also need a fair amount of patience. They tend to be shy and fly away when you get too close. Getting close is fairly important, though. I found a good spot, got reasonably comfortable, and waited. This female ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) landed nearby and then moved even closer. Close enough for a pretty near view.

Two Fawns

Generally I try not to post a picture of the same general subject two days in a row. If we’re travelling then I might, or if there is some multi-day event going on, but particularly in the when I’m just taking pictures in the back yard, I try not to. Well, for yesterday I posted a picture of a white-tail deer fawn. This evening there were two. How could I not go out and take pictures of them and post one of those? So, here are two white-tail deer fawns.

White-tail Deer Fawn

For the last few days we’ve had this white-tail deer fawn in our back yard. He seems to sleep in the center of the yard, under a tree in the middle of a bed of lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor) and lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) but if disturbed he will run behind the roses along the back fence. Like most fawns he is safest if predators don’t see him, so he remained alert but still as I approached this morning. When I got too close, of course, he had no choice but to get up and move. Not that I’m a predator, exactly, but he doesn’t know that.

Leucauge venusta (Orchard Orbweaver)

As I was going out to look for things to photograph this evening, Cathy mentioned a spider web above one of her patio pots. It was an orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta), a fairly common, outdoor spider in these parts. This will be my fifth orbweaver photo since I started the blog and my second this year, but never mind.

I know not everyone likes spiders but, particularly outdoors, they are quite good friends to have and I don’t mind them at all. This one is particularly beautiful, I think.

Orgyia leucostigma (White-marked Tussock Moth)

When I left to head to work this morning I noticed this little lad (or lass) on the tire of my car. I took a few pictures of it there before moving it down onto the pavement and taking a few more, including this one. It’s a fairly pretty little caterpillar, although the tussock moths are pests of trees and therefore not necessarily desirable visitors. Note that contact with hairs may cause an allergic reaction.

Agallia constricta (Constricted Leafhopper)

I was out in the yard this evening looking for things to photograph. We have a few things coming into bloom but I also noticed that there were more insects about than the last time I looked. I saw a dozen or so skippers, a few bees of one sort or another, and when I got down on the ground, quite a few very small insects. These are the things that you can easily overlook unless you pay close attention. This little fellow (or more likely lady, judging by the size) is only about 2mm long, sitting on the edge of a black-eyed Susan leaf. I was able to get fairly close but I’d love to get some extension tubes so I could get closer still. I think it turned out pretty well, though.

Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)

Albert, Brady, mom, and I went for a nice bird watching walk this morning at Martin Luther King Recreational Park in Silver Spring. We went there for a reason, it wasn’t just random. It’s a good place to see Baltimore orioles. The birds, not the baseball players. We saw quite a few although getting good photographs of them is not all that easy. First, they tend to stay up towards the tops of trees so usually you’re looking up at them through all the leaves. It’s made harder by the fact that I really don’t have a suitable lens for the job. In addition to the orioles, we saw 25 other species of bird. My pictures of an eastern kingbird actually turned out pretty well, but I’m going with this oriole picture, anyway.

Hyla versicolor (Gray Tree Frog)

I was coming back into my building early this afternoon when I spotted something out of place. In the lower right corner, just inside the metal frame against the large plate of tinted glass, was a blob. That’s all it really looked like at first. When I got closer, though, I noticed that this blob was a frog. I’m pretty sure it’s a common or eastern gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor). There is another very similar frog, the Cope’s gray tree frog (H. chrysoscelis) so I cannot say for sure, but this seems like a reasonable guess and the yellow patch on its legs (which you cannot see in this photo) means it is one of those two.

I moved him off the door so I wouldn’t be lying on the ground right there, keeping others from going in or coming out. The frog was very compliant and let me get quite close, as you can see.

Blue Jay Feathers

The youth retreat was this weekend, starting Thursday evening because the county schools were closed today (end of the grading period, or some such). I went up today, joining the group already there. At lunch time, some of us walked from the main building down to the house by the road. In the woods on the way down, I happened to notice these two blue jay feathers (Cyanocitta cristata). The blue in blue jay feathers is not because of any blue pigment but rather because of the physical structure that refracts different wavelengths of light differently. Either way, though, they are quite beautiful.

Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)

The second picture I have for today was also taken on the walk that Cathy and I enjoyed in our neighborhood. It was taken just a few minutes later, still within sight of the oak trees in the previous photo. There was a Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) singing in the bushes in front of a house. As we walked by it flew up onto a telephone wire, fairly close to where I was. Of course, “close” is a relative term and this is, after all, a small bird. This image is cropped from the center of the frame, but it’s still reasonably good. I know that it isn’t a migratory bird and is here through the winter. Still, birds singing are such a treat after the cold and snow we’ve had this year and it certainly felt like spring this afternoon.

Hawk With Prey

We were over at my brother’s today for an overdue celebration of mom’s birthday. We had a nice visit and of course a wonderful lunch. As we were getting ready to leave I noticed this hawk in the back yard. It is either a Sharp-shinned (Accipiter striatus) and Cooper’s (Accipiter cooperii) hawk. I’m leaning towards the somewhat larger Cooper’s although I really am no expert. Ralph was able to get a good picture from a long way away but I was stuck with just my 100mm lens. The hawk was on its prey, so it let me get fairly close without flying away. This isn’t the full frame, but I think it turned out reasonably well. I didn’t get any closer and it seemed relieved when I turned and walked back to the front yard.