Birds and Nature

Here are two more odonata that I photographed over the week-end at the Dragonfly Festival at Bitter Lake NWR in New Mexico. Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge is one of the top locations for number of odonata species in the U.S. The top odonata is a Desert Whitetail Dragonfly. This pair of Common Green Darners just above are perched in tandem while the female deposits her eggs. Following is a great description from the Animal Diversity Web: "Once mating is complete, common green darners remain in tandem and oviposit in pairs. The pairs fly low over the water, with the male still grasping the female, and they land in the open to oviposit. They lay eggs on floating stems and leaves, including alive and dead material, as well as on woody branches." Fyi, the male is the brighter colored dragonfly and is in the front. SeEtta

Though it seems unlikely this Virginia Rail kept coming out almost into the open, seeming to be curious about me. Even if that was not the case it did provide me the opportunity to get these pics. There was a second Virginia Rail less than 25 feet from this one but it was busy hunting so moved to quick for any pics. SeEtta

This is a Black Saddlebags dragonfly and I think it is pretty cool looking. "Black saddlebags, although fairly common, are striking insects. The hind wings are long and wide, with irridescent black bands on the parts of the wings closest to the body. This gives them their common name "black saddlebags," because the black patches make them look like they're wearing saddlebags. The rest of the wing is clear." SeEtta

A photo of a pair of Common Green Darners in tandem as she oviposits. SeEtta

I drove to the west end of Canon City this morning to do some birding but when I got there I saw that a rescue was starting on the steep canyon walls above Tunnel Drive on the other side of the river from where I was located. The top photo gives a good view of what I could see without the use of optics--note the white arrows pointing that are pointing at the young woman who was the subject of the rescue. Though I was several hundred yards away I had close up views through my 45X spotting scope lens. And since I photograph birds, flowers, mountains, just much of what I observe I started photographing this rescue by our local Canon City Fire District. I was fearful on several occasions as I watched the firemen climb without safety ropes. Once the lead fireman in the red helmet got to her he started cutting a large cactus that is shown in front of her in the top pic so she could late come down past it. Then other firemen climbed to the top then threw a safety rope down to be ...

It was so productive last Saturday I went back yesterday (Tues) to Red Canyon Park--and it was fabulous. Saw 2 flocks of Pinyon Jays fly over, on flock with about 75 birds and the other flock with only about 8 birds.

I spotted this Western Tanager, I believe a first fall male, as he flew up after taking a bath in a ditch yesterday. There was a big push of these migrants with at least 2 dozen in areas along the Arkansas River as it flows through Canon City. SeEtta Ws