I’m still occasionally seeing dragonflies, capturing these on Sunday as he investigated a manicured shrub hedge.
Look closely through his wing below and you’ll spot another thorn pointing away from his body.
An un-obscured head shot proved elusive and the direction of his position may have been due to the stiff breeze we had that day. These were taken in an area that is often overrun with mosquitoes so I was happy to have the air movement.
Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC 11/04/2018
The day had warmed up from 50 F (10 C) to the high 70s (21 C) and the bees came out to inspect the wild flowers around the old rice ponds.
These asters were a big draw and this patch had multiple bees working the blossoms.
Here’s a wider view of the aster patch well lit by the mid-day sun.
I don’t know either the insect or this flower that was growing wild at the edge of a pond.
One of the wasp’s legs was sticking out at an unnatural looking angle, perhaps injured, but it wasn’t slowing him down.
He methodically worked the flower blossoms around the stem, unlike some insects that dart around, seemingly unsatisfied with what is in front of them.
At the end of the second week of October there were many Gulf Fritillary Butterflies still around.
Our temperatures have remained in the mid to high 80s during the day (27 plus C) which is above average for October. Only in the last few days have the nights gone down to 60 F (15 C).
Fortunately this favorite wildflower of the Fritillary is still blooming. Some lovely purple flowers just a few feet away had no attraction to this fellow.
Taken 10/09/2018, Charleston, SC.
There were an amazing variety of insects hopping and flying around the flowers in the Mepkin Abby Labyrinth.
The sunflowers made a beautiful yellow glow behind the blooms where the insects opted to land. This Buckeye’s colors were a nice match.
There were grasshopper type insects of several varieties and sizes. This fellow was at least four inches (ten centimeters) from head to tail and could easily leap into the next aisle of the labyrinth in a flash.
Several smaller butterflies, perhaps this is some type of skipper, were around inspecting the flowers.
There were some larger butterflies, I believe this is a Monarch. I was quite surprised that with all these insects I didn’t see any birds within the labyrinth looking for their own lunches.
From a distance this wasp nest looked like a dried flower head jammed into these branches. When I got close enough to see the insect movement I could tell that it was not a flower at all.
It’s interesting that the nest appeared to have a uniform depth and I couldn’t tell what was supporting the disk. The wasps were crawling around the outside of the nest, not coming and going as I would have expected.
Gulf Fritillaries were zipping all around the swamp edges yesterday morning in what I have come to recognize as a harbinger of fall in South Carolina.
There were a lot of spider webs, too, attached to every kind of plant around the swamp. I walked with a small stick to move those that blocked the trail and only walked into a couple.
Butterflies seem aware of the spider web strands and easily manipulate around them.
I saw this last Gulf Fritillary as we were leaving bouncing on a more delicate wild flower.
Taken 9/8/2018
It’s always interesting to note the objects dragonflies choose to land on. When available they often select stationery man-made objects over natural options. Could it be they prefer not to bounce in the breeze while on a reed or limb? This one certainly had an unobstructed view of any potential prey.
This pole is part of a rusting fence that is around a plot at Magnolia Cemetery.
Missing part of a wing didn’t slow this Dragonfly down one bit. He performed the usual lift off, turn and resettle routine on this stick at the edge of a pond-side dike several times.
A little further along the dike I spotted another Dragonfly with a wing tear. These insects are so delicate it is easy to imagine scenarios that would leave them damaged.
These large red flowers are so flashy I almost didn’t see the butterfly. I believe the flower is a Texas Star Hibiscus, which grow wild around the edges of my favorite swamp.
The butterfly was intensely inspecting the flowers, but he didn’t stay with any one blossom for more than a moment.
An unopened bloom got its share of attention as the butterfly probed up under the flower’s sepals.
That wasn’t very satisfying, either, and he quickly moved on.
Many of the Buttonbush trees that were so popular with the butterflies in this area last July have died, and those that didn’t have very few blossoms. The harsh weather we had in January may have too much for them.
