Monthly Archives: September 2020

A Good Sign

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Tuesday, September 15, 2020,

This is a pair of pics of a juvenile Green Heron at Frank Melville Park. The key word here is juvenile. You see, a pair of Green Herons has nested at the park for at least the past four years. Unfortunately, after three years of producing three chicks each season, last year’s nest failed. Twice. Both nests were destroyed by storms. It was the first time in at least four years that our park’s Green Herons did not produce any young. Stuff happens and yada,yada,yada, when nest failures occur, sometimes the returning couple do not return. I was fully aware of this and I was worried that “our” Green Herons might not return. However, earlier this year, I saw at least one of the Herons bringing nest materials to the same small island that they had used in the previous years. Alas, nothing ever came of it and no nest was ever fully completed there. I feared the worst. Fast forward to last week when I saw this very beautiful and very welcome bird fishing in the estuary behind the Mill. Now, I cannot be certain that this youngster is the offspring of the couple that used to nest at Frank Melville each year, but I choose to believe so. JK.

JK

Female Blue Dasher Laying Eggs

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Friday, September 11, 2020,

This is a female Blue Dasher Dragonfly. She is hovering just above a still part of the pond in preparation of laying her eggs. She will deposit her eggs, often one at a time, on plants in the water. In the photo below, you can see her dipping her tail end into the water. She does this repeatedly, perhaps in an effort not to place all of her eggs in one basket, er, leaf of Duckweed.

Dragonflies lay their eggs in still water so that the eggs do not get flushed out into areas where there may be fish who would be more than willing to gobble up their efforts. These eggs won’t hatch until next spring. The young that emerge are not mini dragonflies, rather, they are a mid-stage called Nymphs or Naiads. Naiads are very voracious hunters, eating everything from Mosquito larvae to even tadpoles. This “interval” stage often lasts years longer than the “adult” stage of mature dragonflies. This is not unusual for insect species. Some Cicadas enjoy a larval stage lasting as much as thirteen or even seventeen years before emerging as an adult. As the Cicada adult stage only lasts a few weeks, I sure hope their nymphs get a chance to do a lot of reading done in the meantime.  JK.

JK