Clubtailed Dragonfly.  If you look close it appears to be eating an orange butterfly, probably a skipper butterfly. The Clubtail family is complex, and I have not yet gotten this one down to a species.

Same Clubtail, top view.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly, male.

DRAGONFLIES & DAMSELFLIES, JUNE 21, 2016

On the first full day of summer we headed to the backwaters of the Mississippi to photograph dragonflies and damselflies.  The day was as good as it gets and we got quite a few photos of these beautiful creatures. About half of these are Gary's and the other half are Bobbie's.

Female Pondhawk Dragonfly.  In general the males are usually more colorful than the females, but this is not true with the Pondhawk. Pondhawks are know as fearsome preditors and will even eat other dragonflies and damselflies.

Male Pondhawk Dragonfly.

12-spot (female) Dragonfly.  So named for the number of dark spots on wings.

12-spot (male) Dragonfly.

12-spot Dragonfly, probably immature.

Amber-winged Dragonfly.  TO SEE MORE GO UP AND TO THE RIGHT AND CLICK ON JUNE 2016, OR ANY OTHER MONTH DESIRED.

Blue Dasher Dragonfly.

Dot-tailed Whitefaced Dragonfly.

Same Whitefaced top view.

Dot-tailed Whiteface Dragonfly.

Widow Skimmer (female) Dragonfly.

Widow Skimmer (male) Dragonfly.

DAMSELFLIES. Damselflies are similar to dragonflies but they are in general thinner, smaller, and fold their wings up onto their back when resting.

Tiage bluet Damselfly

Eastern Forktail Damselfly.

Marsh Bluet Dameselfly

Bluet Damselfly, Marsh species??

Red-spotted Purple butterfly on driveway this morning. (the red spots are actually on the underwings).

Virginia Ctenuchid moth on our prairie.

Skipper family butterfly.  Many of these 3/4 inch skippers are very similar and hard to ID to a species.

Gorgone Checkerspot butterfly.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, female.  The chasing and fighting around our hummer feeder has ended and I suspect that this means that the females are now nesting.

Male Common Whitetail Dragonfly.

DRAGONFLY TIME

12-Spotted Skimmer, male.  We do not have prime dragonfly habitat, but our meadows and prairie still have decent numbers of this fantastic insect hunter.  This week has brought us good numbers of some of the species of dragonflies.

12-Spotted Skimmer, female.  We have high numbers of this species at our place now.

4-Spotted Skimmer.  This is the first one we have seem at our land.

Common Whitetail dragonfly.  Juvenile. The tail will become a powder white as an adult.

Yellow Lady's Slipper, Hayden Prairie, Lime Springs, Iowa.

Granite boulder left by a melting glacier on a North Iowa Prairie.  Probably deposited about 600,000 years ago.