Grub stage of the Cicada.  Will post a photo of the adult Cicada when they start their load buzzing from the tree tops on hot August days.

Flower-like Indian Pipe Fungus (6 inches).  Northern Mn.

1 1/4 inch long Pine Sawyer type beetle.  Northern Mn.

Monarch on Butterfly Milkweed.

Red Admiral butterfly.

Black Swallowtail, female.

1/4 inch green sweatbee on the head of a Coneflower.  We have two species of green sweatbees on our prairie.

Chipmunk down by the barn.

Monarch on our Butterfly Milkweed.

Many Catbirds busy meowing and eating berries this morning.

Wild Bergamot, one of the insects favorites is blooming by the hundreds at our place.

Our little one acre prairie is bursting with color now.  The bees and butterflies are increasing in numbers daily.

Mt. Mint

Culver's Root

Early Sunflower, also called False Sunflower.  Common on prairies now.

St. John's Wort on our prairie.

St. John's Wort.

Yellow (grey-headed) Coneflower. Note the ants on the head.  They love this flower and do it no harm and probably act as pollinators.

Found another species of jumping spider while photographing Turk's Caps.  It knew I was there and played hide-and-seek with me as I tried to photograph it.

Wild Turk's Cap (Michigan) Lily.  Fillmore County, Mn. ditch.

JUMPING SPIDER BATTLE

On one of our photographing trips we found a single Red Jumping spider had made a web inside a curled up milkweed leaf.  A few days later we visited the same spot and were lucky enough to watch a territorial standoff begin between two of these Jumping Spiders. Over the next few minutes the standoff turned into a full fledged battle.

After a short standoff they began the battle.

They eventually locked in full battle and when we tried to move closer, they spotted us and scurried off.  Note that the spider facing the camera has two small eyes, and two large eyes.  If you look closely at the top of the head of the other spider you can see that they also have another row of small eyes on the top of the head.  Jumping spiders usually have a set of eight eyes.

Fritillary on Butterfly Milkweed.

Green beetle on milkweed.

Lightening Bug.

Male River Jewelwing Damselfly.

Juv. red Meadowhawk dragonfly.

Twin immature red Meadowhawk dragonflies.

Male Pondhawk dragonfly eating a dark colored damselfly it just captured.

Blue-fronted Dancer damselfly.  As blue as they get.

Another new damselfly for us.  No ID yet.

Lilypad Clubtail Dragonfly, male.

Prothonotary Warbler, Millstone Landing, Houston co. Mn.  Two nesting pairs of these on the backwaters of the Mississippi at Millstone landing.  One adult was feeding a young Cow Bird that it must have raised.

Dickcissel.  We have at least two and maybe three pairs nesting along our 1/2 mile driveway this year.  They are sparrow sized and have a color pattern similar to the Meadow Lark.