Red Admiral butterfly riding around on my leg as I photograph.  Have had a good hatch of these.

Red Admiral caterpillar.  Their primary food is nettle.

12-spotted dragonfly.  This one looks like it may have had an encounter with a bird or car.

Widow Skimmer dragonfly.  Click on the photo to enlarge and note the interesting wing designs.

Clubtail dragonfly.  This dragon is in the clubtail family, but unsure of species as they are very difficult to separate species.  Note the prey in its mouth.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Red-spotted Purple

Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly.

Female Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.  The females are a bit more colorful than the males, especially the blue just above the tails.

Common Yellowthroat on our prairie.  The Common Yellowthroat is not much larger than a Wren.

Killdeer chick.  A newly hatched Killdeer chick is nothing but fuzzy feathers and legs.  Look closely at the top of the legs and you can see that a baby Killdeer is all leg and almost no body-can't weigh even one ounce.  They can run from almost the moment they hatch from their egg.

One of the parents came charging at me trying to scare me away.  I did a quick retreat.

Male Bluebird.  We have a pair of Bluebirds on our prairie that have been very busy feeding their four chicks.  We think they will leave their nesting box soon.

Female Bluebird.

Goat's beard flower with sweat bee and flower fly pollinators.

Gold-backed Snipe Fly.

Snowberry Clearwing moth.  The Snowberry Clearwing mimics a Bumble Bee and is about the size of a Female Bumble.  Found this one feeding on the nectar of Creeping Charlie flower.

Common Whitetail Dragonfly, adult, Male.  Found this one in same area as juvenile.

Juvenile Whitetail Dragonfly.  Its tail will eventually turn power  white.

Trumpeter Swans and their Signet.  White Water Wildlife Refuge north of St. Charles, Mn.

Bluet Damsel Fly.  Hard to photograph as they are about 1.25 inches long, very thin, and quick.

Wild Blue Flag in wetland.

Monarch.  We have been seeing 2nd generation Monarch up from the southern states for about 2weeks now.  This one is a little beat up from the trip north and will soon lay its eggs and dies.

PRAIRIE FLOWERS BLOOMING NOW

Prairie Smoke.

Prairie Phlox.

Prairie Phlox.

Small White Lady's -Slipper.

Yellow Lady's-Slipper.  A flower of both the woodlands and prairie.  The prairie version blooms later than the woodland.

Cream Indigo.

Yellow Star Grass.  Small(2 inch) flowering grass.

Swamp Saxifrage.  A two foot tall spike flower that grow in the wet prairies.

Puccoons

Painted Daisy the came from my Grandmothers garden and now blooms in ours.