Wild Nodding Onion.  Notice the tiny golden bee in the upper right of the flower.

Red-bellied snake.  Found this small one(8 in.) on our lawn yesterday.  We welcome snakes as they are great at pest control.

Tiger Swallowtail on Tiger Lily.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly, female.

Silver-spotted Skipper on Wild Bergamot.

White Lily Pad flower.

Monarch butterfly on Swamp Milkweed.

Rattlesnake Master-a plant of the prairies.

Wild Parsnip, a very skin irritating plant and invasive.  A good way to combat this plant is to cut after it flowers but before it goes to seed.

Black-eyed Susan and white Daisy Fleabane.

FIREFLIES

Fireflies.  It was quite dark in the kitchen this morning and I spotted a tiny light next to the dog bowl.  It was an upside-down Firefly that appeared close to death.  I photographed it first in the dark and the in the light outside.  Then came back into the house to check the photos on the computer-when I went back outside the Firefly had recovered and left.  Male Fireflies use a complex chemical reaction called Bioluminescence to create the blinking light that attracts the female and they put on a good show last night over our prairie.

St. John's Wort.

Yellow Cone(Gray-headed) flower.

Calico Pennant dragonfly, male.  Old iron mine pond S.E. of Spring Valley, Mn.

Halloween Pennant dragonfly, female.

Sandhill Cranes,  Whitewater Valley north of Elba, Mn.

Kingbird, back and front.

Comet Neowise, photographed at 10:50PM July 15, 2020.  Looking NNW at 10-15 degrees above the horizon.  Visable with the naked eye if away from light of town but best viewed with binocs.  Should be able to see for a while yet each clear night.

DRAGONFLIES OF THE MISSISSIPPI BACKWATERS. Their ancestors were huge(30 inch wingspan), and go back before the dinosaurs. Dragonflies rival the birds in beauty.

Blue Dasher dragonfly, probably a young female.

Blue Dasher dragonfly in full breeding color.

Young Blue Dasher, female.

Female Pond Hawk dragonfly.  Pond Hawks hunt insects but we have seen them hunt and kill their smaller cousins the Damselflies.

Male Pond Hawk dragonfly.

Halloween Pennant Dragonflies mating.

Bumble Bee on Lead plant flower.  Note the orange pollen sack on the side of the bee.  Pollen sacks are almost always yellow-never have seen an orange pack of pollen before.  This bumble was collecting pollen on a prairie just west of LeRoy, Mn.

King Bird back and front.

Coral Hairsteak butterfly on Butterflyweed.

Turk's Cap Lily(Michigan Lily).  We find these in the ditches that are small patches of the vast prairies that one covered the Midwest.  A reason not to mow or spray our ditches.

Trout Run Creek, east of Chatfield, Mn.

Tiger Swallowtail on Red Clover.

Purple Prairie Clover, on prairie next to LeRoy, Mn bike trail.

Eastern Amberwing dragonfly on White Prairie Clover.