Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

On Sunday, Erika and I were pleased to see this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in northwestern Minneapolis. This butterfly is common across most of the eastern United States. The Washington Post, however, warns that many butterfly populations are falling in our country. Causes for this decline include habitat destruction and widespread use of pesticides and herbicides. Some of my fellow bloggers have noticed a decline in butterfly populations here in Minnesota, although these local observations are antidotal, not backed up by scientific sampling.

Junvenal Birds

Imagine that you were a birder from a different continent. Identifying the two birds pictured on this post might give you trouble. We Minnesotans recognize the first bird as a Northern Cardinal. But a visitor would have trouble finding it in a Sibley field guide. The bill is not orange. The bright red breast feathers suggest a Pyrrhuloxia from the southwestern United States and Mexico. Sibley shows no cardinal-like bird with an odd, white beard under the bill. This Northern Cardinal is molting from its juvenal feathers into a male, First Basic Plumage. As with many youngsters, he is not going by the book.

The second bird might give our visiting birder even more trouble. The yellowish wash on the breast suggests a Lincoln’s Sparrow. The yellowish lores suggest a Savannah Sparrow. Sibley does illustrate this bird, although he shows an even brighter juvenal Song Sparrow. Sibley indicates these colors are typical of eastern Song Sparrow, but even birds from Minnesota can be even brighter yellow. Sibley instructs us to note the buffy eye-ring. Readers of this blog may recall a post showing a brighter yellowish Song Sparrow that I banded several years ago.

We are finally, at the end of July, capturing our first rush of recently fledged birds at our banding station. As you can see, identifying these birds is keeping us on our toes.

Common Buckeye

Birders have eBird. Dragonfliers have Odonata Central. Now butterfly enthusiasts have eButterfly. The eButterfly site, originally built to document the identity and distribution of Canadian butterflies, now covers the United States. Those interested can submit photos which are then vetted by experts. Accepted records are then plotted on a map, which can be accessed by those wishing to learn the distributions of individual species. If you try this out, be sure to click “English” rather than “Latin” if you enter a common name.

This site is still in its infancy (at least for the United States). This Common Buckeye, which Erika and I found last week at Afton State Park, is only the second eButterfly record for Minnesota, despite the fact the species is relatively common here. See, for example, my previous post on the species. As you add records, you can build your own butterfly lifelist, along with your various  photos, all the while building an overall data base of butterfly distribution.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer and Prince Baskettail

Twelve-spotted Skimmers, like the dragonfly in the upper photo, are common across most of North America, from southern Canada to northern Mexico. We have often seen them during these first three years of watching dragonflies, including in Erika’s garden. I was surprised to discover in Odonata Central that the only record for the species in neighboring Goodhue County lacks specific location data. I have seen Twelve-spotted Skimmers numerous times in the county, and Erika and I set off to remedy this lack of precision during a recent outing on the Cannon Valley Trail.

We failed in our quest. Late in our trip, we did come upon several dragonflies flying high above the trail. They appeared to be Twelve-spotted Skimmers until I looked closely at my photographs. The dark spots on the wings are too small and the wings and the hind winds sport dark “saddles.” At first I thought I had a Calico Pennant, but a skeptical email from Scott King noted that those pennants are not usually found far from lakes and seldom high in the air. Scott suggested that I look at the Prince Baskettail. Voila! The field marks in the lower photo matched perfectly. The range of the baskettail is similar to the skimmer, but is restricted to eastern North America. Mine is a second Odonata Central record  for the species from Goodhue County. Just as in birds, often after you first see a new species, suddenly you see them frequently. Last week, Erika and I found another Prince Baskettail at the Carpenter Nature Center. This Washington County baskettail, however, proved to be remarkably camera-shy as it flitted out over a prairie and back into nearby oak woodlands.

Bumblebee at Bee Balm

Bee Balm, or Wild Bergamot is in the mint family and grows in fields, prairies, and often in cultivation (where flowers are often bright red). Bees, such as the bumblebee in the photo above, and hummingbirds often feed from the flowers. Wild Bergamot has variety of human uses. It is an major ingredient of Earl Gray tea. Folk medicine used teas from Bee Balm for various respiratory and digestive distresses. The plant also was used by Native Americans as an antiseptic. Bee Balm contains thymol, the active ingredient in many mouth washes. Wild Bergamot has also been used to treat flatulence, headaches and fever (Wikipedia).

Cooper’s Hawk

A Cooper’s Hawk at the bird bath is not necessarily good news. This accipiter is moving into subburban and urban habitats—they are small-bird specialists and small birds are often abundant in these areas. They prefer nesting in deciduous forests (the similar, but smaller, Sharp-shinned Hawk nests in forests that are dominated by conifers). The good news is that they also take squirrels and chipmunks, often not loved by birders. Since the mid-1900s, Cooper’s Hawks’ numbers have been on the increase, recovering from shooting and pesticides (Curtis et al. 2006).

Cooper’s Hawks were named in 1828 by Charles Bonapart for the ornithologist, William Cooper. Cooper was the father of James Cooper, for whom the Cooper Ornithological Society is named. The hawk in this blog was photographed in a residential backyard in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Common Collared Lizard

The Collared Lizard is found with many races across the greater part of the southwest United States and northern Mexico. Erika and I found this one in New Mexico's Mal Pais National Monument.

Collard Lizards are able to run on their hind legs, at speeds approaching 16 mph, allowing them to prey upon relatively large prey, even other lizards. They will also vegetarian, but prefer insects. They tend to be territorial and often bask, like this lizard, on rocks in the sun. When threatened, these lizards quickly disappear under rocks or vegetation. They do not often shed their tails because of predators.

Other lizards can run even faster than Collared Lizards—the world’s record is 21 mph by Spiny-tailed Iguanas (Wikipedia). Alligators are also capable of upright locomotion—perhaps thus responsible for Big Foot sightings in Louisiana swamps.

Slender Spreadwing

The variation in pattern and color among the dragonflies and damselflies makes them difficult to identify. These are both Slender Spreadwings. Unlike other damselflies, spreadwings hold their wings out at an angle from their bodies. One key to identification here are the barely visible, frosty wing tips—most notable on the upper wings in the first photo and along the lower wings in the second picture.

Slender Spreadwings are common in much of eastern North America. Females lay single eggs in cattail stems. When the emerge, often in large numbers, they are often found in lakeside woodlands and brushy areas (Paulson). The first photo was taken at the Bass Ponds in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and the second comes from Circle Lake in Rice Co., Minnesota.

Lyre-tipped Spreadwing

On 90-degree and humid Tuesday, I ventured down to the River Bend Nature Center near Faribault and photographed this Lyre-tipped Spreadwing. The spreadwings are often difficult to tell apart. The Lyre-tipped has S-shaped paraprocts, little lyre-shapped spikes which I think you can barely make out in the two lower photos. These structures lie under the cerci on each side of the top of the tail. (Lyres are the little harp-like instruments angels play on the streets of heaven.) Note the two red spheres on the “belly” of this spreadwing. These objects are parasitic larval water mites, about which I have previously posted.

Lyre-tipped Spreadwings range across much of southern Canada and the northern United States. They lay eggs in emergent vegetation up to two feet above the water. The eggs can withstand temperatures of −4 degrees F. In colder weather, snow cover protects the eggs.The larvae hatch in the spring when the water reaches 50 degrees. For the next two months, The larvae go through several stages before emerging as adults (DuBois).

Plains Clubtail

This Plains Clubtail greeted us on a hot afternoon in Carleton College’s arboretum prairie. You can tell it is hot too by the raised tail, obelisk fashion, towards the sun. As its name suggests, the Plains Clubtail ranges widely across the American Midwest. They are partial to muddy streams and rivers, and, although this clubtail was in upland prairie, undoubtedly they breed in and along the nearby Cannon River.

The New York Times recently posted an interesting video of dragonflies. They claim that dragonflies are the planet’s most efficient predators. Lions only capture about 25% of the prey they pursue. Dragonflies kill 95% of their prey! Perhaps not surprisingly, much dragonfly research is supported by the military, which sees the insect as the ultimate precision drone.