wingedwolfpsion's Journal

A pair of flickers began a courting dance on the porch rail near the feeders this morning. Suddenly, a third flicker arrived, and began courting as well, then displaced one of the pair. Rather than continuing to court the other bird, it turned, and went to the suet feeder. The other bird followed, and they squabbled over it mildly, with one bird deciding instead to pick up the fallen suet as the other ate.

I can presume that the displacing bird was a male who displaced another male, and was possibly the regular mate of the female. If so, was she falling for the attentions of an interloper, when her mate arrived?

I just saw something interesting. My feeder was being frequented by the occasional chickadee and nuthatch, as it commonly is throughout the day, when a hairy woodpecker arrived. The feeder is filled with black oil sunflower seed, and the woodpeckers enjoy these, too.

Within seconds of the hairy woodpecker leaving, a red-bellied woodpecker arrived, grabbed a seed, and left. Moments later, a flicker landed on the rail.

These three species of woodpeckers all arrived in the area simultaneously, which leads me to believe that they're either traveling together, following one another, or they keep an extremely close eye on each others' activities, investigating whenever they see one of the others become interested in something.

Keep a watch at your own feeders, and see if woodpeckers of different species tend arrive together where you are as well.

We have a rented house, and there's bindweed on the property, climbing through the lilac bush in the front. I meant to stay on top of it, and cut it down this year...really I did.

But, somehow, I just never got around to it, and now the bindweed has rushed over the top of the large lilac bush, and gone into bloom.

The variety of insect life drawn to the blooming bindweed is staggering. A huge range of sizes of bees, wasps, and flies are visibly circling the bush, in constant motion. But the true stars of this feast are the butterflies.

I never expected that the humble and much-maligned bindweed could prove to be a better attractant for butterflies than the clover, mints, and butterfly weed around the porch, but it's drawing butterflies from miles.

So far, I've identified silver-spotted skippers (dozens of them), Monarch butterflies, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, and the impressively beautiful agricultural pest, the Giant Swallowtail. Not just one of each, but pairs, courting around the bush and through the yard, spending hours fluttering from flower cluster to flower cluster, drifting away to explore, and then returning. There are other butterflies as well, that I haven't yet managed to identify, due to their speed, and the fact that blooms are at the top of the tall bush, and I would need a ladder to get close to them.

The rest of the yard is still drawing cabbage whites, and diminutive tailed blues, as well as a few small orange and dark-colored skippers that won't allow me to approach closely enough for a photo. Dragonflies and damselflies abound, including common white-tails, and many others I haven't managed to identify yet. Between the nearby flooding, and our somewhat lax yard care, our yard is abundant with an amazing variety of insect life, and I can't say that I'm one bit sorry about that.

Took the kids over to the Ak Sar Ben aquarium, but we wound up spending most of our time outside herding and photographing butterflies, and playing around by the hatchery ponds.

Got over to Fontenelle with my kids today, and as usual, it was absolutely amazing. It was also a giant cloud of mosquitoes, but that's to be expected, lol.

Before the mosquitoes chased us indoors, we observed several familiar, and unfamiliar, species of butterflies, the always-fascinating mini-ecosystem around milkweed plants, and a truly amazing irridescent wasp with a 5 inch long ovipositor.

It's true, the Plattsmouth city pond has an actual name. ;)

I took a trip over there with my camera and a dip net, determined to win a few photos for the Amphibian Blitz.
I eventually succeeded in winning the main prize I came for--Blanchard's Cricket Frog.
I may have also snapped a photo of a juvenile bull frog, though I can't be certain. I saw MANY frogs...but generally only in passing, as they leaped past me into the water, often yelling an alarm call... >_>
I did spot a large bull frog on the bank, but there was no way to sneak close enough to get his photo. There may have been leopard frogs in this pond as well, but I never got close enough to identify them, if so.

I was also able to get some great photos of nesting red-winged blackbirds, and various other arthropod fauna, before the heat became too oppressive.