Summer Nature Study :: At the Pond

We have been fortunate to be able to see wildlife at the man-made pond close to our home. I often notice birds while I am walking our dog in the morning and always run back home to grab my camera.  Whenever I do bring my camera along on my walks, I rarely spot any birds!

I take photographs, sometimes accompanied by one of my children, then we all look at the photos I took on our computer screen. We research more information in the Handbook of Nature Study, in our field guides, or online. Sometimes we just talk about what I saw and captured on film. That is how we have been enjoying nature study at our house this summer. Simple but very enjoyable!

I wanted to share with you a few photographs from our nature study at the pond.

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

I first noticed this dragonfly while I was trying to get a good photo of the Great Egret. I believe that this particular dragonfly is a female Widow Skimmer. Their larvae live in the stillwaters of ponds, lakes and marshes of the US, Southern Ontario and Quebec in Canada. I noticed a lot of these flying around. The one in the photo above is an adult female. The male has a blue body and more defined black spots on their wings, along with the white markings. A few days later, I was able to photograph a male:

Widow Skimmer Dragonfly

I love watching the Great Egret at the pond. This bird is so majestic and moves very slowly at the edges of the pond. It seems to be watching me and if I get too close, just flies a little bit away from me. After I circled the pond twice in this way, always trying to get a little closer but still at a distance, this particular Great Egret seemed to be used to me because it stopped flying away!
I wonder if it is the same Great Egret that keeps coming to our little pond. Every year we have lived here, I have been able to photograph this beautiful bird in the summer. I read that they have a life span of 23 years.

I see you!

I got too close again.





The Great Blue Heron is a bit more rare for us to see. This bird is also much more quicker at sensing my presence! I was able to only take one photo this morning before it flew away.

Great Blue Heron

Mystery Caterpillar

We have been trying to identify this caterpillar..but without success.
Anyone know what he is?

Thanks!

Leaf bug ~ Katydid

Another Green Mantis - Baby?

This time we found this little one in our backyard. It was so tiny, we think it might be a baby.

Princess just loves little bugs, she said it was soooo cute! She has a love for mayflies too. I didn't have my camera, but she had one the other day, in her hand and talking to it for a few minutes, before releasing it in a safe spot...

Little visitor on our driveway - green mantis

The kids and I had a surprise guest on our driveway when we came back from the splash pad this afternoon. This green mantis crossed over from one side of our walk way to the other side. I was taking pictures of it as it was walking slowly across, but I didn't get too close. When I downloaded them on the computer, I noticed that this little bug was watching me the whole time! How funny! You can click on each picture to make them bigger and see its little face.

Mayflies are Here

It has been many years since I have lived in this region and experienced the mayflies! They just cover everything, but don't do anything else. They don't last very long either.
I took a couple of pictures from inside the house, these were just sitting on our windows outside. I thought I would do a little search about these insects. It turns out they are a sign that the water is of good quality. You can read more about these on Wikipedia and on Nature .