Solar eclipse day sightings at Oak Point

Hummingbird clearwing moth at the pond 11:45 a.m.

Lots of catocala moths ready  to surprise the unwary.

At noon the mosquitoes in the shady woods were ravenous. So glad I had my Deep Woods OFF towlette packet. After that they left me alone.

Widow skimmers

Obelisking dragonfly tries to keep cool.

 

Fun shadows on Rowlett Creek

 A small group gathered at the picnic pavilion. Two people had cereal box viewers. Three had eclipse glasses which they shared. I had a collapsible colander. Park employees stopped their mowing to chat for a minute. The mowing really had the dragonflies busy chasing stirred up insects. A red-shouldered hawk hung in the air overhead screeching. I wonder if it screeched about the mowing or the eclipse.

 

It never got very dark.

 Time of maximum coverage in Plano was 1:10 p.m., and coverage was about 75%.

Shadows seem to jump!

The most entertaining of today's sightings defied attempts to photograph. Three juvenile five-line skinks were chasing each other over and under and around this long fallen log in the shadows having a dandy time. A picture of the log can't tell the story, but at least a public domain photo can show the almost neon blue of the skinks.

Photo by Michael Holroyd, Public Domain. 

© 2014-2017 Nancy L. Ruder

Dragonflies are June good guys

6/14/2012

Should I be afraid or fascinated? I was ten years old. I was sitting in the tall grass beside a dredged lake holding a bamboo fishing pole. A large insect was sitting on the pole staring at me with enormous eyes.

"Don't be afraid," our host said. "Dragonflies just eat mosquitoes." I still wasn't comfortable being stared at, but I was in favor of anything that ate mosquitoes. I was coated with Insect Repellent 6-12, and the smell was making my eyes water. Nasty stuff!

Here are a few dragonfly good guys photographed at Oak Point Nature Preserve in Junes past and present:

6/18/2013

6/2/2014

6/11/2014

Spotted a gorgeous red skimmer on the Willow Springs trail last Sunday, but couldn't get near enough for a
photo. The close-up photo was taken in a different Plano park.

 Rustic skimmer, Oak Point 6/15/2014

Red skimmer, Rustic Park, September 2010