The Lucifers Are In Bloom

The lucifer flowers are out and in bloom now.  They're beautiful, and are very appealing in the Rufous Hummingbirds in our backyard.

Lucifers in bloom in our backyard.

Hummingbirds love these flowers.

Rainbow

Last night, just before sunset, a nice rainbow developed over Burrows Bay.  There's even a faint double bow.

Rainbow over Burrows Bay, with a dark sky to set it off.

Notice that the sequence of colors in the secondary bow is the reverse of that in the primary bow.  In a recent movie, A Perfect Getaway, one scene shows people admiring a beautiful double rainbow in Hawaii.  Unfortunately, the filmmakers made both bows with the same sequence of colors, showing that it was a computer-generated rainbow and not the real thing.  Oops.

A Trip To Fobes

Saturday Betsy and I went to Fobes to do some birdwatching and dragonflying.  I lived in Fobes as a kid, on a seven acre farm.  The house we lived in is shown below:

Our house in Fobes.  We walked across the street to go to school.

When I was young, Fobes was defined by a small four-room school house – one room for kindergarten, and three rooms with two grades each – plus a small grocery store across the street from the school.  The grocery store was the front half of someone's home, but it was big enough to supply the snack needs of the school kids.  That was Fobes – the school and the grocery store located at the intersection of five roads.

One of the five roads leads down to the Snohomish River.  That's where we go to view wildlife, along a dike that helps to prevent flooding.  Here's a view of the river from the dike:

The Snohomish River on its way to Puget Sound.

It was a perfect day, with temperatures in the low 70s.  Lots of birds and dragonflies, too.  Betsy spotted an Eastern Kingbird, and soon saw that it had a nest and was feeding young.  The nestlings were covered with down, and begging to be fed.  Eastern Kingbirds like to feed on flying insects, and much of their diet in this location turns out to be dragonflies.  Oh well, there's plenty for all to enjoy!

Young Eastern Kingbirds anticipate a meal – which will probably be a dragonfly or damselfly.

An adult at the nest.

Lots of dragonflies were out, too.  Here's a list of the species we saw:

Northern/Boreal Bluet
Tule Bluet
Pacific Forktail
Common Green Darner
Blue-eyed Darner
Four-spotted Skimmer
Eight-spotted Skimmer
Cardinal Meadowhawk
Blue Dasher

The Pacific Forktail is a friendly damselfly.  It likes to land on people, and gives plenty of photo opportunities.  The male has an interesting face that is black on top and brilliant green below.

Male Pacific Forktail, a friendly damselfly.

The female can take on different forms.  An andromorphic female looks almost the same as the male.  On the other hand, heteromorphic females have a distinctly different look, as illustrated by the immature female shown below:

Immature, heteromorphic female Pacific Forktail.

The Unexpected Pleasures Of Dragonflying: Sighting A Barred Owl

One of the great things about dragonflying is that it gets you out into some wonderful natural habitats.  A couple weeks ago Betsy and I were scouting possible locations for our upcoming dragonfly field trip.  We were tramping around in the woods of Smiley's Bottom (bottom land, that is) when we turned a corner and encountered a Barred Owl sitting quietly in a tree just ahead.  We took a few pictures and then backtracked to leave the owl in peace.  Here's the owl we encountered:

A Barred Owl calmly sitting in the woods of Smiley's Bottom.

The owl looked at me from time to time, but generally seemed unconcerned.

In past years we've seen a Barred Owl fly by as we watched dragonflies at Smiley's Bottom.  This was the first time, however, that we had a good extended view.  Later the same day we were enjoying listening to Common Yellowthroats when we heard a strange piping sound.  We suspected a Virginia Rail, and sure enough we soon saw it creeping about in the vegetation along a ditch.  It's a narrow bird – to help it slip between stems of plants.  No surprise, then, that rails inspired the expression "thin as a rail."

The Adventure Of The Eyed Beetle

During our visit to Virginia last month, we spent part of one day exploring the Rappahannock River (Algonquian for "river of quick, rising water") where it passes through Fredricksburg.  The river has lush vegetation on both shores, and frequent rapids.  In addition, vegetation is scattered across the width the river, which gives it the appearance of flowing through a flooded field.  Here's what it looks like just above Fredricksburg.

The Rappahannock River flowing toward Fredricksburg, Virginia.

We were hoping to see an Ebony Jewelwing here, a beautiful damselfly not found in Washington State.  The jewelwing didn't appear, but at one point Betsy felt a "thud" on the top of her hat.  She brushed off whatever it was that had landed there and this is what fell to the ground.

The Eyed Click Beetle that landed on Betsy's hat.

This beetle looks like some kind of alien, with giant eyes.

This is an Eyed Click Beetle.  The first part of the name is obvious, but why is it a "click" beetle?  The reason is that when this beetle falls onto its back it has a special mechanism for righting itself.  It stiffens its body and flexes upward, like an inverted "V".  It then snaps back to its original shape, producing an audible "click" and propelling itself several inches into the air.  It usually lands back on its feet and scurries off.  It can also do the "click" maneuver to escape from a bird or other predator.  We have click beetles in Washington, but ours are barely bigger than a grain of rice and a simple brown color – nothing as dramatic and eye catching as the Eyed Click Beetle.

Fourth Of July, 2012!

We had a beautiful day for the Fourth of July, sunny and calm with temperatures around 70˚.  It was a perfect day for our small town celebration, which included a parade and a gathering at one of our many parks.

Here are a few pictures of the festivities:

The official Town Crier of Anacortes.  He and the spectators are looking up at the Navy's flyover.

The kid's part of the parade comes first.  Here treats are being handed out to onlookers.

Classic fire truck and Dalmation.

An old-time car (from when I was a kid) that is often seen around town.

Anacortes has several sister cities:  Lomonosov, Russia; Nikaho, Japan; Sidney BC, Canada; and Vela Luka, Croatia.

Classic MG.

The Anacortes railroad engine sounds its horn – hence the plugged ears.

Causland Park, where the city celebration took place.

The Town Crier starts things off with a bang.  He doesn't need a loudspeaker; in fact, he is a loud speaker.

A new flag to commemorate the fact that Anacortes is officially an All-America City.

Back home to the Walker family "flight deck."  A whale-watching boat is heading for the marina.

A wonderful day – it's almost like living in the movie Pollyanna.

The Calico Pennant

One of the first dragonflies we saw in Virginia was the Calico Pennant.  This is a small dragonfly – smaller than our meadowhawks in Washington – but what it lacks in size it makes up for in appearance.  Through the binoculars this is a brilliant dragonfly, with intricate patterns in the wings and heart-shaped reddish spots lined up along the abdomen.  You can't fail to notice a Calico Pennant, and their high perching index of 80 - 90% ensures lots of good viewing opportunities.

Pennants are named their habit of perching on the top of a stem and orienting themselves to face into the prevailing winds – just like a pennant at the top of a flagpole.