Merry Christmas, 2014

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays!

Special greetings from the Happy-face Dragonfly:

To help us all get in the Christmas spirit, here's a physics problem from Walker Physics involving Santa:

The situation can be visualized as follows:

And now for the calculation:

Here's a bit of insight into the results:

Merry Christmas!

A Foggy Day

The other day a fog bank rolled in and covered parts of Anacortes – though other parts were clear as a bell.  Betsy and I went to Washington Park to check things out, and here's what we saw near Green Point:

The fog went up to the tree tops, and the sunlight was filtering through.  Here's Betsy with a dramatic background:

We drove on to the top of the park, at the "family tree," where we were above the fog.  In the following photo you can see the fog bank surrounding Washington Park:

It looks like was still foggy at our house.  Not long after this the fog burned off completely to reveal a beautiful sunny day.

The Whisperer Speaks In One Week!

In just one week, on Thursday, May 22, 2014, The Dragonfly Whisperer speaks at the general meeting of the Prescott Audubon Society.  They've been kind enough to invite me, and I'm looking forward to a fun evening.  We also plan to conduct a dragonfly walk the following day.

They have a very active organization, with lots of different programs, and they've produced some excellent promotional materials to advertise the talk.  Here's an example:

That should attract some attention.  Even the Vitruvian Dragonfly is getting into the act:

Prescott Audubon's website contains more specific information:

Be sure to say "Hi" if you can make it to the presentation.  Betsy and I will be looking onward to seeing you..

You can find more information about Prescott Audubon at their website:

http://prescottaudubon.org

The Unexpected Pleasures of Dragonflying: A Rattler and a Monster

One of the great things about dragonflying is that it gets you out in the field where you're likely to see many wonders of nature.  A couple weeks ago we went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and though we saw only a couple Blue-eyed Darners and one Flame Skimmer at Ayer Lake, we saw lots of other delights.

One was a beautiful male Broad-billed Hummingbird that perched for us in the sunlight.  This was in the Cactus Garden area, near the boojum tree.  Such a nice contrast between his flame red bill and the iridescent blues and greens in his body.

A Broad-billed Hummingbird at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

A little later, on the shady path near the Herb Garden, we saw two baby Anna's Hummingbirds almost spilling out of their tiny nest.  Good thing it's so elastic.  Here are the babies:

Baby Anna's Hummingbirds overflowing their nest.

As we watched, they decided to take a little nap:

Nap time for the babies.

Hummingbirds are a common part of a visit to the arboretum, even babies in the nest.  What was a bit more exciting, however, was the next unexpected pleasure – a Western Diamonback Rattlesnake.  We were heading back toward the picnic area for lunch when we spotted a good-sized rattler under a bush.  I would say it was around 5 feet long.  Here are a couple photos of it:

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.  Clearly a member of the pit viper family.

He was getting a good look at us.  As he moved on I was able to get a couple shots of his rattles, and also the black and white bands of roughly equal width:

It was interesting having lunch, knowing this guy was just a few feet away.  Oh well, he was staying well under the bush, so we weren't concerned.

After lunch we took a walk through the Demonstration Garden.  We checked out the hummingbird nest on top a pine cone, but discovered that the babies had left.  Just then we stopped dead in our tracks as we saw the guy below lumbering out of the meadow onto the walking path:

A Gila Monster strolling across the walking path.

What a treat to see the Gila Monster.  We've seen them before at the arboretum, but always in the desert area, near the Cactus Garden.  This was the first we'd even heard of one being in the Demonstration Garden.

He sauntered across the path, then disappeared into the brush on the other side.  A nice treat to top off our day of unexpected pleasures.

The Whisperer Speaks!

In just one month, on May 22, 2014, The Dragonfly Whisperer speaks at the general meeting of the Prescott Audubon Society.  They've been kind enough to invite me, and I'm looking forward to a fun evening.

They have a very active organization, with lots of different programs, and they've produced some excellent promotional materials to advertise the talk.  As an example, here's an ad they'll be distributing soon:

That should attract some attention.

Their website contains more specific information:

Betsy and I will be there – be sure to say "Hi" if you can make it, too.

You can find more information about Prescott Audubon at their website:

http://prescottaudubon.org

Google Maps

The other day I was browsing around in Google maps when I decided to Google my house in Anacortes.  I was surprised by the result – the map photos show me entering my garage.  How funny.  I hadn't expected to be appearing in Google maps!

Here are a couple photos from Google maps:

I think the Google car is reflected in our windows in the second shot.

The Whisperer Speaks!

It's just under two months now until The Dragonfly Whisperer speaks at the general meeting of the Prescott Audubon Society on May 22, 2014.  They've been kind enough to invite me, and I'm looking forward to a fun evening.

They have a very active organization, with lots of different programs, and they've produced some excellent promotional materials to advertise the talk.  As an example, here's an ad they'll distribute in April:

That should attract some attention.

Their website contains more specific information:

Betsy and I will be there – be sure to say "Hi" if you can make it, too.

You can find more information about Prescott Audubon at their website:

http://prescottaudubon.org

San Juan Surprise

Last September, Betsy and I took a short ferry ride from our home in Anacortes, WA to San Juan Island, in the heart of the San Juan archipelago of northern Puget Sound.  In the photo below, we're coming into Friday Harbor, where the ferry terminal is located.  After disembarking, we spent the day exploring the island by car – with an eye out for interesting dragonflies, of course.  We weren't disappointed.

Pulling into Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

One of our first stops was Roche Harbor, where we had a nice lunch on the pier.  Lots boats anchor in this harbor, and you can see many of their shore boats docked in the photo below.  The name of the large boat in the foreground pretty well sums up the feeling of the place.

I went into an old Mom-and-Pop general store with wooden floors, crab traps, fishing gear, as well as groceries and snacks.  I picked up a delicious ice cream bar for us.  It was wonderful on a pleasant day like this.

Roche Harbor, on San Juan Island, WA.

After lunch we headed for Lime Kiln Park on the western shore of the island.  The land you see in the distance is Canada's Vancouver Island.  The passage of water between the islands is the Haro Strait, known for frequent visits by pods of killer whales.  We saw groups of porpoises, but no whales this time.

A lighthouse overlooking Haro Strait on the west shore of San Juan Island.

Next, we dropped by a small pond that looked like good dragonfly habitat.  Sure enough, we saw lots of Cardinal Meadowhawks, a few Striped Meadowhawks, and some Spotted Spreadwings.  The activity level was quite good.

The pond was in the middle of a large sculpture garden.  The photo below shows a dragonfly sculpture we found there.  It was quite detailed, even in the wings and the eyes.  It put one in mind of the large dragonflies that flew during the Carboniferous period.

Dragonfly sculpture on San Juan Island.

This dragonfly was a bit large to hold in one's hand, but worth the try anyway.

"Nice dragonfly."

This wasn't the only large dragonfly seen at this pond.  More on that later.

Cherry Springs Nature Sign

Not long ago, I was contacted by naturalist Sheri Covert at the Cherry Springs Nature Area new Pocatello, Idaho.  She was putting together an interpretive sign to inform visitors about some of the interesting insect life to be found there, and asked if she could use some of my dragonfly pictures.  I was happy to help with a project like that, and I supplied her with pictures of the species she was looking for.  Here's the sign, which looks quite nice:

Here's an enlargement of the dragonfly section:

All of these pictures are ones I've taken over the last few years.  It's nice to see them being used in a good cause like this.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from the Happy-face Dragonfly!

The Whisperer Speaks

On Saturday, February 1, I gave a couple talks at the Sound Waters environmental conference held in Oak Harbor.  The first talk was on identifying Puget Sound dragonflies, and the second one was on interesting aspects of dragonlfy behavior.

Here's a description of the talk:

Here's the description of my background:

I gave the participants the following two-page handout:

The talk went very well, with lots of great responses from the audience.  It made it a delightful experience for everyone.

The Adventure of Baby Albert

On Wednesday, January 15, Betsy and I went to Everett to visit Gary-James, Michelle, and their brand new baby boy, Albert Levi Michael Knudson.  Here's Gary-James with baby Albert.

Gary-James holds baby Albert just hours after his birth.  He weighed in at 9 lb 4 oz.

Betsy had a chance to hold Albert as well, and he even opened his eyes and tried to look around a bit.

Betsy cradling Albert.

Landon was having a good time as usual, though not really appreciating the significance of the day.  When he was first shown Albert he asked, "Doggy?"  Later, when we first got there, he promptly announced, "Betsy's here."

Here he is running in full stride to see if he can open some doors.  When he discovered that other doors were locked he came to us and asked, "Keys?"  We complimented him on his nice shirt, and its pretty green color.  He touched the green plaids and said "Verde."

Landon in a hurry to get somewhere.

When he left before us, with Jennifer and Gary, he repeated several times, "Bye bye Betsy."

Happy New Year!

New Year wishes for a great year in 2014, with lots of interesting birding and dragonflying for all.