July 2021

With some greens…

It’s rare to run into a new Odonata species in my patch. The other day, though, I noticed a large dragonfly cruising along the edges of Sylvan Water. That red abdomen was so distinctive. This turned out to be a male Comet Darner (Anax longipes). A month ago, I managed to capture an Epitheca genus…

A fabulous jumping spider, identity to be determined, seen this weekend.

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A black willow (Salix nigra) leaf knocked down in one of our recent deluges. Is this discoloration caused by fungal or bacterial agents?

On July 18, I found it sealed off. It is presumably stuffed with paralyzed spiders and a wasp egg. Or two: a kleptoparasite may have gotten in there. As is often the case with these scales, I didn’t notice the webbing and small spider, much smaller than the type hunted by these wasps, until I…