That's a Black Saddlebags on my screen. Thanks Dennis.
I'm REALLY behind (ha!) today! I haven't had the time...or the proper attitude to post much. I have been reading a few books though. Thanks to Jessica from Princeton University Press.
The first book, "Birdscapes, Birds in Our Imagination and Experience" by Jeremy Mynott is truly a great book, and I'm not just saying that because Jess is nice enough to send these to me to read. It's perfect for someone like me with the attention span of a gnat(and a small one at that.)
It covers everything about the different ways humans(us) view and interact with birds. History, poetry, national emblems and even Monty Python are in this book. Even the footnotes are interesting to read and they will sometimes lead you to different chapters and more interesting facts and trivia. I haven't' finished the whole book as I keep jumping back and forth from page to page and chapter to chapter. This one is a real keeper, just in case you thought there would be a giveaway!
The second book Jess sent is "Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East" by Dennis Paulson. I have hundreds of photos of dragonflies that I still haven't identified and this book is going to be a great help.
It covers all 336 species of dragonflies of the eastern United States...which includes our garden. This book contains outstanding photos as well as line drawings and range maps. It starts out with the basics and natural history of Odanates, body structure, feeding, breeding, migration and more. Perfect for someone just starting out or someone with too many unlabeled photos to go through...
A few years ago we attended a dragonfly conference that was held in Ohio and we were lucky enough to meet Dennis Paulson. Odonata people move quickly chasing these big bugs down to ID them and sometimes net them to get more detailed information. And I thought birding was hard.
This is a Common Whitetail, immature male that we found some time ago.
Hmmm...immature, just like me!.
Meanwhile, out in the garden...
Flower Fly (wasp mimic) on one of our old fashioned rose bushes.
They look like bees, but are harmless.
They actually eat aphids(ick) and help pollinate flowers!
This is one of the Green Frogs(original name, isn't it?)
that live in our pond.
We named them Tim and Kathy.
Doodles got sick of me calling everything Bob.
By the way, Tim and Kathy are real people too!
Kathy is doing research on frogs and and the disease that is wiping them out world wide
and Tim is a naturalist with the Cleveland Metroparks and the president of The Las Gralarias Foundation in Ecuador.
Who's my little honey?
I'm amazed at how close I can get to the bees in our gardens without getting stung.
I like to pet the bumble bees. They're soft and fuzzy!
Well, I hope you learned something today...that doesn't happen often here!
Don't forget! PLEASE write, call or email your government officials and tell them we need our natural areas left alone!
Check out these links:
Mohican Advocates has letters and petitions for you to sign and use.
You can find your Senator here:
You can find your state Representative here:
The Nature Conservancy:
The National Audubon Society:
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds:
Are these two books on line? I find that for birds there are many excellent sites. For plants there are some sites that if you have a picture they will idnentify the plant.
ReplyDeleteYou mean everything is not called Bob? Oh dear.....
ReplyDeleteGreat little reviews! I had to have a copy of the dragonfly book, although I'm not so great at getting good photos of them. They don't pose for me, and I don't have a net.....
ReplyDelete