Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Flight of the Dragonflies

After yesterday's rain, the sky this evening is full of dragonflies the size of my hand.  I suspect they're some kind of darner, as darners often fly at treetop height as these are doing.

Dozens of eastern tailed-blue butterflies are crowding their favorite puddling spot in the driveway.  It was still damp this morning, but I added more water to help it stay that way, and the butterflies are still present in evening.

I also found a dogday cicada skin.  Cicadas often emerge right after a rain.  It's been a poor rising this summer due to the drought; the dry soil is very hard on the cicadas underground.
Tags: illinois, wildlife
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  • 3 comments
pickledginger

pickledginger

August 4 2012, 01:28:58 UTC 8 years ago

Ah! that sounds wonderful. Have you had any fireflies? We haven't had as many this year as we'd had of late; one suspects the dry spring did not agree.
ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

August 4 2012, 01:47:08 UTC 8 years ago

We had plenty of fireflies in late spring and early summer, but almost none later. They really don't do well in dry weather.
cissa

cissa

August 5 2012, 00:00:36 UTC 8 years ago

Nifty bugs!