June 30, 2019 - Spring Photos

Summer has officially started so it’s time to clean out my Spring photo folder. Baby birds are always a popular subject in Spring. This Wood Duck duckling was seen at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, MN.

DuckWoodducklingPowderhornParkMinneapolis20190618

I was in Duluth, MN, earlier this year and there were several Canada Goose families at Park Point. This is one of the goslings. I like to photograph them when they are quite young, like this one. When they get a little older, they are not nearly as cute.

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For the last several years, a pair of Eastern Phoebes has built a nest in the boat lift at our home in northern Minnesota. This year, they built the nest on top of the battery box. Hopefully I won’t need to check on the battery until they have fledged.

PhoebeEasternbabiesnestDunningLakeItascaCountySamsungGalaxy20190620

Spring is also a time when batches of insects hatch. One morning I was at the shore of our lake and I noticed the grass stems were covered with these dragonfly larvae. The dragonfly eggs were laid in the water. The eggs hatched into larvae. They stayed in the water until they were ready to change into adult dragonflies. They all seem to be ready at the same time, so there is a mass migration of the larvae from the water onto the surrounding vegetation.

DragonflyBaskettailCommonEpithecacynosuralarvaDunningLakeItascaCounty20190609

The larvae break out of their casings, then rest for a while until their wings unfurl ard dry. This is a Common Baskettail dragonfly.

DragonflyBaskettailCommonEpithecacynosuraadultjustemergedDunningLakeItascaCounty20190609

A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird has a favorite perch near our feeders. You probably know that his throat feathers are not red, they only look red when light hits them at a certain angle. I took this series of photos showing how the color changes as he turns his head.

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Here’s that same hummingbird as he landed on his perch.

HummingbirdRubythroatedmaleDunningLakeItascaCounty20190609