Oct. 6, 2019 - Final Summer Photos

We are well into the fall season here in Minnesota, so it’s time for me to clear out my folder of summer photos.

It’s not often that I get a chance to photograph a dragonfly with a nice clean background like this. Most of the time they land in a patch of flowers and grasses and the background is very “busy.” This is a Calico Pennant. The red markings indicate an adult male. Females and juvenile males have yellow markings. At only about 1.2 inches long, it’s a rather small dragonfly.

DragonflyPennantCalicomaleDunningLakeItascaCounty20190810

When I turn on our porch light at night, it often attracts Caddisflies. I once submitted a Caddisfly photo to BugGuide.net for identification. I had a nice discussion with one of the experts who told me that most Caddisflies need to have their private parts examined under a microscope to identify the species. He said he would be happy to do that for me if I would send him some specimens. I didn’t feel like going that far. I still occasionally take photos of one of these insects, but I’m satisfied to leave the description at just “Caddisfly.”

CaddisflyDunningLakeItascaCounty20190815

I don’t recognize many spiders, but I’ve had one like this identified before as a Shamrock Orbweaver. I found it in the brush around our wind turbine.

SpiderOrbweaverShamrockAraneustrifoliumDunningLakeItascaCounty20190808

We have both yellow and white water lilies in our lake. One morning the lake was very calm, and I was able to get a photo of this white one with a nice reflection.

WaterLilyWhiteDunningLakeItascaCounty20190724

When we brush our cat Lucy, we save the hair and put it out for the birds. This female Goldfinch was gathering a mouthful so she could take it back to line her nest.

GoldfinchAmericanfemalegatheringcathairDunningLakeItascaCounty201907044x6

It’s been a few years since we had a Snowshoe Hare at our home in northern Minnesota. We saw this one off and on all summer. It seemed to like eating the broad-leaved grasses in our yard. I thought this was such a cute photo that I used it for the cover of my 2020 Nature Calendar. You can see the calendar by clicking this link http://www.etsy.com/shop/EarlOrfPhotos .

HareSnowshoeDunningLakeItascaCounty20190719