Nov. 29, 2020 - Misc. Summer Photos

This is my last set of summer photos, and it’s a mixture of several different subjects.

I enjoy taking photos of insects, but I often need help identifying them. The folks at http://www.BugGuide.net told me this is a Tricolored Bumble Bee.

BeeBumbleTricoloredBombusternariusDunningLakeItascaCounty20200605

Here’s a Bald-faced Hornet on a Smartweed flower. I’ve been stung a couple of times by a Bald-faced Hornet and it really hurts!

HornetBaldfacedDolichovespulamaculataSmartweedDunningLakeItascaCounty20200815

One day this summer, while we were eating lunch, a bird rocketed into our yard and landed under our bird feeders. I grabbed my camera and took several photos. When I got the photos down onto my computer, I recognized the bird as a Merlin.

MerlinDunningLakeItascaCounty20200702

This photo showed me why the Merlin was there. It caught a bird under the feeders. I see some blue in the victim’s feathers, so it’s probably a Blue Jay. I like Blue Jays, but Merlins need to eat as well.

MerlinDunningLakeItascaCounty20200702

This summer the Neowise comet was visible in the night sky. I don’t have the right equipment to take good photos of stars and comets, so this record shot is the best I could do.

NeowiseCometDunningLakeItascaCounty20200719

We noticed this plant growing next to our deck steps and wondered what it was. I’m a member of a Facebook group called Plant Identification, so I submitted this photo to see if someone could ID it. Within two minutes someone replied that it is an American Spikenard bush. That group is an amazing resource if you need a plant identified.

SpikenardAmericanAraliaracemosaDunningLakeItascaCounty20200815

When I looked in our reptile book it was easy to identify this as an American Toad, because that is the only toad species found in our area.

ToadAmericanDunningLakeItascaCounty20200525

Along Itasca County Road 10, there is a field that sometimes floods from a nearby stream. When that happens, it can attract shorebirds. In mid-August, this Baird’s Sandpiper was foraging right near the road.

SandpiperBaird'sFloodedfieldItascaCounty20200821

Our bird feeder has a metal bar that moves down to cover the seed when a large bird lands on the wooden perch. This summer we would sometimes hear that bar clanking well after dark, which made us think it probably wasn’t a bird. One night I shined a flashlight out there and discovered this Northern Flying Squirrel feasting on the sunflower chips. Even though we have our feeders protected so other squirrels can’t get to them, a flying squirrel can just climb a tree and glide right onto the feeder.

SquirrelNorthernFlyingDunningLakeItascaCounty20200518