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Borrego Springs, CA

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Burgeoning Blooms, Birds, and Bugs

I was out the door by 7:00 this morning to continue my surveying of the Balsam Lake block.  For a change, there were mostly sunny skies right from the get go. 

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I haven’t had the chance to investigate the identity of these blooms, but there is a huge round group of them out in one of the meadows along my route.  For now, I’ll just call them butterfly bushes because I think the yellow blooms not only had a shape similar to a hummingbird, but the 20’ in diameter mound was a magnet for ruby-throated hummingbirds.

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This male ruby throat chose an exposed branch to claim this feeding grounds as his.  I just wished he would land here facing the other direction so the sun’s rays would light up his iridescent ruby throat.  That didn’t happen though.

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I also hoped to see him do his aerial display for one of the visiting females so I could check this species off as a proved breeder.  Instead, he just gave his rattling song from his preferred perch.  Maybe the next time.  Their display of swooping back and forth in a large half circle arc is something to enjoy seeing.  They are such mighty little warriors.

_MG_8894Not to be outdone by the hummingbird bush, one of the first orchids of the season has appeared… the yellow lady’s slipper. _MG_8893

This is the first lady’s slipper I’ve ever seen, so I was justifiably enthralled with its design.

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When I made it to the Balsam Lake kiosk and overlook, I got out of the truck to see what birds I could find in the area.  I usually see chipping sparrows at bird feeders, but today they were busy eating the seeds of the oak tree catkins.  It wasn’t long before something else caught my attention.

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Remember when I talked about the dragonfly hatch on the Booth Lake block yesterday?  Well that hatch was occurring today around Balsam Lake.  If you click on the above photo, I hope you can see the hundreds of dragonflies that were in the air as I walked the overlook road.  All of those little dots in the sky and in front of the trees are dragonflies.

IMG_3284It turned out to be a veritable feast for the two cedar waxwings I was watching.  They will sometimes hawk insects in the air from a perch… flying out a ways to catch something and coming back to the perch to consume it.  Today, they didn’t have to expend much energy at all to catch their fill.  This bird just watched the sky, and…

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…hopped down to the next branch to grab a dragonfly out of the air on the way down.  Easy Peasy!  I’m surprised I didn’t inhale one of those bugs as I walked along.  That’s how numerous they were.

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The hardest part of this wild all-you-can–eat buffet was for the cedar waxwing to figure out how to swallow the  wings.                                 

                                                  Guess this was ‘THE END’ for the dragonfly! Winking smile

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

20 comments:

  1. YEA!!! Sunny skies.

    Gorgeous shots of the yellow lady’s slipper. First one for me too.

    What a great day to be experiencing nature!

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  2. As usual beautiful pictures. I did not know that lady slippers were a
    member of the orchid family. Learn something new everyday

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  3. Always learn something from your posts and great photos.

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  4. I had no idea that the Lady Slipper is in the Orchid family. Learn something new every day!

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  5. Wow, great capture of the cedar waxwing catching the dragonfly. And I was so proud of myself. When I read your blog I try to identify birds before I read your captions and I got the cedar waxwing. Not a big deal but it made me feel like I'm learning something. I really enjoy your blog.

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  6. Magnificent photos! The Cedar Waxwings are such beautiful creatures.

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  7. Judy, you really need to connect with Far Side http://farsideoffifty.blogspot.com She lives near Tamarac park, and was just there and wrote about it. She is my go to for any identification of wild flowers, bushes or weeds. Her blog is a real slice of northern Minnesota. Check it out!!! Tell her I sent you! Don't let the birds eat all those dragon flies, they eat our mosquitoes!!!

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  8. Great bird pics again-I clearly need to practice that skill:)

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  9. The lady slippers are so unique and of course the waxwings are beautiful.

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  10. You always capture the most interesting photos! Absolutely amazing...

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  11. Fantastic shot of the waxwing. I have never seen one. There are supposed to be some that winter in the Port Aransas area but I never saw one.

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  12. Don't know which I enjoyed more... the dance of the yellow lady slippers to the cedar waxwing eating the dragonfly. All you photos are always a treat.

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  13. I love the YELLOW lady slippers as those are not numerous here at Moosehorn, but we do have the Lady's Slipper of the Queen!!! The photo is on my blog from the summer of 2011. Visit my blog at wcsterny.blogspot.com

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  14. I haven't seen yellow lady slippers, but we saw those gorgeous pink ones in North Carolina last spring. They photographed so nicely!

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  15. Absolutely FABULOUS pictures of the Cedar Waxing and the orchids...You gotta apply to be a photographer for National Geographic..

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  16. As always, love all your photos, but that last one is just amazing!

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  17. Those are simply stunning photos of the lady's slipper. When I lived in Virginia, they were scarce and you had to know where to go and when to see both the yellow and the pink. Great find for you. We have Cedar waxwings visiting us while we are here. They are after our mulberry trees but I can never get out there with my camera when they are there. What a great close up of the wax wing having dinner. Such a great place you have found to "work" in.

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  18. Nice dragonfly capture ... both for the bird, and for your camera.

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  19. When I first looked at the waxwing eating the dragonfly it looked like he had a fancy headdress, that was until I read the caption. All the pics are wonderful as usual.

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