Variety at the wetlands....

I feel like I should keep apologizing for not posting or getting around to blogs.  I do have some photos I want to post, but I seem to keep getting busy with other things (quilting, family) and not posting the photos. 

I've made two recent trips to the wetlands and it is starting to come alive with summer visitors.  This is the Common Whitetail male dragonfly. 

 I thought I knew what this was when I took its photo, but then I noticed the weird tail....now I'm not sure what dragonfly it is.  Is this what they call a clubtail?

There were several of the saddlebag dragons flying around and usually I can't get their photos because they won't stop anywhere.  This one did!  I had the light in a bad place and couldn't tell the color of it..... 

......but later I saw another one sitting and it is a Red Saddlebag Dragonfly.  My first red dragonfly of any sort! 

 The flowers along the boardwalk were very pretty....wild iris.

 Fungi on various stumps and logs.

Canada Geese were browsing the clover. 

A few went swimming. 

I think the one on the right is on a nest. 

 Haven't seen any babies at the wetlands yet.  Not very many geese there this year. 

 A Green Heron.....if it hadn't moved I would never have seen it.

Grackle on the boardwalk.  They were stalking all around the edges of the creek and ponds.

This one had a worm of some sort. 

One Great Blue Heron stalking the side of the marsh. 

Eastern Pondhawk male dragonfly 

Very few turtles on the logs, but several were swimming close by. 

 You may have to click on this to see the feet better....it was a fairly small turtle.

Turtle nose...covered in green.... 

 .....more noses....

A Red-bellied Woodpecker way up high on a dead tree.  Not the ideal angle for photos. 

That's it for the moment.

Sandpipers.....

We went to several places to look for birds over the weekend, and one place included a partly flooded field that had formed a nice little mud flat that was attracting some sandpipers.



 There were three different kinds.  Here are two of the short ones and one of the tall ones to give a comparison of size.

 I consulted a friend who knows more about sandpipers than I do, and she suggested that these might be Semipalmated Sandpipers.  Whatever they are, they are cute :-)

 There were 6 of them and they stayed in a small group.

They all looked so clean and white considering they spend their time playing in the mud :-)

This one had just finished preening its feathers, so it is a bit fluffed up.

The tallest sandpipers are most likely Yellowlegs, but I don't know if they are "Greater" or "Lesser".

I was thrilled to watch them fairly close and the light was good.

Two of them together.

The third kind is probably the Solitary Sandpiper.  I only got a couple shots of it for some reason.

I don't see a lot of sandpipers.  These must be migrating through and the wet conditions right now were excellent for making them a nice environment.

Meadowlark.....

Went by Mouteau Park last week, because I figured there would be some Meadowlarks around.

Found one grazing along the edge of a neighboring field. 

 Went back the next day and there was one in the soccer field.

A field of yellow :-)  Always looks cheerful.

Odds and ends....

Here are a few misc. shots from at home plus the rest of my wetlands shots.

 I have a Catbird hanging around the suet at the moment.

 The lilacs were beautiful this year.....

 ....and the ornamental Cherry tree.

 Coot at the wetlands

Saw several damselflies but I don't know their names 

 Laying eggs

 One Mallard male sleeping on a log

I forget the name of this bug and am too lazy to look it up :-) 

 A few Canada Geese hanging out with the turtles

Robin 

 I'm not going to guess what type of sparrow this is. 

 If anyone can tell, I'd be happy to know which one it is!

 The White-throated Sparrow