Friday, August 6, 2010

Dragonfly Obelisking

Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Perching
Blue Dasher OBELISKING



Dragonfly  Obelisking
As erect as he can be!

It's August. It's Texas. It's hot. What's an ectotherm to do?  The sun heats your body too much.  You could hide in the shade, but then you couldn't hunt and eat.  Solution:  reduce your body's exposure to the sun by changing your profile!  That is what this dragonfly is doing.;  In the first photo he is close to his usual horizontal perching position.  As the day heats up, he points his tail to the sky!  It is called obelisking because he looks like a tall pillar or obelisk.  I have identified this acrobatic guy as a Blue Dasher - an immature male or a female -  but if you are a Dragonfly-ologist and know otherwise, please correct me.  I want to learn!!!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Dick Benoit Prairie Preserve, League City, TX

Purple Pleat-leaf,  Eustylis purpurea
White Gaura,  Gaura lindheimeri
Kansas Gayfeather, Liatris pysnostachya
White-topped Sedge, Rhynchospora colorata, blooming in a wet ditch.
Bee on Prairie Plantain, Cacalia plantaginea
 Tall white Prairie Plantain and purple spires of Gayfeather
It may be nearly 100 degrees F today.  Whew - too hot for me.   But this precious fragment of coastal prairie is glowing with summer color and humming with bees.