Wee Pond
There's a wee pond just past the bluebird meadow at Mill Hollow Bacon Woods Park. It packs a lot of life in a small space. It is housing some very large carp, minnows, frogs, algae and the like, but the flying life quite astounded me. I approached like a bull through the tall grass and the area looked devoid of most life as the frogs skittered into the pond. The blue dasher were the first to show themselves. Not a shy dragonfly. They love to perch and show off their colors. The widow skimmers and amberwings did not take long to come out of hiding. The sun is beating down and my eyes are burning as the sweat drips while I peer through my camera, down towards the skimming bluet that I have finally spotted. The bluet's small size can make it difficult to spot, but this particular kind is marked with bright blue on thorax and a couple of the last abdominal sections which show up brilliantly against the green yellow algae. I am baking. No breeze here in this little valley that floods each spring from the river. I leave before I have documented the forktails and spreadwings. I'm exhausted in this 85 plus degree heat. As I make my way along the edge of the pond towards my escape, a small movement in the grass catches my eye. I am always looking for a unique damsel or ichneumid wasp, an interesting bug or how about a preying mantis. Wow, that made my day. I do not see them as often as the other winged insects. I press on with a smile. Up in the woods now the breeze is a welcome friend. Walking through scares up a common green darner, teneral, I think because the colors have not matured. They are difficult to spot sitting still and rarely do you see them not moving. A large dragonfly often found cruising over ponds and meadows. Passing through the meadow the meadowhawks show their colors. What a wonderful day. It started with a downy woodpecker and ends with some Jack-o'-lantern mushrooms. They do not taste like pumpkin, or maybe they would but certainly not suggesting a bite. Most mushrooms are poisonous to some degree, between a belly ache, migraine or more dastardly effects. Stick to eating what is on your pizza.
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