The Amazing Bugs of Summer: Calico Pennant

Whipple Dam is one of my favorite places to go on a summer day trip. The water is cool and refreshing and there are fancy bugs a-plenty. Whipple has more dragonflies and damselflies than any other local place I know of except Black Moshannon.

It was a perfect summer day, straight out of childhood. The sky was blue and the sun was shining and it was warm but not too warm. It was the kind of day to make a girl glad she was alive, and not at work.

We swam at Whipple Dam and I walked around and stalked my dragons and damsels. I found a fancy maroon dragon that looked sort of fuzzy in spots, and I hoped I could get a decent shot of one. Well, in the end I got quite a few. The one above may be my best shot. Look at the tiny red hearts on its tail! I looked it up when I got home; it is a calico pennant, Celithemis elisa.

After we swam and hung out a while, we decided to run by the Scotia Barrens on the way home. The one road at the shooting range is closed off now with big rocks, and so it has become an awesome place to walk, run, or bike. There are also lots of milkweed plants and all kinds of wild flowers that attract the butterflies.

So we took our chairs and sat in the shade on the deserted road. On a perfect sunny summer afternoon, we simply sat and watched the butterflies. The monarchs were too fast for me, as they never sat down. Lots of important butterfly business to tend to, I guess; no time to visit. But you may see a shot of a tiger swallowtail in the extras.

My soundtrack song to accompany these two fancy flying bugs of summer is REO Speedwagon, with Time for Me to Fly.