Blue Dasher

I discovered a huge number of these beautiful dragons down by our willow tree today - I mean, they were just about hanging from every branch.  Interestingly, they all appeared to be females - in this case, an "old" female as identified by the blue on the top of her abdomen.  Very curious that I didn't see any males.  What isn't quite so much of a mystery is why I see so many birds visiting the willow tree -  it is a veritable nursery of insects species.

And here's a fun fact ... did you know that dragonflies breathe through small holes in their abdomen?  Yes, yet another relatively useless bit of info cluttering up my brain.

All appears well in the nest boxes.  Nest Box 5 which had 7 eggs definitely only has 6 nestlings.  I expect the 7th egg didn't hatch or that the baby didn't survive.  At any rate, the nestlings look very healthy and are just about fully feathered so should fledge within 5 or 6 days.  I won't do another box check as there is too great a risk of scaring them out of the box.  I did that once and will never do it again.  If you'd like to see a rather quickie cell phone shot of the six little insectivores, check Extra.

Baby bluebirds are being fed by both parents with increasingly larger insects.  A quick peak in the box showed 5 partially feathered nestlings, gapes ready for food.  So freaking adorable.

Hubs and I will be watching the first of the Democratic presidential debates tonight.  Many might suggest that it's silly to watch at this point, but I enjoy this part of the process.  

And counting down for our Friday departure on our first RV trip!

Thanks for stopping in.

xo
Debbi