Dragonflies most successful predator in animal kingdom

Dragonflies, butterflies and ladybugs are often considered “nice” insects with their pretty colors and seemingly harmlessness. However, dragonflies are far from harmless--they may be one of the most successful predators in the animal kingdom. 

African lions are ferocious but their hunts are only successful 25 percent of the time. The great white shark only captures prey 50 percent of the time.

For the small size of the dragonfly, it can be brutal. Dragonflies capture 90 to 95 percent of the prey they hunt and it can be devoured within seconds with the dragonfly’s serrated teeth. Some dragonflies capture and eat their prey so quickly the act can only be seen on high-speed cameras.

Dragonflies hold their wings straight out when at rest

Waxwings flock to fruit year-round

By mid-summer most birds have finished nesting and the young have fledged,  but one bird is a late nester compared to the rest--the waxwing. 

The emergence of insects coincides with the hatching of birds in the spring. But waxwings wait until the berry crop is ripe to raise their young.

Cedar waxwing nestlings wait for their parents to bring back ripe fruit

Both the Bohemian and cedar waxwing eat more fruit than any other bird in North America, including fruit from serviceberries, chokecherries, dogwoods, crabapples, mountain ash, junipers, strawberries and blackberries. Bohemian waxwings can eat two to three times their weight in fruit each day and more if they are feeding nestlings. 

Grass is under our feet and in our cupboards

What do barley, corn and fescue all have in common? They are all grasses. From the green grass in yards to fields of oats to meadows of pine grass, grasses comprise one of the most important families of plants both economically and ecologically. 

Corn, wheat and rice are three important cereal crops that are grasses. Cattle graze on grasses along with large herbivorous mammals such as deer and elk. Grass is important to waterfowl for food, birds to seek shelter within, and an important source of food for many other animals. 

Deer are one of many herbivorous animals that forage on grass

Over 9,000 species of grasses exist on Earth and they all have similar characteristics that identify them as grasses. All grasses have narrow leaves with parallel veins, inconspicuous flowers and nodes where the leaves join the stems. The stems are round or flattened and usually hollow. 

How do animals beat the heat?

On sweltering 90-plus degree days we can retreat to basements or air conditioned buildings but how do animals beat the heat? 

Often animals gain relief from the heat in some of the ways we do-- taking a dip in the water, finding shade and sweating.

Moose cool down while foraging for aquatic plants

A hummingbird? An insect? What is it?

What hovers like a hummingbird, flies like a hummingbird but has antennae? A hummingbird moth. Aptly named, hummingbird moths can easily be mistaken for hummingbirds but they are a sphinx moth. 

Hummingbird moths can easily be mistaken for hummingbirds when they hover at a flower

Sphinx moths are one of the few groups of insects that can hover. Since a few species resemble hummingbirds and are active during the day (unlike most moths) they are commonly referred to as hummingbird moths.

Don’t be fooled by a coot

The American coot may swim like a duck, dive like a duck, and look like a duck but it isn’t a duck. As much as coots resemble ducks they are not a duck. Instead, the gray to black birds with white bills are more closely related to the gangly sandhill crane. 

Coots often intermingle with waterfowl which lends one to think they are a duck. However, their small head, scrawny legs and lobed feet reveal they aren’t a duck. Unlike the webbed feet of ducks, coots have broad lobes of skin between their long toes that help them kick through the water and support their weight on mucky ground. 

Coots have dark bodies and white bills

Magnitude of beargrass blooms unpredictable

While on the Parker Ridge trail below Parker Peak last summer, I rounded a corner and was surprised by the hundreds of beargrass blooms filling the avalanche chute in front of me. The magnitude of blooms was the largest I had ever seen and one I won’t forget. Will the blooms be of the same magnitude this summer?

Rhizomes and seeds help create dense fields of beargrass

Summer serenaded by insect chorus

Have you taken the time to listen on a warm, summer evening? Trains, trucks and lawn mowers are the first sounds you may hear but if you tune them out you may hear a chorus of clicking, buzzing, chirping and creaking. You probably won’t see who is playing the sounds coming from the grasses, fields, trees and shrubs. As soon as you approach, the musicians--crickets, katydids and cicadas--will stop playing. 

Crickets, katydids and cicadas don’t all sing in the evening, some sing during the day and some sing at night. Since they are cold-blooded the insects need to warm up to begin singing, which is why we don’t hear them on cool mornings or cool rainy days. 

The singing of cicadas and crickets can be heard on warm summer evenings but most likely won't be seen. The snowy tree cricket, also known as the thermometer cricket, can tell you how warm it is (in Fahrenheit) if you count the number of chirps in 12.5 seconds and add 38 (this formula works for crickets west of the Great Plains). 

Like birds, each species has its own “song” but the insects don’t sing using their throats and lungs. Crickets, katydids and cicadas make sounds using specialized parts on their body.