storms

The environment of the ditches is certainly changing fast. A cooling trend is coming, but everything is also dry in the ditches, with super low water levels.

The catfish will survive, but many are likely to either die as the pools dry out, or fall prey to the snapping turtles in the small pools that are around. The ones that survive are fortunate indeed. This handful I found had a helping hand back to deeper water. Karma is worth building up.

Many small fish will also become dinner for these great blue heron who drop by periodically to check on things. They preen constantly to be able to fly. This one is showing the amazing dexterity of that long neck.

This Cooper's hawk also uses a perch to watch the world. I'm not sure why it is holding up it's talon. These birds usually prefer to be hidden and higher up as they look for unwary birds to ambush.

The numbers of dragonfly have continued to rise. This coloration is a king skimmer but there are many meadowlarks and flame skimmers around as well.

The slight rain has encouraged an army moth to seek higher ground, I think it was feeding on nearby weeds.

Usually I see cabbage whites in the early spring, but they are around much later this year. They are usually cold tolerant, they much be heat tolerant too...

There are many of these harmless cicada killers around preparing nests on the ditch banks. This male does not seem to realize that the female he is mating with has died...

This is just one of the many leaf beetles that have moved in to chomp holes in anything green. They seem to not care what plant they are eating.

It is amazingly hard to get a good picture of a bumblebee, because they never hold still. They appear to be pollinating the nightshade plants exclusively.

The large datura blossoms are very apparent on moonlight nights, and soon the sphinx moths should be out in large numbers to pollinate them. You can also find honeybees deep in the blossoms.

This flower certainly gives a good idea where the inspiration for the radar dish came from. The mechanism they use to open is amazingly complex, involving osmotic pressure and electrolyte gradient potentials inside plant cells.

the sunflowers are very sturdy plants that support a large number on insects. This one shows bees on the center, with beetle feasting on the petals, and the birds will eat the seeds throughout the winter months.

The bind weeds come in several colors and the number of blooms should explode during the next few days of elevated humidity.

The rains have encouraged many amphibian species to come out, from salamanders to bullfrogs. The bigger the frog, the slower they are on land, but this just helps this female to pose beautifully. Bullfrogs seem hypnotized by lights at night and be approached quite closely, unlike during the daytime.

The woodhouse toads are rummaging through the dry leaf piles looking for anything. They can be found in surprisingly dry places and are far more active than they would seem.