St. Louis has restored dozens of urban prairies. James Faupel (Missouri Botanical Garden) describes their impact on pollinators and what is needed to…
A prairie resurgence?
A prairie resurgence?
Category: Reblog
Backyard Birding – Missouri Winter Songbirds. – 01/12/2019
An excellent post by Miguel Acosta using photos he captured at my backyard feeders.
A big thanks to the Duncan’s for inviting me to their home, to photography winter songbirds at their bird feeder.
A cold winter day is perfect for curling up by your living room or you can stock your bird feeder, get your camera, a turkey chair and check out the activity at the feeder.
Here’s a quick rundown of the most common backyard birds, I saw while spending an afternoon at my friend’s bird feeder.
House finch – love Nyjer seed, often mistakenly called thistle seed. Offer it in tube feeders or net bags, and watch these colorful birds swoop in for a visit.
Woodpeckers – In the winter, beef suet is an energy-rich substitute for the insect fare that downy, hairy, and red-bellied woodpeckers feed on during the summer. Other bird species such as jays will also eat suet, but it’s…
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The American Bald Eagles of Lock & Dam 14.
A wonderful post about the Bald Eagle and the photographer’s experience!
American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) at Lock & Dam 14.
Lock and Dam 14:
Located in the city of Le Claire, IA. Hailed as one of the better bald eagle viewing opportunities in the continental US, each winter hundreds of eagles congregate along the flyway of the sometimes frozen Mississippi River to catch fish that get stunned as they travel through the cascading water passing through the lock.
Hands downs, Lock and Dam 14 is my favorite because it provides closer views of the eagles from the viewing platform. The best light is in the afternoon, although I’ve still gotten some great images in the morning. Get there early to find a good spot on the platform as it gets crowded later in the day (especially on weekends).
While in Le Claire, plan a visit to the Buffalo Bill Museum, or a boat ride with the Riverboat Twilight Tour cruising…
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Hyperparasite: Acroclisoides sp.
What an excellently captured example of hyperparasitism! A Fascinating case of Russian nesting dolls.
Acroclisoides wasps are tiny insects that parasitise wasps that parasitise bugs. That’s right. Somehow, these wasps find a clutch of bug eggs (which are really small to start with) that have already been parasitised by a wasp and manage to get their little babies into those wasp larvae.
Acroclisoides wasp (3mm long, max) investigates which of these bug eggs are most viable for her own egg deposit. She spent quite a lot of time wandering around ‘feeling’ with her antennae trying to work out where to lay her eggs. Mount Ommaney, QLD.
Even while I was shooting this wasp I had no idea of how beautiful she was. She’s a metallic gold and was very busy populating these bug eggs with her offspring. In this shot you can just see her starting to pierce the bug egg with her ovipositor. Mount Ommaney, QLD.
A shot from above while she is ovipositing. Her head…
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A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 