Tag: wildlife photography

Mississippi Kites in the Arkansas

Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

It is always nice finding your targets on a big photography trip but the icing on the cake is finding the unexpected. That is what happened here when Casey and spent some time at Moro Bay State Park in southern Arkansas. When speaking to a very friendly park ranger, he let us on to where a pair of these birds setup territory and were virtually oblivious to humans. These birds completely ignored us as they flew to and from their favorite perches, often flying mere feet over our heads. We watched the male handoff their insect prey a number of times and even witnessed a copulation, but those photos were ruined by branches.

False Map Turtle (Graptemys pseudogeographica)

wildlife, wildlife photography
Two subspecies of the false map turtle are found in Missouri. Minor differences in the color and pattern near the eyes are used to distinguish between the two. Unfortunately, I did not get the shots that would allow this determination. This photo was taken in St. Louis County.

Swamp Metalmark (Calephelis muticum) – Larvae

macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

I previously shared photos of adult of swamp metalmark (Calephelis muticum). This spring, after a couple or three years of looking for them on their host plant, Cirsium muticum (swamp thistle), I finally found the caterpillar of this vulnerable species of conservation concern.

A swamp metalmark (Calephelis muticum) caught shortly after depositing some frass created from its host plant, Cirsium muticum (swamp thistle).