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Birding

Good Photo or not?

Birding

End of June Dragonflies and Damselflies

Birding

Common Baskettail Dragonfly, Epitheca cynosura

Nature, Odonate, Photography

Pond Life

Our half-acre pond seems to be doing pretty well since I added a couple of buckets of water and bottom matter from the swamp as well as planting the shallow end with Sagittaria and Pontederia. For several years, the water was virtually sterile with very few microscopic critters at all. Now that I’ve added some “livelier” matter from the swamp, it seems to be doing better. This summer (2025) in particular I’ve noticed several species of Odonata (dragonflies and ...
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Halloween Pennant
Odonate

Dythemis velox at our pond

This summer (2025) we got a new visitor at our pond, a Dythemis velox, or Swift Setwing. At first, there was only one, but a few weeks later, there were at least three more around the edges of the pond. This is a new dragonfly for Bladen County in North Carolina (NC). Or is it? Swift Setwing have been observed in several other counties in NC and a map of where it has occurred as well as supporting records can be found on the NC Parks website for Odonata. NC Parks maintains an excellent site ...
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Nature, Odonate, Photography

There and Back Again: The Phantom Darner in NC

Who says a bumbling amateur can’t contribute? Somehow, I did just that. Despite cloudy weather, I ventured out on 4 November 2024 around1:34PM searching for dragonflies in Carteret County, North Carolina. In fact, I was looking for Meadowhawks. I know: it was not only cloudy but late in the season. I know. In fact, It had been cloudy for several days and I was getting frustrated, but there were intermittent periods of sunshine and the temperature was in the upper 70s/lower 80s ...
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Halloween Pennant
Nature, Odonate

Creating a Wetland

Over fifteen years ago, we built a large catfish pond. One end was kept shallow–about 20′ x 40′–with the thought that it would naturalize on its own. Sadly, it never did. So we put in a few waterlilies from a local area. Then they took over the pond, and we had to rip them out. Now what? I still wanted a natural wetland area, especially after I found a Coryphaeschna ingens, or Regal Darner exuvia on one of the sticks protruding from the water in the shallow end. An ...
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Birding, Nature, Odonate, Photography

Good Photo or not?

I’ve been working on improving my photography skills and had one of those lightbulb moments. I’m really not interested in “artistic” and my photos aren’t artistic. I want clarity and the ability to identify what I’m photographing. And perhaps maybe something interesting or even cute. It’s not just my photographs, either. I’ve realized that I actually don’t like artistic photos. Many times when I see before and after photos where the ...
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iNaturalist
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