Dragonfly - Flighty, carefree!

PS : I have not been able to identify this Dragonfly as yet, so if anybody is able to help I will greatly appreciate it! ... 

This Dragonfly (Odonata) has donned her Spring finery, a bright blue, lacy little bra! Caught her getting a bit of a suntan on the rocks next to my pond last spring just before all the males arrived!

Sometimes the period, just before spring arrives, is always filled with a few hollow promises - dragonflies appear at the pond, the Peach Tree starts preparing her blossoms and then, suddenly, a cold front dispels the promise of Spring.

A close-up of the head and thorax

Menacing and marvelous, the dragonfly has for centuries captivated human imaginations with its daredevil flying maneuvers, vibrant colors and bullish disposition.

Pre-dating the dinosaur, this fascinating insect has long been the subject of chilling myths and legends. In fact, the dragonfly's terrifying syringe-like appearance earned it a laundry list of dastardly names in world-wide folklore including "Devil's Darner," "Water Witch" and "Snake Doctor."

In European and early-American myths, children were told that if they misbehaved, a dragonfly would sew shut their eyes and ears as they slept. Another myth warned that dragonflies were in cahoots with snakes and were able to wake them from the dead or warn them of impending danger. And in Swedish folklore, dragonflies were called "Blindsticka" or "Blind Stingers," and rumored to have had a penchant for picking out human eyes. The Swedes also believed that dragonflies were used by the Devil to weigh people's souls, and that, if a dragonfly swarmed around someone's head weighing his or her soul, that person could expect great injury!

Your delicate wings rapidly beat the air
The sleekness of your weightless body hovers
Curiously observing as though you care
Steadily searching for lifelong endeavors

Do you bring a message of a tranquil destiny?
Does your evolving maturity convey wisdom?
If I follow, will I find harmony or perplexity?
As you disappear… I am serenely lonesome
- Theresa Ann Moore

If you look carefully, you can see a male that has just arrived!

Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom - Pics taken in my garden in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

.

For the Love of Pigeons - Duffy

I mean, it is an extraordinary thing that a large proportion of your country and my country, of the citizens, never see a wild creature from dawn 'til dusk, unless it's a pigeon, which isn't really wild, which might come and settle near them.
- David Attenborough

This is Duffy, whom I rescued as a featherless baby from certain death when his parents abandoned him. This was the start of my love affair with pigeons.

His parents didn't belong to me - they were Ferals who just moved in and nested in my stables, as there was plenty of food around, with seeds and corn being put out for the ducks, geese and guinea fowl on a daily basis. And why they abandoned him I'll never know, but their loss was my gain as Duffy and I spent many years together, during which time he took a wife (Wuffy) and they in turn reared many clutches of little pigeons. This, of course, led to there being dozens of pigeons now living on my property, not an ideal situation, as they are Masters of Mess! But luckily I found homes for most of them, which cut the numbers drastically down to only a handful.

Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom

Cape Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis nitens)

Glossy Starling in my garden - W&N watercolour - Maree©

Kleinglansspreeu [Afrikaans]

Spring is definitely in the air here in South Africa! The Starlings, who haven't been around for some time, were visiting the bard bath today. They provide such a beautiful, bright iridescent blue splash in the garden, it's difficult to miss them!

Starlings are frugiverous and insectivorous birds with strong, slightly curved bills and strong legs. They occur from Angola and Zambia to Southern Africa, where it is locally common across much of the region, excluding central Mozambique, the Karoo, Namib Desert and the fynbos biome in the Western Cape. It can occupy a variety of different habitats, especially wooded savannah, forest edges, riverine bush, plantations, parks and gardens.

It is a monogamous, cooperative breeder, meaning that the breeding pair may be assisted by up to 6 helpers, who often remain with them through many breeding seasons. It usually nests in tree cavities, either natural or excavated by woodpeckers or barbets, but it may also use a hole in a riverbank, metal pipe or even a post box used daily. It adds coarse material such as twigs into the cavity until the platform is close to the entrance, after which it adds a lining of dry grass, dung and snake skins. It often uses the same nest over multiple breeding seasons, in fact one breeding pair was recorded using the same site for 20 years.

Egg-laying season is mainly from September-February. It lays 2-6 blue or white eggs, which are incubated solely by the female. The chicks are fed by both parents and helpers, leaving the nest after about 20 days after which they remain with the group for at least week before finding their own territory.

Greater Striped Swallow

“Daffodils that come before the swallow dares, and takes the winds of March with beauty.”
- William Shakespeare


Done in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book - Maree©

My Swallows were late in leaving this year, still saw them around just a week ago. Now their twitterings that I love to listen to as they swoop over my garden or sit on my Satellite dish are silent. They returned to their old home in the pump house in early September 2010 and I'm always humbled and honoured to think that they choose to return to me after thousands of miles of travelling.

They managed to rear two babies this season and it was a delight watching the parents teaching them all the sweeping moves over our vast expanse of grassland and it wasn't long until they too were balancing on the wires strung up in my (open-air) potting shed, which I use to hang flowers for drying, happily calling to one another. It's always a worry to me, wondering whether the babies will make the long journey safely. And it's always only the parents returning every year (for the past 5 years now), so I often wonder where the babies head off to...?

If our summer is exceptionally hot or dry, I leave the hosepipe dripping on an empty piece of ground in the garden and have spent hours watching them gather mud for their nest-building.

Some info : The Greater Striped Swallow (Hirundo cucullata syn. Cecropis cucullata) is a large swallow. It breeds in Southern Africa, mainly in South Africa, Namibia and southern Zimbabwe. It is migratory, wintering further north in Angola, Tanzania and southern Zaire.
The Greater Striped Swallow builds a bowl-shaped mud nest with a tubular entrance on the underside of a suitable structure. The nest has a soft lining, and is often reused in later years. It is common, unafraid of humans, and has benefited from the availability of nest sites around habitation. It feeds mainly on flying insects, but has been known to eat small fruits. It's conservation status is LC (Least Concern).

Now see what you've done!

We received a notification from Eskom (our electricity supply commission) that they were doing maintenance on the sub-station in our area (Tarlton, South Africa), and that the electricity would be off from 9am to 5pm (it only came back on at 8pm!), so I had a day of no "RedBubble" ahead of me! OK, I did have a wonderful day painting, and in between I decided to give the garden a bit of water.

I used the hosepipe, as I love the feel of the water as I compress it to reach plants far into the bed and, besides which, it's almost like meditating, gives me lots of time to think and just enjoy the sunshine.

After I'd done quite a good soaking in one of my beds, out crawled this little Striped Field Mouse, soaking wet and looking quite bedraggled! He looked me straight in the eye as if to say, "Now see what you've done!" and promptly started cleaning and drying himself. I gingerly put the hosepipe down and rushed inside for my camera, hoping that he would stay put, and I was lucky. Upon my return, he was still in the same spot, slightly drier, but very intent on getting back to normal! He didn't seem at all perturbed by my presence and didn't move away until he was thoroughly dry again.

Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom Digital - normal settings


Now this is disgusting!


It's still wet behind my ears...


Aaah, that's a bit better!