Observed.

 

The two of us took the time to "sit there again" a couple of days ago at Sweet Marsh Wildlife Area.  We chose the same location because we wanted to see if the Monarch egg we observed being laid on a particular milkweed plant had become a Monarch caterpillar.  

Sadly, we did not find a caterpillar (or any Monarch caterpiller) as we looked at a number of milkweed plants.  But, we still took the time to let nature come to us by sitting still for a while.

We'll probably offer up a bit more in a future blog, but since it is getting late and I am tired, we'll go with the abbreviated version.  

Take a look at the image above.  Feel free to click on it so you can see a larger version of that image.  There are two critters that we spent some time watching in that photo.  Well, actually, there is a third that might be visible in there too.  Can you find them?

Two of these critters decided not to move the whole time we were there and the third gave a go at trying to catch a dragonfly that hovered just over its head.  The dragonfly did get away and we observed as the dragonfly exhibited an interesting behavior where it dipped itself in to the water two to four times in a row.

I have seen dragonflies dipping their tail into the water, which is apparently how some dragonfly types lay their eggs.  But they usually hover closer to the surface while doing so.  In this case, the dragonfly executed a rapid circular motion that resulted in hitting the water.  The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy website suggests:

On a hot day, dragonflies sometimes adjust their body temperature by skimming over a water surface and briefly touching it, often three times in quick succession. This may also help to avoid desiccation.

 I suppose that is possible.  But, the behavior seemed more like a hunting mechanism to me.  But, I will readily admit that I am not a dragonfly expert, nor do I speak dragonfly - so I wasn't able to ask.

Maybe someone can point me in the right direction?  In the meantime, I'll see if some of the photos I tried to take while it was doing this interesting behavior can be turned into something!

Have a good day everyone.