Seward, Alaska
Sunrise 4:33 am, sunset 11:25 pm for a total daylength of 18 hours and 51 minutes. Tomorrow will be 53 seconds longer as we approach Summer Solstice on June 22.
Mostly sunny today with an overnight low of 48 and a midday high of 62ยบ. South wind 16 mph. Rain in the forecast starting Wednesday for the rest of the week. We really need it; pond and lake water levels are very low, and unwatered plants are stressed.
I had the great good luck to tag along on a pond exploration this afternoon. We found a large Predaceous Diving Beetle and its larval form, called a Water Tiger for its ferocious hunting ability. Brilliant blue damselflies flew in tandem over the blooming yellow pond lilies. Wood frogs leaped from the ooze to hide in the mares-tails and pond lilies. Momma and baby moose tracks followed the receded shoreline.
Dragonfly nymphs clung to aquatic plants, ready to relinquish their long larval sojourn underwater (up to 3 years) for a brief and dizzying adult life (a few weeks) as aerialists. For most of the afternoon, we watched as newly emerged dragonfly tentatively climbed out of the water next to its cast-off nymph case and slowly began to inflate its four exquisitely delicate wings.
The transformation is a mind-boggling, marvelous, extreme makeover. We wondered about the initial green coloration of the head and on spots on the wing sacs. Was this dragonfly blood? Why did the dragonfly occasionally exude colorless drops from its abdomen? Was this excess water? Could it see yet? Can dragonflies hear?
ROBINS hopped down to the exposed pond lilies and plucked other helpless emerging dragonflies to feed their babies. Juicy morsels indeed! A website noted up to 90% mortality in a population due to bird predation during this vulnerable time. It’s a wonder any survive.
The entire magical and mysterious metamorphosis from the larval stage to adult could last over 8 hours, but we could only stay for three. We left hoping that this special individual that so enriched our lives would eventually lift off from the pond lily stem and fly like the wind.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter
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