BACK TO WALNEY POND

 I am concentrating only on a few things today. Two are the dragonfly photos Gregg took. We are thinking the red-beading effect on its wings in the first photo, was the reflection from the sun bouncing off its wings? Maybe?

And this in another spot. It may have been the same one as we were waiting for it to stop plant-hopping long enough to take its photo. I identified it as the male Blue Dasher Dragonfly. Experts, let me know if you disagree please.

Next is the female Redwing blackbird who was in a tangle of branches.

In the next tree, we found the male Redwing blackbird.

The photo above shows the clearest picture of his striking red and yellow epaulette. You can read all about them here. The bird photos were also taken by Gregg.

Lastly, the Bumblebee on the Common buttonbush, which on the day we were there, held my fascination for some time. I couldn’t get it as sharp as I would like it to be, but I was happy. There are several species of bumblebees that are native to Virginia. If you missed the first part of our visit, you can find it at this link. My post today is Part 2. I found a splendid website with the title, "For Wild Bees, these Native Plants are the Superstars."

I am now on the hunt for local honey. There is a beekeeper who sells it locally. I just need to do a search as it’s not in the local supermarkets and it is outstanding honey, my all-time favorite. I can't remember what kind it is now (when I see the bottle I will know). I ran out ages ago and bought a jar of regular. It is very nice but I try to give my business to the smaller family run local businesses when I can. I might have gotten it originally from a weekend farmer's market.

Thanks for looking and I hope your day is a great one.