EricHillstrom

I agree with JoAnne. This is a Female Cardinal. Very pretty bird and great pictures!

That first picture is so amazing! Great shots!

You were right about the dragonfly part! It's a Clubtail dragonfly Nymph. The genus is Gomphus but it's hard to tell a species. Hope this helps!

Thank you! I was actually really drawn to this plant and then I stumbled across these guys getting busy. haha

No problem Jim! I'm following you as well. I'll post some more spottings as soon as school dies down. I have quite a few stashed away in my pictures..

No problem! I love hunting for Macro-invertebrates! I hope your kids are really enjoying it. While you're sifting through leaf packs, try flipping over some rocks as well, if you aren't already. You can find some really cool little guys under there. I really love water pennies. Such interesting little creatures. You may even run across some damselfly or mayfly larvae hiding under them. Also try sifting through some of the mucousy algae-moss stuff you find floating on the surface. Good place to find some Cranefly larvae. They are kind of terrifying though... hahaha Have fun!

Yes! I think you've got it exactly right! Nice find by the way. As I said, I've never seen one like this. Probably due to my location. He's really cool though.

Figured I'd help you out some more. I believe this guy is definitely a damselfly. Hard to tell from the pictures, but I'd say he's probably a broadwinged damselfly. Here's some pretty good rule of thumb ID tricks:

Mayfly: has three thin tails. Gills usually line the sides of the abdomen. Usually has a larger femur than tibia (leg parts)

Damselfly: Has three feather like tails with gills typically on the back. Legs are usually long and thin.

Stoneflies: has 2 thin tails with a space in between. Stoneflies also typically have long antennae and have gills on the bottom or sides of their thorax.

Now I'm sure this doesn't apply to every single species as nature surely has something strange up her sleeve! But hopefully this helps with future ID's!

http://bugguide.net/node/view/52975/bgpa...

here's a source!

I don't think it's a stonefly as stoneflies have 2 tails. This looks like a mayfly, but not one I've ever seen before. It's also not in my guides. Upon some research I found a genus of armored mayflies (Baetisca), but it's hard to figure out the exact species. They do seem to be more prevalent in your area according to the map you've provided. Which would also explain why I have never seen one. haha I'd say it's definitely Baetisca, but as far as species it could be laurentina, obesa, or maybe even lacustris. Hope this helps!