Cursive

A swallow is flying
in a cursive "S"

above the shallow shoreline,
wingtips brushing the surface,

sweeping, swooping, scooping
insects in the humid summer air. 

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, & 3. Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

4. Saul Lake Bog & Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

Red & Green

this red hibiscus

with a bright green katydid

Christmas in July

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

Season Tickets

The symphony
of summer evenings
is tuning up again
as soft dusk
approaches night. 

Cicadas are finishing
for the day,
while katydids and 
snowy tree crickets
begin to strike
their measured notes.

They don't seem to mind
if I fall asleep
during their performance.

I know it will happen
each night I open
the bedroom windows
of my country home.

I've been given
season tickets
to summer dreams.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 1. & 2. Home woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

walk in the garden

walk in the garden

dragonfly on Astilbe

welcome summer days

© 2017 Richard Havenga 

Photo Location:  Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Grateful Heart

With a grateful heart,
I have come here to rest,
and let my eyes adjust
to the future
coming at me
in this, my seventh
decade of life
on the good earth.

Balancing:
the desire to know,
and the need to praise;
I have become intimate
with some small pockets
of life on this planet;

nearly forty years
for the love of birds,

intrigued by the flow
of rivers and streams,

a lingering fascination 
with insects,

enchanted by the short seasons
of wildflowers,

a watcher of clouds
for decades,

a dedication
to dependable trees 
- familiar as friends -

and captivated by the
mysteries of the night sky.

How can I help but
praise you God,
for the gift of life,
and thank you
for my remaining days?

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Prothonotary Warbler - Allegan State Game Area- Kalamazoo River - Michigan

2. Crested Butte, Colorado  

3. Canon Township - Kent County, Michigan

4. Cardinal Flower - Ada Township - Kent County, Michigan

5. Yosemite National Park - California

6. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

7. Grattan Township - Kent County, Michigan

8. Sunset Beach, North Carolina

Within this Wedge of Light

Backlit by the sun,
this dragonfly's 
transparent wings 
are a blur times four.

It hovers, then turns,
then darts
diagonally downward,
snaring another flying insect.

Do you admire 
its flight;
forward and backward,
up and down?

Are you amazed
by its maneuverability
and quick strike
capability?

Four wings working
independently,
changing direction,
fast and furious.

I am astounded 
all over again
at the many miracles
available for viewing.

Not only the 
scientific  explanation
of tiny motor muscles,
complex compound eyes,

the minute holes called spiracles
pumping in oxygen
through its narrow,
throbbing abdomen,

not only these,
but the simple pleasure
of merely watching
with wonder

within this wedge
of summer sunlight.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Striders II

Dimpling the surface
of the silky smooth stream
with waterproof feet,
children love to watch you
"walk on the water."

Your long, spindly legs

stretch out in angles
way, way beyond
your narrow cylindrical body
held neatly above the surface.

You thrust yourself forward
making minor ripples
with your long middle legs
acting like oars,
yet you glide smooth and ripple-free.

Your hind legs
become rudders
when you need to steer,
sneaking silently
toward your target.

Your short front legs
are ready to snatch
unsuspecting prey that may
drift into the territory
you patrol with authority.

You are the Strider,
the efficient rider
on the H2O,
and the children say:
"Way to Go!"

© 2015 Richard Havenga

For an earlier, creative non-fiction version, see: Water Striders - June 19, 2012


Photo Locations:

Bear Creek - Townsend Park - Kent County, Michigan

Page Creek - Fallasburg Park - Kent County, Michigan

September Morning

Fresh, is this
September morning.
The welcomed coolness
condenses dew
on all things green.

The afternoon hours
are warmed by the sun,
and a red dragonfly
lands on my notebook—

tilts his head twice,
wants me to write about 
the pulsing, 
red and black segments
of his slender abdomen,

and the way the sun
shimmers through
his netted veins.

How many more days
will the dragonflies,
zipping for insects
overhead,
sail their shadows
upon my page?

©  2014  Richard Havenga

Read about another "literate insect" @ page thirteen August 28, 2013. 

Willow's Shadow

yellow-green willow branch
once mangled by winter ice
now stretches over current
thrives in heavy heat
backlit by morning sun

caddisflies converge
into sunlit cloud
over warm water
a dense mass of life
briefly alive

swallows and waxwings
patrol upstream, downstream
from north bank to south bank
devouring the swarming hatch
this abundant harvest of summer

under the willow's shadow
small river joins large river
their joining
smooth as summer heat
quiet as morning light





Photo Location:

Confluence of Flat River and Grand River - Lowell,  Michigan

Iris Intimacy

Close enough to feel

this flaming feathered tongue,

this stimulation for insects.

 

The intimacy

between bees

and flowers.

 

Beauty's brief ecstasy.

 

©  2013  Richard Havenga

 



 



 

 

 

 

Click on photo to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

Black Wings

Wings - a fold of  four,  flat, black, exclamation marks.

Abdomen - a cold, narrow tube of blue flame.

Head - a metallic robot with mechanical movement.

 

 Legs - a six-pack of stiff, angular, threads and fine spines.

© 2013  Richard Havenga

Click on photos to enlarge.

Photo Location:

Fallasburg Park,  (Fallasburg)  Kent County,  Michigan


Black-winged Damselfly - Calopteryx maculata


To learn more, see:   "Delicate, Dazzling, Damselfly" 

@ "Walk With Father Nature" August 11, 2012.  More photos, more Entomology.

Blackwater Cloth

This warm July morning,
exactly mid-summer,
bright green ovals,
glossy as emeralds,
float on black water,
flat as fabric.

Bluegills and sunfish
pop snails off
the underside.

Dragonflies and damselflies 
snatch gnats
off the surface.

Life                 
        grows on,
                           above,
                                        around,
                                                        within,
                                                                       below.

These glossy
green ovals
floating flat 
as fabric
on the cloth
of black water.

 



© 2013  Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Pickerel Lake Park,  (Pickerel)  (Fred Meijer Nature Preserve)  Kent County,  Michigan

Click on photo to enlarge.

Delicate, Dazzling, Damselfly

On a sunny summer Sunday afternoon, we were sitting in our camping chairs near a clean stream, Page Creek, that feeds the Flat River. The place: Fallasburg Park; (Fallasburg) one of the many beautiful parks well-maintained by Kent County, here in Southwest Michigan.

Mary was reading, I was writing, and my camera was waiting in the shade on a picnic table. 
I was also studying the  surface of the stream, watching the Water Striders (see post: "Striders" 6-19-12).

Flitting above the clear water I spotted another insect I have loved for many decades:

Black-winged Damselfly

Not only do I love the insect, I absolutely love this dynamic color combination. Don't you too? Only the male's body has this metallic blue-green-turquoise; the female's body is dark brown, and non-metallic.

These gorgeous insects are 1  5/8 - 1  3/4" (40-60mm). Found throughout North America along slow streams.

Sharp, biting mouthparts are used to cut up prey into bite-sized pieces.

Their long legs, unsuitable for walking, are used to hold insects captured in flight. Each leg has a row of stiff bristles on either side, which are held forward during flight to form a basket that scoops smaller flying insects out of the air and traps them until the claws can grasp them. In this way, they consume huge numbers of blackflies, and mosquitoes.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)



Damselfly eyes bulge out to the side.

While Dragonflies extend their wings horizontally to the sides, Damselflies hold their wings vertically, toward the rear.

Their four wings move independently, enabling them to move forward or backward. The flight is somewhat irregular, and erratic, more like a butterfly. Whereas the dragonfly flight is faster, more direct, and incredibly maneuverable. (For more on Dragonflies, see post: "Fast and Furious" 6-21-12)

Adults feed on small flying insects, but the immature stage, called Naiads, feed strictly on small aquatic insects, since Naiads live underwater, are wingless, and do not resemble the adults.

Reproduction:

The male curls the tip of its abdomen to deposit a sperm packet in a chamber below its second abdominal segment. Then, if the female is receptive, the male holds the female by the neck with special claspers called cerci. The female picks up the packet using the tip of her abdomen, to fertilize her eggs.

Looks like they're right on target here; male on top, grasping the female by the neck with his cerci, and the female linking up to the right segment to collect the sperm packet. You can see a sort of heart-shape, but this is not about love. It's about reproduction.

Observe the more transparent, brownish wings of the female here.

Later, the female forces eggs, singly, into soft plant tissue underwater. This is watercress growing along the edge of Page Creek.

This is a great look at the bulbous eyes, the bristly legs, the squarish thorax containing the flight muscles, the arching segments of the iridescent abdomen, the brownish, semi-transparent wings, and the characteristic white spot on the upper tips of the wings.

I hope you get a sunny, summer afternoon, soon, to sit streamside and witness the exquisite, metallic colors of this interesting insect. Bring your binoculars, be patient, and you will be dazzled by this delicate, dynamic Damselfly.




Black-winged Damselfly (Calopteryx maculata)

Photo Location:  Fallasburg Park,  (Fallasburg) Kent County,  Michigan

Three Tiger Swallowtails

Scientific-Poet Looks at Butterflies


of delicate structure
and ethereal flight
flitting aimlessly for
mate or some nectar


the family name
Lepidoptera
from two Greek words
lepi - scale, ptera - wing


siphoning mouthparts
coiled like a watchspring
under the head
until it's needed


unfurls into tube
called a proboscis
probes deep into flowers
searching for nectar


thread-like antennae
long and slender
knobbed or hooked
at their tips


narrow extensions
on the hindwings
which resemble
forked tails of swallows


two pairs of wings
covered like roof shingles
with thousands of scales
overlapping and minuscule


pigments in scales
and structure of prisms
bends white light
to produce iridescence


intricate patterns
refracting the light
kaleidoscope of color
crown jewels of insect world


courtship involves
stroking of wings
mating may last for hours
often occurs during flight


courtship and mating
egg-laying and pollinating
life-span is short
some live only two to three weeks


egg, larva, pupa, adult
caterpillar to chrysalis
hidden transformation
the miracle of metamorphosis










Eastern Tiger Swallowtail  (Papilio glaucus)

Photo Location:  Harbor Springs, (Harbor Springs) Michigan





References:

The Practical Entomologist - (Entomologist) Rick Imes  c 1992

The Handy Bug Answer Book -  (Answer Book) Dr. Gilbert Waldbauer c 1998