Here in the southeast corner of Manitoba, we are having a very dry summer.

The wild bergamot flower, like many of the wildflowers in the woods and pastures, is not as lush as other years, seeming to dry up before it is in full bloom.

The wild plum, while possibly drying up from other causes than the drought, since there is a plump green plum behind it, is just a symbolic visual of the unseasonable dry hot summer.

One would think eating a dragonfly whole would be a daunting task for this bird. It even escaped for a few seconds, only to be quickly repatured. In a short time it was swallowed, and the flycatcher sat opening and closing its beak for a minute. Then it flew down to the grass, caught a grasshopper, flew back up to its perch, and commenced to swallow that too.

Amazing.