Eisenhower Park Wildlife (Milford)

We explored the back side of Eisenhower Park in Milford today, off of West River Street. Here the Wepawaug River, or part of it, has been dammed to form a small pond or marsh. The first picture is a male Eastern Amberwing dragonfly, a species that mimics a wasp by both its markings and by the way it holds its wings.
Here's a bee on some Pickerel Weed. The Pickerel Weed was just filled with insects of all sorts, and I'll bet some fish were hiding in there, too. The seeds are supposed to be edible, but I've never tried them.

Here's some Swamp Milkweed. Milkweeds have such beautiful flowers and such ugly leaves.

Here's another damselfly, this one a female Eastern Forktail. I picked up a book of the dragonflies and damselflies of Massachusetts a couple years ago and now feel compelled to identify anything I take a picture of. Who knew there were so many species and it was so involved!

My daughter was curious about these berries, found near the parking lot. These are Bittersweet Nightshade (a vine) and they are somewhat poisonous. The leaves have those funny lobes or thumbs.